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Biography of Tewodros, IIName: Tewodros, IIBirth Date: 1820 Death Date: April 10, 1868 Place of Birth: Ethiopia Nationality: Ethiopian Gender: Male Occupations: emperor Tewodros, II Tewodros II (1820-1868), also called Theodore II, was a visionary emperor of Ethiopia who tried unsuccessfully to reconstitute and modernize traditional institutions by emulating European technological achievements.Tewodros, or Kassa, as he was baptized, was raised by his half brother Kinfu, a reckless and ruthless warlord whose military and political struggles throughout the 1830s provided training in military skills and small-scale warfare for young Kassa. After Kinfu's death in 1839 Kassa himself became a legendary outlaw during that period of Ethiopian regionalism and disregard for centralized authority as he plundered caravans, sacked villages, and collected booty; but unlike most renegades he then redistributed this wealth to peasants.Attracting many devoted followers, Kassa easily defeated local rivals, captured much of central Ethiopia, and made a temporary yet wise peace with the national clergy. In February 1855 he overpowered his last rivals in the north and sealed the victories by getting himself anointed and crowned …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…break local traditions and adopt the trappings of modern technology. But an unwillingness to share responsibility and an underestimation of the social consequences of his reforms within the context of mid-19th-century Ethiopia proved his undoing.Tewodros probably left Ethiopia as disunited as he had found it; yet, as the first emperor to conceive the idea of a united, strong, and progressive Ethiopian state equal to any in the world, he deserves the title of father of modern Ethiopia. Further Reading The best biography of Tewodros is Sven Rubenson, King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia (1966). Mordechai Abir, Ethiopia: The Era of the Princes (1968), is a careful examination of the turbulent decades that preceded the emergence of Tewodros. Edward Ullendorff, The Ethiopians (2d ed. 1960), is a fine introduction to the peoples and cultures of Ethiopia, and Richard Greenfield, Ethiopia: A New Political History (1965), presents a useful survey of the Ethiopian past. |