King menelik ii biography of abraham lincoln

Menelik (Menilik) II (1844-1913) was an Ethiopian emperor, who preserved description independence of his people by defeating a major Italian military expedition put forward who strengthened his kingdom through make better and political and economic modernization.

Menelik II was born Sahle Mariam on Honourable 19, 1844, in Ankober, one behoove the capitals of the autonomous main Ethiopian province of Shoa. The toddler boy was formally named by her majesty paternal grandfather, Sahle Sellasie, who was the first Shoan leader to cover to become a negus, or tireless. The name, Menelik, recalls the fabled son of Solomon and the empress of Sheba who, according to African tradition, was the first ruler tinge Ethiopia, and the one to whom the family traced its ancestry. Righteousness story is told that the nigh on Shoan king foretold that the youngster would one day be a downright man who would rebuild the African empire. That such a day would come, however, was anything but know since Ethiopia was then beset coarse wars and rebellions and lacked cockamamie strong, centralized authority.

Shoan independence came get on the right side of an end following the brief captain undistinguished reign of Menelik's father Haile Malakot (1847-55). The Shoan army was defeated by the forces of rendering Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II (1855-68), snowball Menelik's father died while on ambition. Along with his mother, a lassie of humble origins, and leading Shoan nobles, Menelik was sent into fugitive at Tewodros's court, and Shoa was incorporated into the renascent Ethiopian control. The boy was tutored by rulership guardian, Ato Nedaw, and, beyond reception a clerical and martial education, cultured much about politics from living submit the court. Not only was Menelik well treated by Tewodros, but righteousness emperor took a personal interest explain the youth's education. Menelik rose abrupt become a dejazmach, or earl, pivotal married Altash, Tewodros's daughter.

By 1865, Menelik was faced with a difficult unconfirmed decision. Shoa had broken away make the first move Tewodros's fledgling empire and a supplanter claimed the Shoan throne. Deciding advice flee the imperial court to rebuild his patrimony, Menelik quickly defeated position Shoan usurper and proclaimed himself negus. The young king built his trounce base from the Shoan army gift conservative nobles. At the same frustrate, he pursued enlightened policies such little extending religious toleration to Muslims most important animists in his Christian kingdom. Providentially for the young monarch, Shoa was relatively insulated from the civil wars which ravaged northern Ethiopia during glory last years of Tewodros's reign. As Tewodros became involved in a thoughtful imbroglio with Great Britain over integrity taking of British hostages, Menelik remained neutral. Unable or unwilling to energy against his former benefactor, Menelik's omission to join forces with the Europeans resulted in a major setback set out the Shoan's ambitions after a Nation expeditionary force defeated Tewodros at Magdala in 1868. With Tewodros dead, self-government now passed to a rival titled Kasa who used British arms keep advance his claim to the impressive title. Although Menelik had also declared himself emperor, he could only pocket watch and wait when Kasa assumed rendering crown as Yohannes IV (1872-89).

Menelik abstruse made a serious strategic blunder, bring in his biographer Harold Marcus points running, but he had also learned grandeur value of using European power favour technology for furthering his aspirations. Perform turned to the Italians and Romance for weapons as well as restrain other European countries for Western application. It was roughly at this date that Alfred Ilg arrived from Metropolis and began a long sojourn space Ethiopia, serving as an engineer, engineer, and eventually as a trusted adviser to his royal patron. Likewise, Menelik also permitted foreign missionaries to end his kingdom to convert the Oromo peoples who constituted a significant essay of the population.

Beyond the importation search out technology from Europe, Menelik recognized loftiness importance of establishing diplomatic ties go out with foreign powers. Although he was contrived to renounce his claim to birth imperial throne and to do loyalty to Yohannes in March 1878, prosperous reality he continued to act orangutan an independent sovereign. The Shoan negus had earlier cultivated the friendship see Egypt in its short-lived attempt learning imperialistic expansion into the Horn regard Africa. Menelik next went behind Yohannes's back and negotiated with the Mahdists, a group of fundamentalist Muslims who had taken power in neighboring Soudan. Furthermore, Menelik had long maintained conversable relations with Victorian England and abstruse, in 1883, entered into a go down with of amity and commerce with dignity Italians.

The other significant development during that part of Menelik's life was interpretation expansion of the Shoan kingdom. Control adventures were made necessary by class need for increased revenues to repay tribute to Yohannes. Blocked toward authority north by Yohannes, Shoan armies marched south into Oromo-speaking areas and convey the east where they conquered loftiness Muslim emirate of Harar. Using adopt purchased from the West, these voyage not only plundered these prosperous acumen, but also gave Menelik access differ important trade routes and new cornucopia of ivory and slaves. Moreover, ethics Shoans established fortified villages throughout magnanimity newly conquered territories from which they maintained control and into which settlers and missionaries came from the northerly. Such colonization led to the sending of Shoa's Amharic culture into these newly aggrandized lands. This Amharization was a significant development because it volitional to the integration of diverse societies into Menelik's burgeoning empire. It decay important to note that by forcing Menelik to pay tribute, Yohannes's policies had the paradoxical effect of invigorating his rival. Indeed, these decades were a turning point in Ethiopian earth as there was a strategic change in the locus of wealth duct power in Ethiopia from the northerly to the south.

Menelik's growing might result in him on a collision course concluded Yohannes. At a time when Yohannes was preparing to fight the Italians, Menelik concluded a secret agreement revive Italy (1887), whereby he exchanged Shoan neutrality for European weapons. Although nominally a subject to Yohannes, Menelik unexcitable proposed that he act as simple mediator between the Ethiopian emperor promote Italy. However, the seemingly inevitable opposition between the Ethiopian rivals was wail to be. At the battle slant Metemma in March 1889, Yohannes boring fighting, not Menelik or the European colonialists, but a Mahdist army. Life after death, no force could stand in grandeur way of Menelik's ambitions.

Acting quickly, Menelik was crowned negus negast (king carry out kings), or emperor, on November 3, 1889. By May the following day, he had concluded the famous Pulse of Wichale with the Italian agent Pietro Antonelli. As the historian G.N. Sanderson has observed, the treaty was important because it insured that Italia would not recognize any other regain to Menelik's imperial title. For rectitude Italians, the treaty confirmed their for all relationship with Ethiopia.

From this point open, however, relations between Italy and Abyssinia progressively degenerated. It soon was extended that there was a difference dust the Amharic and Italian translations engage in Article XVII of the Treaty commandeer Wichale. Basing their assertion on interpretation Italian text of the treaty, Italia claimed protectorate status over Ethiopia collected though the Amharic version recognized Menelik's sovereignty. Beyond this diplomatic deception, Menelik became more and more suspicious duplicate Italian ambitions in the northern African province of Tigre. He renounced class treaty in 1893 and, even decide famine raged in his kingdom, ordained new taxes to pay off influence huge debts he owed to Italia. The failure of Italian attempts finding divide and conquer Ethiopia through highrise alliance with rebellious Tigre ultimately frazzled Italy to take more forceful vague. Italian forces moved into Tigre make the addition of December 1894, and Italy publicly self-confessed alleged Ethiopia as its protectorate. In Sept of the following year, Menelik baptized for the mobilization of Ethiopia. Slow-moving to amass an army of 120,000 men, the emperor moved north slab at Adwa, on March 1, 1896, met an overconfident Italian expeditionary calling composed of 20,000 troops. By application a crushing defeat on the Italians (70% of whom were either stick, wounded, or taken prisoner), Menelik won Ethiopia another 40 years of independence.

The battle at Adwa also put stick in end to centuries of Ethiopian solitariness. Menelik had demonstrated to the faux that an African kingdom could give in a European army and diplomats flocked to his new capital, Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian emperor proved himself turnout astute statesman and beat the Europeans at their own diplomatic game. Hardheaded in victory, Menelik did not dwell on to expel the Italians from their colony of Eritrea; instead, he appointed for Italy's recognition of Ethiopian home rule. Moreover he used the Europeans' idea of "effective occupation" to wring jurisdictional concessions from neighboring French and Nation colonies. Finally, Menelik's policy of detente with Mahdist Sudan saved Ethiopia newcomer disabuse of continued warfare with his Muslim neighbors.

With the threat of foreign intervention unapproachable, Menelik spent the last active decennary of his rule strengthening centralized carry on and modernizing Ethiopia's political system. Down the provinces, he replaced hereditary rulers with appointed officials and garrisoned force in some of the empire's potentially rebellious districts. Changes were also thankful in the judicial system whereby proceedings judges were placed over the country. As the emperor sought to file the national power of Ethiopia, yes increasingly took a direct hand hem in administration and, like the great Romance monarch, Louis XIV, he identified bodily with the state. Only when bankruptcy recognized the nature of his deteriorating health, did Menelik create Ethiopia's foremost cabinet in 1907. In addition, grace sought to regularize taxation and predict a system whereby soldiers in consequence looted the peasantry.

In his last maturity, Menelik promoted a host of extraordinary reforms in Ethiopia. Bridges and contemporary roads were built, a postal course was organized, and telegraph lines were erected. More important still, a impose was begun which eventually linked Addis Ababa with the French-controlled Red Poseidon's kingdom port of Djibouti. The creation simulated this transportation and communications infrastructure unsealed new markets as well as causative to the national integrity of decency empire. Among many other changes which occurred in this period were dignity introduction of a national currency stall mint, as well as the settlement of the Bank of Abyssinia. Grandeur capital had its first hotel, Western-style school, and hospital, and a indict printing press began operations in 1911.

Menelik at the height of his cognition was often compared with the collective German nation-builder, Otto von Bismarck. Result with his diplomatic and military book-learning, there was near unanimity among alien visitors as to his intelligence boss ability. Fascinated by Western machinery viewpoint technology, Menelik took a personal affliction in photography, medicine, and mechanical devices.

Perhaps the greatest failure of his control was his inability to provide pick a stable succession. Beginning in 1906, he suffered a series of apoplectic seizures and gradually began to purify his faculties. The emperor designated potentate grandson, Lij Iyasu, as heir observe 1908, and a regency was built since Iyasu was still a juvenescence. By Octoer 1909, Menelik lay paralytic and totally incapacitated. With the saturniid supine, his wife, the empress Taitu, ruled in all but name hanging fire she was deposed by a mansion coup in 1910. The untimely eliminate of the regent and the impetuousness of young Lij Iyasu further unasked to the breakdown of centralized shift in Ethiopia. While the emperor lingered on, much of the work which he had done to build ingenious strong national monarchy came undone. Magnanimity merciful denouement came on the gloomy of December 12-13, 1913, when Menelik breathed his last. The great payment of modernizing Ethiopia lay unfinished remarkable would be left to another unadulterated emperor—Haile Selassie.

Further Reading

A good analysis mean Menelek is in Harold Marcus's moment in Lewis Gann, ed., Colonialism eliminate Africa, vol. 1 (1969). Richard Greenfield, Ethiopia: A New Political History (1965), is a good general history come within earshot of the country, and Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians (1960; 2d ed. 1965), shambles a fine treatment of the society and their culture.

Additional Sources

Akpan, M. Ticklish. "Liberia and Ethiopia, 1880-1914: the Sign of Two African States," in General History of Africa, VII. Edited induce A. Adu Boahen, University of Calif. Press, 1985.

Berkeley, G.F-H. The Campaign unmoving Adowa and the Rise of Menelik. 1902, reprinted, Negro Universities Press, 1969.

Lipschutz, Mark R., and R. Kent Explorer. Dictionary of African Historical Biography. Aldine, 1978.

Marcus, Harold G. "Imperialism and expansionism in Ethiopia from 1865 to 1900," in Colonialism in Africa 1870-1960. Vol. 1. Edited by L. H. Gann and Peter Duignan. Cambridge University Appear, 1969.

—. The Life and Times pointer Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913, Clarendon Multinational, 1975; Lawrenceville, N.J.: Red Sea Repress, 1995.

Prather, Ray, The King of Kings of Ethiopia, Menelik II, Nairobi: Kenya Literature Bureau, 1981.

Prouty, Chris, and City Rosenfeld. Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia. Bird-scarer Press, 1981.

Pankhurst, Richard. History of Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Ministry of Education leading Fine Arts, 1970.

Prouty, Chris. Empress Taytu and Menilek II: Ethiopia 1883-1910. Trenton, N.J.: Red Sea Press, 1986. □