The present Ethiopia, former Axum like Liberia is one of the unique countries which were saved from colonialism because of various factors. Geographically it occupies the North Eastern part of Africa commonly known as "the Horn of Africa"- Its terrain was made of sharp gorges, mountains and valleys. This kind of topography has a lot of advantages and disadvantages in its History for example it hindered the success of Italian forces versus Menelik and made it survive colonialism.

Politically, before 1850, Ethiopia had no recognised central government and different parts of the country were less independent under provincial rulers called Rases. Each Ras had a lot of powers in his province. Kingship in Ethiopia was failed by its mountainous nature which weakened the central government as it was impossible to control together the provinces of Ethiopia before its proper unification of her provinces like, Tigre, Shoa and Gojjan. Before 1855 the History of Ethiopia was characterised by confusion as kings from such rivaling provinces were not centralised.

Socially, like their political unitf, they maintained their culture in isolation except Christianity which they adopted generally as Ethiopians. They e^/en spoke the same language called Amharic. Unlike many other parts of Africa, Ethiopia did not suffer from the advent of Western culture by foreigners because of its mountainous nature.

During his reign, Theodore II built a unified and modern national state with a centralised system of administration, a well trained and equipped regular army under his command which enabled him to maintain his authority by surpressing the internal wars and foreign aggressions for example he defeated Galla.

Furthermore, Theodore attempted to destroy the independent powers of the rases i.e abolition of feudalism and setting up a government of paid administrators ie. salaried officials whom he appointed and dismissed at will.

Theodore improved the taxation systems and their methods of collection which partly won him the support of the Ethiopian masses.

He also regulated the powers of the church especially in politics which he put in his hands and tried to control the religious affairs of Ethiopia.

In as much as Theodore could have attempted to introduce reforms, they were not well carried out for he faced resistances especially from the nobility and the church whose affairs he had interfered with. This therefore created constant rebellions that became characteristic of his reign and indeed were later to undermine his rule by 1868.

In regard to his foreign relations, Theodore was a great admirer of European industrialisation. He therefore invited many European artisans from Britain, Russia and Italy. These European countries greatly assisted him in road construction but most important in the manufacture of fire arms such that Theodore was able to create a strong and united force through the assistance of European countries and some of whose personalities, he had managed to invite to his court as his advisors notably Bell and Plowden.

Theodore was an over ambitious personality who had a dream of conquering countries such as Sudan, Egypt, Jerusalem and being able to wipe Islam from the face of the earth and winning respect for Ethiopia from the great powers. It is therefore this overwhelming ambition of Theodore that seems to have greatly undermined his achievements because he had gone out of control which subsequently made him unpopular among the Ethiopian masses such that by the time of his death, Theodore had become a frustrated personality to the point of insanity.

The climax of his reign came when he addressed a letter to Queen Victoria of England and Napoleon III of France proposing the opening up of Ethiopian embassies in both Paris and London. The letter that was not given attention and made the relations of Ethiopia with European powers sour. Angered by this decision, Theodore threw the British consul Cameron in prison, an action that was seen as barbaric and was uncivilised greatly condemned by European powers and Theodore replied by imprisoning more 60 Europeans.

The imprisonment of the British consuls prompted Britain to send an expedition of the British forces commanded by Sir Robert Napier in the Napier expedition of 1868.

This expedition was geared towards rescuing the British nationals who had been arrested by Theodore not necessarily to take over independence of Ethiopia. It is therefore on this note that the British forces managed to subdue the Ethiopian forces of Napier at Maqdala.

It is also argued that the Napier expedition was between the British forces and the small remnants of Theodore’s body guard at his capital. The expedition was not nationalistic and therefore lacked the massive support of the people of Ethiopia.

This expedition was successful because Tewodros had already lost the support of many Ethiopian masses such as the nobility i.e the rases even provided the British forces with food to enable them defeat Tewodros.

Similarly, the church and the great land owners constantly opposed his administration such that by 1868 Tewodros had already lost the support of the people, control of his country and subsequently, he decided to commit suicide on 16th April 1868 rather than fall in the hands of the British forces.

Therefore what can be argued to have caused Tewodros downfall were largely internal conflicts in his country for he left behind a country that was still as disunited as he had found it, although he is remembered for having given Ethiopia a beginning of unity and a sense of nationalism which the future rulers were to base their administration as evident in reigns of John IV and Menelik II.

THE NAPIER EXPEDITION OF 1867-68

Theodore was determined to seek European relationship on the basis of equality. The spark that ignited the collapse pf Theodore's reign and his life began when he addressed letters to Queen Victoria and Napoleon III in 1862 proposing the opening of Ethiopian Embassies in their countries. Unfortunately, the response was negative. No reply was provided in time

Theodore took this as a calculated insult from rulers whose subjects he had employed as his trusted advisors, for example, John Bell an engineer who became his main technician and married to an Ethiopian and Walter Plowden. When Plowden died he was replaced by Cameron, a man less sympathetic towards the interests of the emperor-

Following this, there developed a stress in the relationship between Theodore and Cameron, missionaries with other Europeans whom he decided to imprison. Most of these Europeans were coming from Britain whom he decided to punish because he was greatly annoyed with his consul Cameron, a Briton who had advised him wrongly.

When the British government received the news, a messenger named Hormuzd Rassam, a British envoy was sent to Theodore in attempt to have British nationals released. He had carried a reconciliatory reply from the queen of England in 1866 but unfortunately he found when Theodore's attitude towards British can no longer amend. Another European in Ethiopia abused Theodore that "Son of a local woman who sells kawo". Theodore's reaction to these insults was the imprisonment of the British messenger and all other Europeans in Ethiopia. The British government felt duty-bound to liberate her subjects. In 1867 an expedition was sent under Robert Napier to rescue their subjects.

His attempts at centralisation had caused bitter opposition from the Rases. In order to cater for the large army, he had increased taxation which led to opposition against him and on top of this the army facilities were all provided by the church and masses. He was almost an isolated man by the beginning of the Napier invasion. The British expedition had great difficulties with the mountainous nature of the country. Other than this, they had no other problem. The Emperor was in a weak position having lost control over many provinces.

WHY WAS THEODORE DEFEATED IN THE NAPIER EXPEDITION OF 1867-1868?

The army because of very many problems had deserted and the number that was remaining was less than 10,000 men who also had no morale and ability to defend Theodore II. Therefore the British expendition met no strong resistance on their capital (Magadala)

British had superior arms: Other than few military men, the British had superior arms. This is why this battle has been described by Robbinson as "a short and very unequal combat". The British with superior arms massacred the Ethiopians in hundreds leaving only 20 British soldiers wounded.

Presence of collaborating class among Ethiopians: There emerged a strong cooperation between the Napier's men and some discontented Ethiopians. This is because the British made it clear that they were not going to stay in Ethiopia but to rescue their imprisoned subjects by Theodore. This convinced the sympathetic Ethiopians to cooperate and support the British in a war against their emperor. The British expedition got assistance in form of food, water and information about the country.

Ethiopians offered little resistance because they were disunited as a result of Theodore's poor policies. Theodore had not created nationalistic feelings among the people and everyone was ready to serve his own interests.-This served as a greatest factor in their internal weakness.

Theodore's poor policies such as the nationalisation of church land, forcing the clergy pay taxes and provide manual labour. This brought opposition against him by the clergy such that when "Napier attacked Ethiopia, very few were ready to. join him and resist Napier fire.

Theodore's attitude to Christianise the Moslems: Theodore had tried to Christianise the Moslem Galla forcibly and this accelerated enemity and opposition against him. When Napier entered Ethiopia, people like the Galla welcomed them because they were going to overthrow their enemy. This left Theodore with a small and weak force to resist Napier.

Because of increased rebellions in the Empire: Theodore increased his suppressive campaigns but this turned the native people against him. This was because Theodore's soldiers became a burden to the civilians in terms of things like food because of lack of funds and poor organisation by Theodore himself. When Napier forces came, the Ethiopians welcomed them because they were going to get rid of this burden.

Endless wars with rebels, exhausted the Ethiopian treasury after sometime. This meant inability to pay and maintain the army which resulted into crossing of some soldiers to the side of the invaders. When Napier entered Ethiopia in 1867, some of these soldiers joined Napier side for easy defeat of their enemy Theodore II.

Theodore had lost hope of mobilising enough support to win the war. This was especially after the death of his wife Tewebetch and his friends Plowden and Bell. He became very rough and started killing some Ethiopians. When Napier came, many had deserted Theodore II.

The weakness of immobile mortars: Theodore had built immobile mortars at Magadala which never helped him in any way. He believed that they were very powerful but when Napier's men approached Magadala, the mortars were deserted by their operators since they could not advance or retreat with them. This dashed the hopes of further resistance on part of the Ethiopians

Collaboration of the powerless Rases and the British: British forces were lucky because they were supplied with enough food and water by the Ethiopian Rases. Some other Rases offered Horses. Although they were operating in a foreign country, they never had a problem of food and transport which could have probably retarded their success.

However in 1896, the Ethiopians were able to defeat the Italians who attempted to attack Ethiopia under Emperor Menelik hoping for a similar success (like that of British) over Ethiopia. This was because of skilful organisation of Menelik.

IMPORTANCE OF THEODORE IN THE HISTORY OF ETHIOPIA:

One can safely argue that Theodore's rule was a failure to a large extent because his own policies failed him. In fact he left behind a disunited country.

However, he should not be seen as a failure because many followed his ideas after his death. At least he managed to restore the monarchy of Ethiopia. After him nobody doubted the power of Ethiopian monarchy and whoever occupied the seat, he enjoyed the respect of the emperor.

In fact the glory and greatness of Ethiopia started from the days of Theodore. Besides that, Theodore is admired for his outstanding nationalism and wisdom which he displayed to Ethiopians inspite of some tremendous odds in Ethiopia in his time of leadership.

He also remembered because he was a great modeniser and reformer. He had built the government of Ethiopia, roads, churches, health centers and some schools with assistance of his European advisers.

He greatly desired diplomacy with foreigners and wanted so much ammunition for defence of his Empire. His fall was largely due to the internal conflicts. Infact the British expedition created a false impression, it looked as if the whole Kingdom had been easily defeated when in the real sense the whole of British forces was fighting a small section of Theodore's forces (body guards).

Because of his policies, majority of the people had been neutral or they collaborated with British against Ethiopia. Conquering Ethiopia in face of the real national resistance would be quite hard if not impossible. The overwhelming defeat of Italians at Adowa in 1896 by Menelik is a good example.

EMPEROR YOHANNIS IV 1872 - 1889

Following the downfall of Tewodros, the throne in Ethiopia had three great rivals notably Gobaze of Amhara, John IV the ras of Tigre and Menelik the ras of Shoa. Although Gobaze was crowned immediately his four years reign was un eventful and he left the political scene in 1872 leaving two races competing for the throne notably Menelik and Yohannis’ of whom the latter was crowned to take over the leadership of Ethiopia as Yohannis IV a lover of Christianity, a fighter for united Ethiopia during whose reign the work of building a well united, progressive and independent Ethiopia really began. This can rightly be evident in his domestic and foreign arena.

In regard to his home affairs, John IV tried his level best to centralise his administration before he would launch foreign attacks especially on Egypt that seemed to have been one of his enemies because of the desire by Ismail Pasha to want to build a great African empire by occupying the Christian kingdom of Ethiopia. Before then however, Yohannis IV came into agreement with various rulers of Ethiopian provinces especially Menelik II with whom he made an agreement in March 1878, calling upon him to give up his title of “king of kings” and agree to pay tribute to Yohannis IV. In return, Yohannis confirmed Menelik as the king Shoa and even crowned him. And as an element of sealing relations, a marriage alliance between the children of Menelik and Yohannis were made whereby Yohannis’ son Araya Sillase was meant to get married to Menelik’s daughter Zewditu although his did not take place for Araya died abruptly before marriage.

Similarly, Yohannis also crowned the ras of Gojam and appointed the kings for Tigre and Begedir as a way of centralisation and creating unity in Ethiopia. In this way therefore, John IV attempted to propagate the element of nationalism which was latter to play a very important role in maintaining the independence of Ethiopia.

In order to please the church, Yohannis encouraged the abolition of some sects within Ethiopia with an exception of the Orthodox church and indeed the Muslims and pagans were forced to accept Christianity during the reign of John IV. In which context therefore, one can rightly argue that the leadership of John IV made Ethiopia enjoy internal peace and unity on which Menelik was later to rely on trying to maintain the independence of Ethiopia.

Externally, it was during the reign of John IV that the real work of building a well united, progressive and independent Ethiopia later began. For he began by attacking countries such as Egypt in order to clear the boarders, remove Egyptian influence from Ethiopia and this he did by sending special missions to various European countries to win support as a way of dealing with the Egyptians. And indeed its not surprising that the two attempts made by Egyptians towards Ethiopia were suppressed by the forces of John IV.

Meanwhile, the French were also extending their interests because they wanted to use the Red sea to get to their land of Somalia. The other foreign country which was also contending for Ethiopia were the Italians who had established themselves at the coast of Eritrea and had began to push inland towards the Ethiopian province of Tigre. Accordingly, the Italians began to weaken the government system by using Menelik against John IV through giving him money and arms with the intention of distabilising the reign of John with a belief that Menelik would become a future puppet thus paving way for the loss of Ethiopia’s independence to the Italians. However, this did not succeed for the first attempts by the Italians to make an attack on the Ethiopian province of Dogali were futile for they were ruthlessly defeated by the arms that they had given to the Ethiopians.

Meanwhile, the fanatically religious government of Abdullahi Khalifa in Sudan declared a Jihad against the Christian orthodox neighbours of Ethiopia, an attack that witnessed death of John IV at the battle of Metemma in 1889. The abrupt death of John IV was welcomed by the Italians who wanted to use Menelik as a stepping stone for their extension over Ethiopia.

In all therefore, during the reign of Yohannis, Ethiopia enjoyed internal peace, protection from foreign and internal oppositions; a system that was later to be continued by Menelik who played a substantial role in maintaining the independence of Ethiopia in the 19th Century.

MENELIK II 1889 - 1913

The death of Yohhannis IV paved way to the rise of Menelik II who during his reign wanted an Ethiopia which had been disintegrated, reunited. In this regard, Menelik through a mixture of force and diplomacy managed to re-unite the provinces of Tigre and Amhara in the north under central control.

He also contributed to the spread of Christianity in Ethiopia although he tolerated other religious sects, Menelik ordered Orthodox Christianity to be introduced in the whole of Ethiopia including the newly acquired territories of the Galla.

In the same way, Menelik made Amharic as the official language in Ethiopia and this encouraged unity among the people since people believed in one common religion and spoke a common language.

However, Menelik was such an outstanding diplomat who had taken keen care to avoid selling of the independence of his country such that when the Italians wrote their own version of the treaty, Menelik insisted and they wrote another in the Amharic language which included the line “Might do so”.

And indeed signed the version that he understood most such that when the Italian attempted to occupy Ethiopia Menelik used his version to respond and wrote a circular letter to European powers pointing out that he had never surrendered any part of Ethiopian independence in which he also pointed out that Khartoum the capital of Sudan and Lake Rudilf was part of the Ethiopian empire for accordingly, Menelik believed that he also intended to colonise than be colonised as evident in his words.

“I do not intend to spectate as for distant powers come to partition Africa”.

It was this humiliation that forced the Italians to declare war against the Ethiopians that led to the Battle of Adowa 1896.

THE BATTLE OF ADOWA OF 1896

Following the humiliation of the Italians in the face of the Ethiopians, the Italians launched an attack against the king and indeed they were convinced that they would be able to defeat the Ethiopians first as the British had succeeded in defeating them during the Napier expedition however what was forgotten was that the Italians themselves had already armed Menelik II.

The battle of Adowa was one of the greatest humiliations that befell European powers on African soils and its little wonder that Mussolini in the later period on 1936 launched a fresh attack on Ethiopia with a desire to wipe out the memory of Italian disgrace.

Its vital to note that Menelik had already laid a foundation for the maintenance of Ethiopian independence in the face of European colonialism.

The 19^th Century period in Ethiopia had witnessed the great unification of Ethiopia a process which traces its way as far back as the reign of Theodres II, furthered by Yohannis IV and later Menelik II such that at the time of the European scramble for Africa, Ethiopia emerged as a powerful and united country because of its able leadership which had solved succession disputes diplomatically to avoid political divisions.

Similarly, the leadership of Ethiopia had modernized equipped and maintained their military structure especially having acquired arms from the European powers which they later to used in defeating Italy as later evident during the battle of Adowa.

The defeat of the Italians in this battle can be explained by a number of factors and among these included the fact that the leadership in Ethiopia had already provoked a sense of nationalism to the extent that even the Roses who had hitherto been classical enemies for example Ras Mangasha the son of Yohannis IV, rallied behind Menelik for a nationalistic cause.

It’s also argued that the Ethiopians were superior in manpower for example Menelik is believed to have had 100,000 men against the 17,000 Italians which therefore made it difficult for the Ethiopians to be defeated on their own soil.

Militarily, the Ethiopians seemed to have been more prepared as far back as the times of Yohannis IV and the period of Menelik European countries Italy inclusive had given Ethiopia arms which were later to use against the Italians.

Closely related, it is argued that the Italian forces were poorly co-ordinated, had faulty maps due to the incompetence of their commanders, they were therefore hampered by many problems including the geographical set up of Ethiopia that they seemed not to perceive.

The Italians were also easily deceived by the Ethiopians who dragged them into a war front unawares for example at one time during the course of the war, the Italian fighters were deceived by the false rumours that Menelik had been bitten and killed by a snake which brought them wholesale on the battle front leading to their decisive defeat by the Ethiopians but most important was that the Italian had largely under-estimated the Ethiopian forces especially when they remembered the Napier expedition which had given them a false impression.

It was therefore a combination of the above factors that Ethiopia managed to defeat the Italians forcing them to abandon their claims and recognise the independence of Ethiopia which was equally supported by other European powers and as a gesture of good will. Later countries like Britain, Russia, France, Turkey opened up embassies in Ethiopia as a recognition of her independence.

In conclusion therefore, the maintenance of Ethiopia independence can be explained by among other factors the political strength, military organisation, economic development and the diplomacy employed by the Ethiopian rulers notably Menelik II who because of his contribution to Ethiopian independence and his influence in African politics has earned himself the title of “Lion of Africa”.

WHY ETHIOPIA WAS ABLE TO ESCAPE EUROPEAN COLONIALISM.

Ethiopia the former Axum like Liberia is one of the unique countries which survived colonialism. There were many factors to explain the escape of Ethiopia from colonialism. They include;

Christianity influence: Ethiopia was among African countries which received Christianity civilisation long ago around 350 AD. Ethiopia remained outstanding because king Ezana had adopted Christianity and Christianity was a vital organ in weakening the African hearts against colonialism. This served to unite the people against colonial forces. Many Europeans came claiming spreading Christianity in process of colonising African countries but fortunately enough Ethiopia had Christianity earlier before colonialism began.

Ethiopian Unity: Menelik was in good position, he had a committed support of local populace whose patriotism was intensified by the idea about the expected invasion of Italians. The situation was now different from that of 1868 when the ordinary Ethiopians were willing to assist Napier led British expendition against emperor Theodore II. In 1896 Battle, those not at war were at home praying and spying about Italians intentions.

Ethiopian nationalism: Surprisingly, the Italians did not exploit the Ethiopians disunity of the Rases who had been for long been unhappy and gave them support. But Ethiopia after Theodore II was different. For example, rivaling contenders for the throne like John IV, Menelik II were friendly and supporting one another. This nationalistic spirit was copied by the whole empire.

Civilisation; Since AD. 350 when emperor Ezana adopted Christianity as the Official State religion, this made the whole Empire adopt the Church as a main guardian of Ethiopian culture. Thus the emperor was believed to be devine in authority.

Geographical advantage: Ethiopia had and has flat topped mountains ranging from 1500-3500'taeters high with great valleys and gorges with a semi-desert vegetation that surround them. This made Ethiopia a land very difficult for a foreign aggressor to attack and succeed. Even the Italians lacked the topographical maps to guide them in a such hard geographical area. With all these, it was not a shock for Italians to be defeated.

Menelik's diplomacy: Menelik's diplomatic tactics of signing the tricky Uccialli treaty in 1889. He was not blamed by any nation for his war against Italy. He had a strong support because by the Uccialli treaty Menelik got a lot of arms from the Italians and successfully used these arms against them. This was a terrible miscalculation as for years (1889-96) he had been importing sophisticated arms from the Italians.

Large numbers of Ethiopian soldiers: Due to Ethiopian unity, Menelik's tactics in army mobilisation and administration, many Ethiopians were competing for recruitment into his forces. Therefore, Italians miscalculated when they came to invade Ethiopia with inferior numbers of the army.

Under estimation of Menelik's government: The example of British Napier lead expedition made the Italians believe that the conquest of Ethiopia would be a relatively easy task for a modern European army. They forgot that they had themselves supplied arms to the emperor atleast as good as those they were boasting of:

i. Other than this, underestimation can also be considered on the number of Ethiopians whom they considered to assemble in the battle field.

ii. The capacity of Ethiopian commanders was also underestimated.

iii. They. did not know that Napier expedition was advantaged by Theodore's poor internal policies that made subjects isolate him.

Propaganda: The commanders were deceived for sometime by false rumours initiated by Menelik himself that the Emperor had died suddenly.-of a snake bite. This made the Italians to invade -Ethiopia in large numbers but the unfortunate part of it was that, they found Menelik himself commanding the whole Ethiopian army.

Ethiopia's weak economy: Some scholars convincingly argue that; if Ethiopia had not been as poor agriculturally as it was, added to scarcity of minerals, most probably the Italians would have fought the tooth and nail to win the war. Therefore, the poor nature of Ethiopian empire was its advantage according to these scholars. However an incisive (serious historian) ought to appreciate that these Italians tried to win the war but failed. The unresourcefulness of Ethiopia never stopped them after all it was time for scramble and partition where even the more empty territories like Chad and Mali were colonised.

Weakness of Italy: The invading colonialists were weak when compared to other European colonisers. It will be recalled that Italy had just been unified and thus it was not yet powerful enough to defeat such a highly organised resistance.

It's argued that probably if it was so much armed as the British against Banyoro and French against Samoure Toure, Ethiopia would not have escaped colonialism. Any way, Menelik was a great African Hero. Why did Italy defeat Libya in 1911 and yet Libya was more advanced in development than Ethiopia which defeated it in 1896?

In short, the escape of colonialism by Ethiopia hinges on the personality of Menelik plus other natural factors because in 1868 the poor personality of Theodore II made him lose the defence against the Napier expedition but in 1896 the Italians defended and defeated the Italians mainly because Menelik had a good personality.