Ethiopia 19th century. Ethiopia: Life of the Churches of the Ancient Kingdom. Johannes Maikuddi Church

A little about social lifts in 19th century Ethiopia. Kassa Hailu was the son of a petty Ethiopian feudal lord. He had no special prospects in life, his parents divorced, then his father died and his not too rich property was divided between relatives. Kassa's mother provided herself and her son with a trade in medicine for worms. As a result, Kassa was transferred to a monastery, to study the wisdom of spiritual life and prepare to become a priest. But this was Ethiopia in the 19th century, and soon the monastery in which Kassa studies is burned. The thing is that in Ethiopia, wars are constantly going on between various feudal lords and military leaders. That's how it happened this time too. Dejazmach (high military and court title in Ethiopia) Wubi Haile Mariam fights with the race (prince) Ali. Ali was a very important race, and was ruled by the Emperor of Ethiopia, Yohannis III, who was forced to marry his mother. And Wubi, in addition to a high title, owned a large number of lands taken from other no less high feudal lords. And so these two respected tall people decided to find out which of them is higher and more respected. Christian Wubi accused Christian Ali of being a Muslim because his family uses Muslim names. For Christian Ethiopia, the charges are serious enough. Emperor Yohannis, having learned about the mess, decided to change his patron and fled to Wubi. In response, Ali simply appointed another emperor, Sahle Dingyl. In general, Sahle-Dingyl had previously been the emperor twice. But for the first time, the clergy did not like him, and instead of him they appointed Gebre-Krystos as emperor, who had also already managed to be emperor before. But Gebre-Krystos dies three months later, and Sahle-Dingyl is again appointed emperor. In general, another dude was supposed to become the emperor, but Sahle-Dingyl cut off his head. In the end, I had to choose it. But then, anyway, he was replaced by Yohannis III. But when Yohannis fled to the Wubi camp, the finest hour of Sahle-Dingyla came again, and there were two emperors in Ethiopia. One sought protection from Wubi, and the other was subordinate to Ali. When the armies of Wubi and Ali met, both watched the battle in the distance. And both decided that they were losing the battle and fled from the battlefield. However, Wubi's troops gain the upper hand over Ali's troops and see that their leader has fled. In pursuit of Wubi, a messenger is sent with a message in the spirit of "my lord, return, we have won." Joyful Wubi returns and occupies Ali's palace, arranging noisy festivities to celebrate his victory. But in the midst of the celebration, a small group of Ali's officers rush into the hall and capture Wubi. Now Ali's people are looking for their leader. After a long search, they find him hiding in a monastery, where he is told the good news - they say, come back, my lord, we have won. Ali was so dumbfounded by this good news that he almost agreed with Wubi for a draw. We agreed that Wubi would pay tribute and disperse in peace. During these events, the monastery in which the son of a saleswoman of medicine for worms studied and was burned by Ali's soldiers. All that was left for poor Kass Haile was to enter military service with one of the local princes. But he did not like this business too much, and as a result he put together a gang of robbers. But the robbers Kassa turned out to be noble. He took from the rich and distributed to the poor. This made him quite popular among the people, and soon his band of robbers grew to the size of an entire army. Instead of robbing the rich, Kassa began to seize entire territories. Kassa even tries to attack the Turks in neighboring Egypt, but he does not succeed very well, because, unlike the Ethiopian feudal armies, the Turks were armed with modern weapons and were well disciplined. Having mastered this experience, Kassa begins to introduce discipline in his gang-army and find ways to arm it with modern weapons. The frightened rulers of Ethiopia, the races Ali and Yohannis III, who was again made emperor, decide to appease and bring closer to themselves the commander who came from nowhere. They recognize his right to the seized property, and marry his daughter Ali. However, Kassa was the son of a saleswoman for medicine for worms, and still did not enjoy special honor in the imperial family, being subjected to constant humiliation. His wife, Ali's daughter, apparently did not want to be married to some disrespectful person, and persuaded him to raise uprisings against his own father and grandmother. Which Kassa did in 1852. He defeated the best imperial military leader and avenged him for humiliation from the imperial family. Since they constantly reminded him of his origin, he made the captive military leader drink medicine for worms until he died. After that, he took prisoner and the empress, the grandmother of his wife, and did the worst thing that can be done with an aristocrat. Made her work. Now the former empress broke grain by hand with two large stones. In the face of a new danger, all the highest feudal lords of Ethiopia forgot their feuds and united against Kassa, gathering a great, by Ethiopian standards, army. But Kassa defeated them all and in 1855 declared himself Emperor of Ethiopia Tewodros II. All those who disagreed, he began to chop off the legs and arms, and partly executed notable rivals, partly took their children prisoner. Now he became a respected man, and his wife was no longer ashamed to be married to him. However, not for long - she died soon. Tewodros became a fairly progressive emperor. He unified Ethiopia, created a unified army, reduced taxes for the poor, banned slavery, confiscated land from the church and led a fight against the clergy, began building roads in the country, tried to organize the production of firearms. He was even going to build modern ships. In general, Kassa-Tewodros tried to modernize the country by creating a modern state on the European model. For this purpose, he even took counselors from England. But ... It was Ethiopia, 19th century. The century of colonialism and imperialism. The British were somewhat surprised at the insolence of the Ethiopian emperor. They did not need a developed modern state in Africa, because Africa is needed to create European colonies. Yes, and relations with England deteriorated somewhat due to the fact that Tewodros was passionate about English help, and sent a letter to Queen Victoria asking for more weapons and instructors. But Tewodros was only an African king, and they did not even deign to show his letter to the queen. This upset Tewodros so much that he ordered the arrest of all Europeans in Ethiopia in general. This, in turn, upset the British. Of course, after a few years they still showed the letter to Queen Victoria, and she even answered it. But she did not send weapons and instructors. But she sent her envoy with demands to free the Europeans. But the Emperor of Ethiopia decided to arrest him too. The British did not like this very much. 32 thousand selected British army soldiers landed on the coast of the Red Sea to punish the arrogant Ethiopian king. And in Ethiopia itself, the real game of thrones continued, the constant uprisings of the clergy and feudal wars with competitors to the throne did not subside. However, Tewodros tried to resist the British forces. He put up against them a huge cannon "Sevastopol", cast by his order by European missionaries, but somehow it did not help much. It was a wonder weapon by Ethiopian standards, but the British were somehow unimpressed. And when Sevastopol fired its first shot, the huge wonder-gun exploded and became completely useless. The Ethiopian army was defeated and Tewodros was besieged in the fortress. All that's left is to commit suicide. The pistol Queen Victoria sent him.

Ethiopia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries

In the middle of the 19th century, the feudal lord Kas of Kuara took up the unification of Ethiopia into a centralized state. Relying on the small-scale feudal lords, in 1853 he defeated the ruler of the central regions - the Ali race, then after stubborn battles he defeated the ruler of the Tigre region, the Uybe race.

In 1855, Casa proclaimed himself emperor under the name Tewodros II.

Tewodros led a determined struggle against feudal separatism. A regular army was created. The tax system has been reorganized. The slave trade is prohibited. A part of the land was taken away from the church, the remaining possessions were taxed. The number of internal customs offices was reduced, roads were built, and European technicians and artisans were invited to Ethiopia.

However, the imposition of taxes on the clergy led to their organizing a war against Tewodros, by the forces of the feudal lords. By 1867, the power of Tewodros extended only to a small part of the country. In the same year, there was an incident with the arrest in Ethiopia of several subjects of the British crown, and in October 1867 a corps of British troops landed in Ethiopia. The only battle between the warriors of the emperor and the British took place on April 10, 1868. In that battle, 2 thousand British defeated 5 thousand Ethiopians, thanks to superiority in military discipline and weapons. After that, Tewodros tried to make peace by freeing those arrested and sending a lot of cattle as a gift to the British. However, the British rejected peace and launched an assault on the city of Mackdala, where the emperor was. Not wanting to surrender, Tewodros committed suicide. The British took Makdala, destroyed all Ethiopian artillery, took the imperial crown as a trophy, and left Ethiopia in June 1868.

In 1875, Egyptian troops invaded Ethiopia. In November 1875, the Ethiopians succeeded in defeating the main grouping of Egyptian troops at the Battle of Gundet. However, in December 1875, Egypt landed a new expeditionary force at Massawa. In March 1876, the Ethiopians managed to defeat him at the Battle of Gur. Peace between Ethiopia and Egypt was concluded in June 1884, Ethiopia received the right to use the port of Massawa.

In 1885, Emperor Yohannis IV launched a war against Mahdist Sudan. In 1885-86, Ethiopian troops successfully advanced, but at the same time, the occupation of the northern regions of Ethiopia by Italy began.

In 1888, Emperor Yohannis offered peace to Sudan. The Caliph of Sudan Abdullah put forward an unacceptable condition - Yohannis's acceptance of Islam. In early 1889, Yohannis personally led an army of 150,000 to Sudan, and in March 1889 he was mortally wounded in a battle on the border.

The new emperor Menelik II suppressed separatism in Gojama, Amhara, Tigris and recreated a single Ethiopian state. In 1889, an agreement was concluded between Italy and Ethiopia, according to which some territories of northern Ethiopia (in particular, the Asmara region) withdrew to Italy.

In 1890, Italy united all its possessions on the Red Sea into the colony of Eritrea and announced that, under the treaty of 1889, Ethiopia recognized the Italian protectorate over itself. This led to the resumption of hostilities from 1894 between Ethiopia and Italy.

At the end of 1894, Italian troops occupied the cities of Addi-Ugri, Addi-Grath and Adua. By October 1895, the Italians had occupied the entire Tigre region. Emperor Menelik sent a 120,000-strong army, formed from the detachments of the rulers of the regions of Ethiopia, to the war against the Italians. On December 7, 1895, at the battle of Amba Alag, Ethiopian troops under the command of Ras Makonnin inflicted a major defeat on the Italian troops. Emperor Menelik offered peace to Italy, but after the refusal, hostilities resumed, and on March 1, 1896, the Battle of Adua took place, in which the Italians were completely defeated. In 1893-98, Emperor Menelik conquered the regions of Walamo, Sidamo, Kafa, Gimir and others. He issued a decree allowing only prisoners of war to be enslaved for a period not exceeding 7 years. Emperor Menelik stepped up the construction of roads, telegraph and telephone lines, developed domestic and foreign trade. During the reign of Menelik, the first hospital was opened in Ethiopia and the first newspaper was published. In 1897, Emperor Menelik ordered the establishment of diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Russia.

After the death of Menelik in 1913, his 17-year-old grandson Lij Iyasu became emperor. Ethiopia did not formally participate in the First World War, but Emperor Iyasu actively pursued a course of rapprochement with Germany, counting on her as an ally in the fight against the British, French and Italians.

In September 1916, Emperor Iyasu was overthrown. The 40-year-old daughter of Menelik Zauditu was declared empress, and 24-year-old Tafari Makkonen was the regent, that is, the de facto ruler. After the coup of 1916, Tafari Makkonen received the title races(roughly corresponds to the prince), and is now revered by fans as "the god of Rastafari."

Basic moments

The territory of modern Ethiopia is included in the most ancient area of ​​the formation of human ancestors: the age of stone tools discovered here is estimated at about 3 million years. In almost all epochs of antiquity, the country was relatively densely populated, developed by the economy, from the first centuries of our era, powerful states existed on its territory. In the IV-VI centuries, Ethiopia carried on a lively trade with the Roman-Byzantine Empire, India, and the countries of the Middle East. At the same time, Christianity penetrated here. Only for short periods did Ethiopia come under the rule of one or another European state (for example, at the end of the 19th century, Italy formed the colony of Eritrea, which existed for only a few years).

The western and central part of the country is occupied by the Ethiopian Highlands with an average altitude of 1800 m above sea level, although individual mountain ranges and peaks reach 3000 and even 4000 m.The highest peak in Ethiopia is Mount Ras Dashan (4623 m) in the mountains of Simmen. In general, the plateau is characterized by flat-topped mountains, similar to giant tables. The cones of volcanoes rise above the plateau, mostly extinct. In their dilapidated craters, lakes are often formed, surrounded by a border of tropical greenery. From the Red Sea to the south, Ethiopia is crossed by a rift zone (northern part of the African Great Rift System)... In the deep Afar depression, separated from the Red Sea by the low Danakil ridge, the Assale salt lake lies at an elevation of 116 m below sea level. Awash river valley and a chain of rift lakes (the largest is Lake Abai) stretching to Lake Rudolph in neighboring Kenya, separate the Ethiopian Highlands from the Ethiopian-Somali plateau occupying the southeast of the country with prevailing heights of up to 1500 m and individual peaks up to 4310 m (Mount Batu)... Due to active faults, Ethiopia is characterized by increased seismicity: earthquakes up to magnitude 5 occur annually, and even stronger once every five years. There are also many hot springs in the rift zone.

The largest river in the country - Abbay (Blue Nile)... Outflowing from Lake Tana, Abbay forms a large and picturesque waterfall Tis-Ysat, and then flows for 500 km in a canyon 1200-1500 m deep. Other large rivers flowing into the Indian Ocean, the Webi-Shebeli and Juba, as well as another tributary Neela - Atbara.

The climate of Ethiopia is subequatorial hot, seasonally humid, in the northeast - tropical desert and semi-desert. Afar depression is one of the hottest places on Earth (average minimum temperature 25 ° C, maximum 35 ° C), but in most of the highlands, due to the altitude, which softens the heat, the average monthly temperatures range from 15 to 26 ° C. Night frosts occur in the mountains. At the same time, on the coasts, the hottest month is May, the coldest month is January, and in the mountains it is vice versa: the coldest month is July, the hottest months are December and January. It rains mainly from July to September, although there is also a “small wet season” in March – April. The dry season lasts from September to February. Average annual precipitation - from 200-500 mm in the plains to 1000-1500 mm (even up to 2000 mm) in the mountains of the central and southwestern regions. The plains often suffer from severe droughts when there is no rain almost all year round.

A third of the country's territory is occupied by deserts and semi-deserts, especially the lifeless rocky deserts of the Afar depression and the Danakil desert. In the east of Ethiopia, there are grassy savannas and forest savannas with umbrella-shaped acacias, and in the southwestern part of the country, in river valleys and in the mountains at an altitude of 1700-1800 m, rainforests grow with palms, wild coffee trees, arboreal milkweed, sycamores (giant figs)... At altitudes of more than 3000 m, tropical analogs of alpine forests are developed. The fauna is still rich, despite the extermination of animals over the centuries: elephants, zebras, antelopes, lions, servals, leopards, hyenas are found in the savannas, ostriches are found in the Danakil semi-desert. The world of birds is especially diverse, and in the coastal waters of the Red Sea, the fauna of coral reefs is of great interest. To protect the fauna, reserves and national parks have been created: on the Avash River, Abiyata Lake, Mannagash Forest Park, etc.

Most of Ethiopia's population (total - about 103 million people) refers to the Ethiopian race - as if intermediate between the Caucasian and Negroid. Thin facial features, wavy hair, tall stature and chocolate-colored skin make the majority of Ethiopians extraordinarily beautiful. The peoples of the country speak Semitic (this includes the state - Amharic) and Kushite languages. Part of the population belongs to the Negroid race. The Amhara and Oromo peoples make up 3/4 of the population. The two main religions are Islam and Christianity, but approximately 10% of residents adhere to local traditional beliefs. The main occupations are agriculture, cattle breeding, and crafts. Most residents build round huts with a cone-shaped thatch roof. Traditional clothing is preserved - long dresses and capes, often decorated with ornaments and rich embroidery.

The capital of the country - Addis Ababa, located at an altitude of 2400 m, is called the "city of eternal spring" because of the temperate climate all year round. The city was founded in 1885, but now it is dominated by modern buildings. Addis Ababa is famous for its huge bazaar. The second largest city - Asmara - is located in the north of the country. It is also considered the most comfortable and beautiful city in Ethiopia. Gondar (north of Lake Tana) until the middle of the 19th century, it was the capital of the empire, which is reminiscent of the castles of the 16th – 18th centuries; it houses a historical museum.

Ethiopia cities

All cities in Ethiopia

Ethiopia landmarks

All sights of Ethiopia

History

The modern territory of Ethiopia belongs to the most ancient, East African, area of ​​the formation of man as a biological species. The age of the archaeological remains of the remains of Australopithecus and Homo habilis in Ethiopia is estimated at 2.5-2.1 million years. During the formation of the first state formations in Egypt and Mesopotamia, the settlement of Ethiopia by representatives of the Semitic-Hamitic, Nilotic-Kushite and other linguistic groups began. The formation of the most ancient associations in the south of the Arabian Peninsula - the Khadramaut, Qataban and Sabaean kingdoms - c. 1000 BC NS. accelerated the process of resettlement of part of the population from South Arabia (modern Yemen) to present-day Eritrea and North-East Ethiopia. As a result, by the 7th century BC. NS. these territories were included in the Kingdom of Sheba. It was this circumstance that allowed the early medieval Ethiopian propaganda to proclaim the Ethiopian royal family of Solomonids as descendants of the Israelite-Jewish king Solomon and the biblical Queen of Sheba, known in the Ethiopian tradition as Makeda or Bilkis.

The ancient Greeks called all blacks in Africa, primarily the Nubians, Ethiopians, but now this name is assigned to the territory also known as Abyssinia. It was here, at the beginning of our era, as a result of the unification of a number of small tribal formations, known from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. NS. a large Aksumite kingdom was formed, which reached its peak in the III-VI centuries. n. NS. Axum was active in trade with Egypt, Arabia, Syria, Parthia (later - Persia), India, exporting ivory, incense and gold in large quantities. During his political dominance in the region, Axum extended his influence to Nubia, South Arabia, the Ethiopian Highlands and northern Somalia. Since the reign of the Roman emperor Constantine the Great (IV century) begins the intensified penetration of Christianity from Egypt, Rome and Asia Minor to Axum, associated with the preaching of the teachings of Christ by Edessa and the first bishop of Abyssinian Frumentius. The year 329 is considered the founding date of the Monophysite Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which remained dependent on the Egyptian Coptic Church until 1948. By the 6th century, Christianity was established as the dominant religion in Ethiopia, which became the first Christian country in Tropical Africa. In 451, during the schism of the Christian Church, at the Council of Chalcedon, Copts expressed support for the Monophysite trend, and representatives of the Ethiopian Church took the same position.

At the beginning of the 6th century, in order to avenge the oppression of the local Christian population by their rulers, the army of King Caleb of Aksum invaded southern Arabia. Around the same time, Judaism began to penetrate Ethiopia, which had a noticeable influence on the rituals of the Ethiopian Church; in addition, some of the Aksumites became followers of Judaism. (The descendants of these converts, the Falasha, who lived in the north of the country, have now almost completely emigrated to Israel. Their emigration began in the mid-1980s and ended in 1991.) Although the Aksumite ruler Armagh granted refuge to the first followers of the Prophet Muhammad during their persecution in Arabia in the 7th century, the spread of Islam led to the isolation of the Aksumite kingdom. The Ethiopians hid behind their rugged mountains and, as Gibbon wrote, "slept for almost a thousand years, forgetting about the world around them, which also forgot about them." However, many of the country's rulers tried to maintain ties with Western European Christian countries.

According to Ethiopian tradition, the genealogy of the imperial family goes back to the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. It is believed that the hereditary right to the imperial throne of the Solomon dynasty was interrupted for about two centuries by representatives of the Zague dynasty. At the end of the 13th century. the ruler of Shoah ascended the throne, having proved his belonging to the Solomonids. This was followed by a period of religious and cultural revival, when the royal chronicles and numerous works of a spiritual nature were created, the most significant of which was Kebre Nagest (Glory of the kings) containing a story about the journey of the Queen of Sheba to Jerusalem.

At the end of the 15th century. A small group of Portuguese and other Europeans, who went in search of the kingdom of High Priest John, fanned by legends in medieval Europe, arrived in Ethiopia. The Portuguese hoped to make this Christian country an ally in the fight against Muslims and the growing Ottoman Empire. After, after 1531, Ethiopia began to suffer one defeat after another from the army of Imam Adal Ahmed ibn Ibrahim, known as Gran (Lefty), and lost most of its territory, the emperor turned to Portugal for help. In 1541, a detachment of 400 Portuguese landed in Massawa, led by Christopher da Gama, the son of the famous navigator Vasco da Gama. Most of the detachment, including its leader, died in the battle with the Muslims. With the assistance of the surviving Portuguese, a new Ethiopian army was created, armed with muskets (until that time, only the soldiers of the Edge had firearms)... In 1543, this army defeated the enemy, and Ahmed Gran himself died in the battle.

Attempts by the Portuguese and later the Jesuits to impose Catholicism on the population of the country led to numerous conflicts. Eventually, in 1633, the Jesuits were expelled from Ethiopia. For the next 150 years, the country was almost completely isolated from Europe. The foundation of the capital in Gondar dates back to this period, where several stone castles were built. In the middle of the 18th century. the power of the emperor fell into decay, and the country was engulfed in feudal strife. In 1769, the English traveler James Bruce visited Ethiopia, trying to find the sources of the Nile. In 1805, the British mission acquired a trading port on the coast of the Red Sea. At the beginning of the 19th century. other Europeans also visited the country. In 1855, Tewodros, one of the most capable military leaders of the time, seized the imperial throne, revived the power and authority of the supreme power and tried to unite and reform the country.

After Queen Victoria did not reply to a letter sent to her by Tewodros for two years, several British officials were imprisoned by the emperor at the Mackdall prison. All attempts to achieve their release by diplomatic methods have led nowhere. In 1867, a military expeditionary force under the command of General Robert Napier was sent to Ethiopia to free the prisoners. Having disembarked from ships on January 7, 1868 in the town of Mulkutto on the shores of the Gulf of Zula, Napier's detachment, numbering more than 10 thousand people, set off on a 650-kilometer route to Mekdela through the rugged mountainous terrain. The British received help and food from local residents who were dissatisfied with the emperor Tewodros, primarily the Tygrai. On the other hand, Tewodros was also advancing towards Mekdale, whose power by this time had been shaken, and the ranks of the imperial army had thinned out. On April 13, 1868, this mountain fortress fell under the onslaught of British troops. During the assault, not wanting to fall into the hands of enemies, Tewodros shot himself. The British troops soon left Ethiopia.

After the death of Tewodros, Yohannis IV, ruler of Tigray, an ally of the British in their war with Tewodros, became emperor. His twenty-year reign, full of turbulent events, began with the suppression of attempts by other claimants to seize the throne. Subsequently, many battles with external enemies fell to the lot of Yohannis: Italians, Mahdists and Egyptians. The Italians, who had acquired the port of Assab in 1869, in 1885, with the consent of the British, seized Massawa, which had previously belonged to Egypt. In 1884 Great Britain and Egypt promised the emperor that Ethiopia would receive the right to use Massawa, but the Italians soon closed access there and began to systematically move deeper into Ethiopia. In January 1887, the emperor's soldiers defeated the Italians at the town of Dogali and forced them to retreat. Then Yohannis entered into hostilities with the Mahdists, who now and then invaded Ethiopia from Sudan. In March 1889 he was mortally wounded in one of the battles. Negus Shoa Menelik became the emperor of Ethiopia, who enjoyed the support of Italy for several years. Shoah Menelik made successful military campaigns against the rebellious provinces and achieved a significant consolidation of the Ethiopian state. During his reign, reforms began to modernize the country.

On May 2, 1889, shortly before the official act of coronation, Menelik concluded the Uchchal Treaty with Italy, according to which the Italians received the right to occupy Asmara. Outwardly, very friendly relations were established between the two countries. However, the said treaty became the source of many problems. The Amharic copy of the treaty provided that Ethiopia, if it deems it necessary, could resort to Italy's "good offices" in relations with other powers. In the Italian text of the treaty, it was stated that Ethiopia was obliged to do just that. In practice, this meant Italy's complete control over Ethiopia's foreign policy. Using its text of the treaty, Italy declared that, based on the provisions of the General Act of the Berlin Conference of 1885, it had the right to establish its protectorate over Ethiopia. The persistence of Italian diplomacy in upholding a favorable interpretation of the Treaty of Uchchal led to its denunciation by the Ethiopian side on May 11, 1893.

In 1895-1896, Italian expansion in the region continued with an attempt to increase colonial possessions at the expense of Ethiopia, but the military campaign of the Italian Expeditionary Force, supported by Eritrean auxiliary forces, ended in a disastrous defeat at the Battle of Adua. The Negus of Ethiopia was in a position where he could have tried to recapture part of Eritrea, but preferred a peace agreement.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a dynastic conflict took place in the country, the result of which was the enthronement of Emperor Haile Selassie, who carried out limited reforms in the country aimed at modernizing Ethiopian society.

In 1935-1936, fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia again. The invaders had a complete military advantage, but they still used chemical weapons several times. The League of Nations condemned the aggression sluggishly and was inconsistent with the introduction of sanctions, in which Soviet historiography saw an important stage in the dismantling of the collective security system in Europe. The Italian occupation of the country continued until 1941, when the British army, supported by auxiliary forces recruited from the African colonies, conquered Ethiopia and Eritrea.

After the war, Selassie continued to rule as an absolute monarch. By the early 70s, his position was criticized from all sides of the political space, and the large-scale famine of the early 70s, which led to large human casualties, made a big contribution to further events.

In 1974, measures to improve the economy resulted in a sharp increase in prices and led to massive protests; the situation was used by a group of military men with Marxist political views, organizationally formed in the summer of the same year in a committee called "Derg". He led the process of dismantling the monarchy, also known as the "creeping coup." By mid-autumn, Derg had almost completely subdued all administrative structures and proclaimed a course towards building a socialist society. From 1975 to 1991, the USSR and the countries of Eastern Europe provided comprehensive assistance to Ethiopia.

On August 25, 1975, the deposed Emperor Haile Selassie I died under suspicious circumstances. In 1976-1977 Derg strengthened his position by reprisals against opponents, both royalists and separatists, and with the "left"; this campaign is also known as the Red Terror. At this stage, the leader of Derg was Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Taking advantage of the country's difficult situation during this period, the Somali army intensively supported the separatist movement of ethnic Somalis in the southeastern region of the country, Ogaden, and in 1977-1978 tried to annex Ogaden by force. These events are known as the War of Ogaden. Cuba, the USSR and South Yemen rendered great assistance in the fight against the enemy of Ethiopia.

The task to bring Ethiopia out of the feudal society into the communist regime was never able to fulfill. Attempts to collectivize agriculture only led to its further degradation. In 1984, famine broke out in the country, far exceeding the scale and number of victims of the pandemic of the early 70s. The Mengistu government was also unable to resolve the Eritrean issue; despite large-scale military operations against the separatists, it was not possible to achieve a decisive victory.

In the late 1980s, amid the growing crisis in the USSR, the Mengistu government found itself in a critical situation, and as a result, in May 1991, it was overthrown as a result of the activities of the alliance of rebel movements, in which Eritrean groups played the main role.

A group of rebel leaders came to power in the country, according to the convictions of extreme left-wing Marxists, who began as supporters of Enver Hoxha, then changed their ideological orientation to a more liberal one. Since then, the country has been permanently headed by the representative of this group, Meles Zenawi, first as president, then, after the introduction of a parliamentary republic, as prime minister.

In the field of foreign policy, the Zenawi government allowed the separation of Eritrea in 1993, but then there was a period of cooling relations with the former allies who came to power in the new state. Nadir in relations between neighbors was achieved in 1998-2000, when the Ethiopo-Eritrean conflict broke out in the border zone, which ended with a slight preponderance of Ethiopia. The question of the border between the countries is still unresolved. In 1997, 2000 and 2006, Ethiopia also took an active part in the fate of Somalia. In the latter case, the Ethiopian army defeated the formations of local Islamists and installed a transitional government loyal to Ethiopia, headed by Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, in Mogadishu.

The culture

Ethiopia is the only traditionally Christian African country. One of her main religions is Eastern Christianity. (Ethiopian Church), the position of Islam is also strong in all peripheral regions. The Ethiopian Church adheres to Monophysitism.

1994 Census: Christians - 60.8% (Orthodox - 50.6%, Protestants - 10.2%), Muslims - 32.8%, African cults - 4.6%, others - 1.8%.

For a long time, literature was created mainly in the gyz language and had mainly religious content. True, already at the end of the 13th century. the first royal chronicles appeared on parchment. In the 19th century. the first works in the Amharic language were created, and shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, the first printing press appeared in the country. Last but not least, in order to support the development of modern literature in Amharic, during his regency, Emperor Haile Selassie I founded the publishing house "Byrhan enna Saleam" ("Light and Peace")... Most literary works were characterized by a moralizing orientation. Many dramatic works were created after the liberation of the country from the Italian occupation, and they were staged either on the stage of the National Theater or by the efforts of university students. In the early 1990s, Addis Ababa had three daily newspapers in Amharic and one in English.

The traditional visual arts of Ethiopia were dominated by a predominantly Byzantine style. After 1930, commercial art developed significantly, focused on the needs of tourists. In works of this kind, there was often a plot of the visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon, and they were a series of luboks, each of which supplemented the other. Around the same time, artists began to paint the walls of pubs and bars with images of national heroes and saints.

Ethiopia's cuisine is in many ways similar to the cuisine of its neighboring countries - Somalia and Eritrea. The main feature of Ethiopian cuisine is the absence of cutlery and plates: they are replaced by figs - the traditional teff flatbread. Another striking feature is the presence of a large amount of spices.

Coffee is the pride of Ethiopia. Whole rituals are developed here, like the Chinese tea ceremonies, from roasting coffee beans to drinking coffee.

There are many vegetarian dishes in Ethiopian cuisine - there are many Muslims and Orthodox Christians who observe strict religious fasts. In general, Ethiopian cuisine is distinguished by a wide variety of flavors and aromas created by the unique combination of spices and vegetables.

Economy

The backbone of the Ethiopian economy is low-profit consumer agriculture. In the 70s, economic growth was no more than 5%. And the revolutionary changes led to an even greater decline in GDP growth. Complicated economic situation and the loss of Ethiopia ports on the Red Sea. Severe droughts and crop failures led to a humanitarian disaster at the end of the 20th century. By the end of the 20th century, the economic situation in Ethiopia began to improve. GDP growth was about 8% per year. Thanks to the easing of customs regimes, the level of investment in the country's economy has increased. The main investors are China, India and Saudi Arabia. The basis of economic development in recent years has been foreign loans and humanitarian aid.

Agriculture is the main branch of the Ethiopian economy, providing 85% of jobs. It provides about 45% of GDP and 62% of the country's exports. Coffee accounted for 39.4% of exports in 2001-2002. Coffee is Ethiopia's gift to the world. This country is the main producer of Arabica coffee in Africa. Tea is another important crop. Endowed with vast agro-climatic zones and diverse resources, Ethiopia processes all types of grains, fibers, peanuts, coffee, tea, flowers, as well as fruits and vegetables. More than 140 varieties are currently being cultivated in Ethiopia. Potentially non-irrigated land is estimated at 10 million hectares. Livestock farming in Ethiopia is one of the most developed and numerous in Africa. Fishing and forestry are also significant industries. There is great potential for investment in these industries.

Ethiopia's diverse agro-climatic conditions favor the cultivation of a wide range of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Vegetable growing and flowers are the most dynamically developing sectors of the economy. In 2002, more than 29,000 tons of fruit products and 10 tons of flowers were exported. It is no exaggeration to say that the floriculture sector is the most attractive investment in the entire Ethiopian economy.

Ethiopia is the largest country in Africa in terms of livestock and is also among the ten largest in the world in terms of this indicator. Ethiopia has 35 million cattle, 16 million rams and 10 million goats.

Ethiopia has 3.3 million hives and is the main producer and exporter of honey and beeswax in Africa. This industry offers excellent investment prospects.

Industry accounts for approximately 15% of GDP. The food, textile, leather, woodworking, chemical and metallurgical industries are mainly developed. During the first quarter of 2001, Ethiopia exported approximately 54.8 million birr worth of food.

The financial sector is very underdeveloped, which slows down the country's development. There is no stock exchange in Ethiopia. Banking is underdeveloped.

Politics

Ethiopia is a federal parliamentary republic with the prime minister as the head of government. The executive power is exercised by the government. Federal legislative power is concentrated in the hands of the two houses of parliament. The head of state is the president.

According to Article 78 of the Ethiopian Constitution, the judiciary is completely independent from the executive and legislative branches. However, according to foreign research reports, Ethiopia ranks 106th out of 167 countries in the ranking of democratic government. Cambodia is ahead of it, ranking 105th; Ethiopia is followed by Burundi with 107th place.

In June 1994, elections were held for a constituent assembly, whose members were 547 deputies. In December of the same year, the assembly adopted the modern Constitution of Ethiopia. In May and June 1995, Ethiopia held the first popular elections for a national parliament and elections for regional governments. However, most of the opposition parties decided to boycott this election. As a result, the Ethiopian People's Democratic Revolutionary Front won the victory. International and non-governmental observers concluded that the elections were held without violations, and opposition parties had the opportunity to participate in the elections if they expressed such a desire.

By the middle of the XIX century. the country was in decline, torn apart by constant internecine fights of feudal lords. There was a breath of change when, in the early 1850s, Casa from Kuara, the son of a petty feudal lord from the North, appeared on the country's political arena. His actions aimed at creating a strong central government found support from the peasants, who suffered most from feudal fragmentation. In the history of Ethiopia, a period began when the policy of the ruler largely became subordinate to the interests of the whole people. A certain role in the centralization of the country was also played by the threat of external danger that existed on the northern borders of the state. Here, every now and then, they had to engage in battles with the Egyptians, who cherished plans to capture all of Ethiopia.

In the 30s of the XIX century. in Ethiopia, three politically autonomous associations arose. This is Gondar, where Ras Ali was the ruler. This is Tigre and Symen. And finally, Shoah. Emperor Yohan-nys III was in fact only the nominal head of Ethiopia. Kasa Hailu (future emperor) was born in 1818 in the north of Ethiopia into the family of a petty feudal lord. He served as a soldier in his uncle's detachment. Leaving his uncle's service a few years later, Casa organized his own detachment. People from all over the region began to flock to him.

Kasa became an increasingly prominent figure in the Amhara political arena. His rise to power is the battle with the vassals of the ruler of the region, increasing his army and ultimately defeating the troops of the Ras Ali himself. After the victory over one of the most powerful rulers of Ethiopia, which was the Ali race, and in June 1853 all of Northern Ethiopia, with the exception of Tigray, came under the control of Kasa. In the decisive battle with the army of the ruler Tigray, the question of the future emperor of Ethiopia was practically decided. The battle took place on February 10, 1855. Having won the victory, literally the next day after the battle, the ceremony of coronation of the new emperor of Ethiopia took place. He adopted a new name - Tewodros, the name that the people ascribed to the expected messiah. During his coronation, Tewodros II (1855-1868) announced his primary task: "I swear by this crown of my ancestors that I will gather under my rule all the provinces that were part of the empire in the past." Of the large regions of the state that retained their independence from the central government, the Shoah region remained. The army of the emperor by this time numbered about 60 thousand soldiers and had no equal. The Shoan army was not ready to fight back. Having conquered the last independence of the region of Ethiopia, Tewodros completed his primary task. The emperor made the capital of the united Ethiopia the city of Magdala in the center of the country. "

The unification of Ethiopia proceeded by military means. Tewodros used weapons to force individual feudal lords to submit to the imperial power. This, however, did not mean that they gave up their struggle for independence forever. In the period from 1855 to 1S57 alone, 17 attempts were made on the life of the emperor. This prompted a backlash from Tewodros, using brutal, ruthless measures against riots and conspiracies. With the help of repression, he tried to preserve the political unity of the state, which was constantly threatened by the rebellions of the feudal lords.

At a certain stage, the Christian Church also began to oppose Tewodros. Although from the very beginning the Ethiopian Church found in him a zealous preacher of religious dogmas, who throughout his reign defended the "true faith" by word and sword, nevertheless a conflict between the emperor and the clergy occurred. It was based on purely economic reasons. Tewodros could not come to terms with the fact that no taxes were received from the church estates to the state treasury. Measures aimed at undermining the economic situation of the church provoked fierce resistance from her. Unlike feudal uprisings, which were of a local nature, the church acted as a united front. From Tewodros, in the process of reforming society, the peasants began to move away. Their moods were also influenced by church anti-government sermons, and the protests against him by their feudal overlords, but most importantly, the continuing state of complete lawlessness.

After the end of the military campaigns, the emperor embarked on a series of internal reforms. He reorganized the state administration system, dividing the country into smaller districts than before, and putting loyal people at the head of them. Taxes now went directly to the imperial treasury, and not as before - to the treasury of the feudal lords. Tewodros tried to deprive the large feudal lords of the right to have their own court and their own armies.

One of the emperor's decrees concerned the elimination of the slave trade. It also contained an order that all people of the state find a job. The decree read: "For the peasants to return to agriculture, merchants to trade, and each person to his work." According to the emperor, this should have stopped the banditry that was spreading in the country.

The innovations also affected the judicial system. Tewodros declared himself the supreme judge and every day found time to deal with the complaints of his subjects. In all regions of the country, judicial officials were appointed who administered justice in the name of the emperor, while the right to the death penalty was the prerogative of the emperor himself. Attempts were made to reform and in the field of morals. Namely, Tewodros opposed polygamy widespread in the country. Issued a law that every Christian can have only one wife. To set an example, he himself removed all of his concubines.

In matters of relations between church and state, he did everything possible to change the previous situation, when the church had a decisive influence on secular power. Now he sought to subordinate her to secular power.

Tewodros paid the most serious attention to the army. The attempt to create a nationwide regular army was accompanied by the establishment of salaries for soldiers, the introduction of a training system for troops. With the desire to strengthen the army's combat power, to increase its mobility, he intended to establish the production of his own weapons (in particular, guns) and begin the construction of roads.

The first attempt to make a cannon dates back to 1853. After becoming emperor, he attracted European artisans who were then in Ethiopia for their production. Several guns were cast, the largest of which weighing 70 tons was named "Sevastopol".

In general, the reforms of Tewodros did not undermine the foundations of Ethiopian feudalism, but were aimed at revitalizing the traditional bureaucratic structure of the empire, but on a clearer and stronger basis. With the death of Tewodros, many of the reforms he initiated quickly came to naught.

Having strengthened his position within the country, the emperor also made big plans in the field of foreign policy. He considered his primary task to ensure the exit of Ethiopia to the sea, on the coast of which the Turks and the Egyptians vassal from them dominated.

Striving to establish contacts with the European powers, the reason for which was the desire to get the sending of artisans and craftsmen from there, at the same time, he was well aware of the goals of the African policy of the West. In an interview with the French consul Lejeune, he said: “I know the tactics of European rulers: when they want to seize an eastern country, they first send missionaries, then consuls to support missionaries and, finally, battalions to support consuls. I am not an Indian Raja to be fooled in this way. I prefer to deal directly with the battalions. " Therefore, despite his interest in establishing stronger ties with European countries, he flatly refused to open their consulates in Ethiopia. The diplomatic immunity of the consular staff was viewed by Tewodros as an encroachment on the emperor's sacred right to dispose of the lives of people and the land in his domain.

The motive for its beginning was the conflict with England in 1864, connected with the arrest of the representative of Great Britain at the imperial court, Charles Cameron, for his anti-Ethiopian activities. Britain's attempts to settle this conflict through diplomatic channels have led nowhere. The decision to send an expeditionary corps was made in August 1867.

The internal political situation in Ethiopia by this time was very favorable for an invasion from outside. The feudal opposition raised its head again. The speeches of the opponents of the central government followed one another. The successes of the rebel forces led to desertions in the units of the imperial army. If at the beginning of 1866 it numbered about 80 thousand soldiers, then by the decisive battle with foreigners he had only 15 thousand at his disposal. By the time the British corps landed, the emperor's power extended to an insignificant part of the country.

General Robert Nepir, who participated in the suppression of the national uprising in India (1857-1859) and the Taiping uprising in China, was appointed commander of the British corps. On October 21, 1867, a corps of 15 thousand soldiers landed on Ethiopian territory. The advance of British troops through the territories covered by the mutinies met with no resistance. In such a situation, the few troops of Tewodros had no chance of victory.

After the defeat, the emperor took refuge in his residence in the Mekdala fortress. Tewodros, seeing that he could not repel the attacks, ordered the remnants of his troops to leave the fortress, and he himself shot himself.

This time, the capture of Ethiopia was not part of Great Britain's plans, and the expeditionary force set off on the return journey. Before leaving, the British took from the fortress many priceless monuments of Ethiopian writing, including the imperial "Kybre Nagest", the sacred book of the Ethiopian people. It was in it that the legend of King Solomon, Queen of Sheba and Menelik I, the founder of the dynasty of Ethiopian emperors, was recorded. They took with them the regalia of the Ethiopian emperors, the golden crown of Tewodros II, many items of gold and silver, and the fortress itself was blown up.

After the departure of the British, a fierce struggle broke out between the new applicants for the imperial crown. The most purposeful and energetic act was the ruler of Amhara Gobeze. He managed to turn the tide of events in his favor, and he was crowned under the name Tekle Giyorgis II. Three years of his reign resembled the period of "the times of princes" with their internal political instability. The ruler of Tygrai Kas was preparing for a serious battle with the emperor. On January 21, 1872, he gained the upper hand and was enthroned by the emperors of Ethiopia. In accordance with Ethiopian tradition, he adopted the royal name Yohannis IV (1872-1889).

Having assumed the imperial crown, Yohannis set himself the task of achieving the political unity of the country. He sought to force all the largest Ethiopian feudal lords to recognize his sovereignty. Since the imperial army at that time had no equal, this task was successfully solved by him in the early 1870s. Only the ruler Shoah Menelik purely formally recognized the power of the new emperor, in fact, remaining the independent ruler of his land.

Yohannis IV, unlike Tewodros, did not strive to create an absolutist state, confining himself to the task of consolidating what he inherited from his predecessors. He sought to develop a sense of state unity among the Ethiopians, eliminating interregional contradictions. For this, the emperor tried to achieve the introduction of a single religion for the whole country. He also waged a consistent struggle against adherents of all other religions. This affected both Protestant and Catholic missionaries, whom he ordered to leave the country immediately. A religious policy was developed in relation to the non-Christian population of Ethiopia. A consistent supporter of the introduction of a single faith in the country, Yohannis set a period of three years for Muslims to convert to Christianity and five years for pagans. For those who disagreed, corporal punishment and deportation, primarily of Muslims, from the country were envisaged.

Unlike Tewodros, who came into conflict with the church, Yohannis was flesh and blood of traditional Ethiopian society, with its idealization of the past and immunity to everything new. If Tewodros relied entirely on military force in his efforts to centralize the country, then Yohannis laid the foundation for the unification of Ethiopia to achieve unity of faith among the Ethiopian population.

The greatest danger to the unity and integrity of the country came from outside. In the specific conditions of the 1870s, the first threat to the territorial integrity of Ethiopia came not from the European powers, but from Egypt, a vassal of Turkey. In the early 70s, the entire coastline from Zeila to Guardafui was under Egyptian control. The plans of the Egyptian Khedive Ismail also included the expansion of Egyptian possessions at the expense of the northeastern regions of Ethiopia. In 1875, the offensive of the Egyptian troops began. Under the command of the emperor was an army of 70,000, consisting mainly of warriors-northerners, whose areas were directly threatened by Egyptian aggression.

The Egyptian troops marched in three columns from the areas of Massau, Keren and Zeila. At the end of September 1875, they captured Harer. The Egyptian troops moving from Massau and Keren were defeated by the Ethiopians in November 1875. In March 1876, a second decisive battle took place, in which the Egyptians suffered a crushing defeat.

Later, the territorial claims of Ethiopia to the Egyptian possessions in the Red Sea and the desire of the Ethiopians to get access to the sea served as a bargaining chip that England used when she needed to suppress the Mahdist movement in Sudan, which began in 1881, to clash the peoples of the two countries in a war and weaken their resistance European expansion. Emperor Yohannis, seduced by the promise of England and Egypt, now dependent on her, to return the territories seized from Ethiopia, plunged the country into long bloody wars with Mahdist Sudan.

Ethiopian-Italian relations

At a time when the Ethiopians fought against the Sudanese for the sake of England in the first place, a new and more formidable danger loomed over the country: to be enslaved by another European power - Italy. The beginning of Italian expansion in the Red Sea region dates back to the late 1860s. In 1869, part of the coastal territory of Assab was bought from local rulers. In 1881 the Italian government declared the area a colony. In 1883, Italy occupied the port of Massawa and began to seize other territories.

At first, the seizure of the former possessions of the Egyptian Khedive on the Red Sea coast by Italians did not cause much concern among the ruling circles of Ethiopia. But in June 1885 Italy seizes the territory of Saati, already located within the empire. The Ethiopians besieged Saati, and in January 1887 defeated the Italians who were going to help the besieged. This victory sparked tremendous enthusiasm in Ethiopia. But the current tense internal political situation in the country did not allow the emperor to build on his success and move to Massawa. The continued invasions of the Mahdists in the west and the disloyalty of the Shoah ruling elite prompted the emperor to resolve the problem of the Italians' invasion through diplomacy.

Italy was playing a double game. Seeking to turn the separatist ruler of the Shoah into an ally, she eagerly responded to his requests for firearms. On October 20, 1887, the rebellious vassal Yohannis nygus Shoah signed a separate treaty of friendship and alliance with Italy, according to which she promised him "military assistance and other assistance in achieving his goals." Yohannis moved his army to the Shoah. But his army, already battered in numerous battles, as well as the army of Menelik, the ruler of the Shoah, who had no combat experience, did not dare to enter into combat contact. Long negotiations began, until the moment when the Mahdists again invaded the country. In one of the battles with the Makhdists, Yohannis was mortally wounded.

With his death, the country did not disintegrate into separate regions, as happened in the case of Tewodros. The change of the supreme ruler, for the first time since the beginning of the process of the unification of Ethiopia, did not entail feudal strife, Yohannis remained in the history of the country a champion of the unification of Ethiopia, as well as the introduction of general Ethiopian patriotism into the consciousness of the people. Tigrani by origin, Yohannis, whose native language was Tigrinya, introduced Amharic as the country's official language, which is the most widely spoken throughout the country. In this he went beyond local nationalism and considered it his duty to protect any part of the Ethiopian empire.

Having received the news of the death of Emperor Yohannis, Nygus Shoa Menelik immediately proclaimed himself the supreme ruler of Ethiopia. At that time, there was no one in the country who could really act as his rival in the struggle for the royal crown. His name (his name by birth before the coronation is Sahle-Maryam) is associated with the most significant achievements in the centralization of Ethiopia, which completed its unification up to modern borders. The beginning of the processes of modernization of the country, the folding of bureaucracy, the penetration of foreign capital and the creation of a mercenary army dates back to the period of his reign.

By the early 1890s, the Shoah, ruled by Menelik, had turned into an economically more developed and politically more stable region of the country than others, the system of governance of which was subsequently transferred to the entire Ethiopian empire.

The basis of the foreign policy of the Shoan rulers was territorial expansion within the empire and the establishment of ties with the outside world, primarily with the European powers. The expansion of the Shoah's borders took place at the expense of the southern regions, where there were rich trade routes, and the struggle for the annexation of Harer, which attracted by the strategic position and commercial nature of the economy.

The emissaries of the European countries, given the growth and power of the Shoah, themselves sought to establish a connection with it. In 1841, a treaty of friendship and trade was concluded with England, and two years later - with France. Menelik also paid great attention to establishing beneficial relations with the European powers. Like many of his predecessors, he did not neglect the opportunity to draw on the technical knowledge and experience of any visiting European. The 1880s witnessed the strengthening of the Italian-Schoan ties.

In 1878-1889. the ruler of the Shoah significantly expanded the boundaries of his possessions. Expansion into the hinterland was complemented by a movement towards the Red Sea coast. The approach of the Shoah's borders to the sea was supposed to stimulate trade within the region, to facilitate contacts of the nygus with the European powers. The achievement of these goals was ensured by the accession of Harer, which until the summer of 1885 was under Egyptian rule, and after the defeat of the Egyptians in the war with the Ethiopians, power here passed to a representative of the local dynasty. Harer was captured in January 1887. In parallel with the expansion of the Shoah territory, the foundations of interethnic policy were developed, which Menelik later extended to all Ethiopia. Its main features were religious tolerance and assimilation, which resulted in the formation of a kind of Amha-Roorom (Gaul) community.

In terms of the degree of centralization of power, the Shoah was far ahead of the rest of Ethiopia. The entire territory of the province was divided into administrative districts, the number of which grew as the Shoah expanded. Each of them was headed by a governor appointed by a nygus. The lack of religious fanaticism in the ethnically heterogeneous Shohan society contributed to the fact that in the interests of the cause, a Muslim was sometimes appointed to a high post, although the general rule was to force an appointee to a high administrative post from the local nobility to accept Christianity in non-Christian districts.

The absence of feudal strife in the Shoah led to the development of trade and crafts. A significant part of the Shohan treasury was taxes from trade operations, customs duties from caravans heading through the Shoah territory were also considerable.The region's prosperity was facilitated by the booty captured during numerous campaigns against non-Christian neighbors, and the tribute received from the population of the annexed areas.

During the 24 years of Menelik's tenure at the head of the Shoah, from 1865 to 1889, the area of ​​the region and its population increased significantly - from 2.5 million people in 1840 to 5 million in the early 1980s. The treasury of the ruler accumulated huge funds, a significant part of which was spent on the purchase of firearms. If, for example, in 1850 the Shohan army was armed with only 1 thousand firearms, then by 1889 it already had 60 thousand rifles and shotguns.

Reforms of Menelik II. The coronation of Menelik II took place on November 3, 1889. It did not take place in Aksum, the traditional place of coronation of Ethiopian emperors, but in the capital of Shoa Entoto. It was from here that the reforms began to be carried out. Starting to reform society, Menelik already had more than twenty years of experience behind him not only in managing the Shoah, but also in relations with European countries.

First of all, the new emperor began to reorganize the administrative system, using the Sho-An experience for this purpose. The essence of the reform was to replace local rulers with officials appointed by the emperor himself. The country was divided into provinces, which were divided into districts, and those, in turn, into districts. The smallest administrative unit was a group of villages (addi), and the smallest was a village, where power belonged to the headman. The province was headed by a governor, appointed from the center and endowed with extensive powers. Overall, the reform played an important role in the consolidation of the Ethiopian state.

Having strengthened the central authority on the ground, Menelik began to implement military reform. He replaced the previously practiced standing system with the introduction of a special tax on the upkeep of the army. In 1892, by his decree, he forbade soldiers to continue to be accommodated in the houses of peasants and to demand food from them. Instead, the peasants were taxed at the rate of one tenth of the harvest. Replacing standing with tenths contributed to the improvement of the economic situation in the country, increased labor productivity in agriculture, which stimulated its expansion. In turn, the transfer of the army, although not completely, to the state content made it possible not only to raise discipline in the troops, but also to take a step forward along the path of creating a permanent, regular army.

For the first time since the times of the Aksumite kings, an attempt was made to carry out a monetary reform. The first new Ethiopian coins appeared in 1894. However, the Ethiopian currency, the new thaler, did not come easily. The population preferred to accept the usual coin - Maria Theresa's thaler. As for the rural hinterland, here the trade exchange continued to be carried out on the basis of old, natural equivalents - salt, skins, etc. And this situation persisted throughout the reign of Menelik.

Menelik is credited with the founding of the new permanent capital of the Ethiopian state - Addis Ababa ("New Flower"). The capital also became the place from which Menelik supervised the process of annexing new regions to the empire. The Ethiopian state included vast areas to the south and southwest. In fact, the empire was restored in its former original borders: somewhat south of Massawa in the north, the Fashoda region in the west, Lake Rudolph in the south and Assaba in the east.

The territorial expansion of Ethiopia is associated with the creation of the gebbar system in the annexed regions, which is an Ethiopian variety of serfdom. The essence of this system was the allocation of land to feed the soldiers and officials, together with the peasants living on it. Part of the land area of ​​the conquered areas, about a third, was left in the hands of the local nobility, the rest was divided between the soldiers and the crown. In accordance with this, three social groups were formed: the landless peasantry (gebbars), small landowners (local nobility and conquering soldiers), and the feudal aristocracy.

Six months before his coronation, Menelik II in May 1889 in the town of Ucciale signed a treaty of friendship and trade with Italy. The articles of the treaty concluded the following: declared eternal peace and friendship between the two countries; exchange of diplomatic representatives; resolution of controversial border issues by a special commission consisting of representatives of both sides; allowing Menelik to carry out the free transit of weapons through the port of Massua, protected by Italian soldiers, up to the Ethiopian border; free movement of citizens of both states on one and the other side of the border; guarantees of religious freedom, extradition of criminals, elimination of the slave trade, and trade issues. The treaty contained many favorable clauses for Italy. One of them recognized the entire territory captured in the north of the country, including Asmara, for Rome. This article was, as it were, the "birth certificate" of the new Italian colony in Africa.

The most controversial was article 17 of the treaty, which soon caused serious controversy related to its interpretation. It was all about the non-identity of the Amharic and Italian texts. The Amharic text said: "His Majesty the King of the Kings of Ethiopia can use the services of the government of His Majesty the King of Italy to negotiate all matters with other powers and governments." In the Italian text, the word “may” was replaced by the word “agree”, which in Rome was interpreted as “should”. It turned out that Menelik turned over foreign policy issues into the hands of Italy. This meant that she was establishing a protectorate over Ethiopia, which she notified other European powers. Subsequently, this discrepancy between the texts of the article and their interpretation led to war.

Italo-Ethiopian War and the Battle of Adua

On February 12, 1893, Ethiopia denounced the Treaty of Ucchiala. Rome, convinced of the futility of its efforts to impose a protectorate on Ethiopia by diplomatic means, launched a direct armed intervention. On the eve of the Italian aggression, Menelik managed to equip the army with modern small arms, acquire more than 100 thousand rifles, which, with the existing ones, amounted to about 200 thousand barrels. Simultaneously with the preparations for the war, the Ethiopian emperor conducted diplomatic negotiations, with the help of which he wanted to strengthen the position of his country in the international arena. Menelik agreed to transfer the concession to the French for the construction of a railway from Djibouti to Addis Ababa. He sent a special embassy to the Russian Tsar in St. Petersburg. As a result, Ethiopia has developed a very close and close relationship with Russia.

In December 1894, Italian forces crossed the Ethiopian border. Menelik read out a manifesto, in which he called on the people to war against the aggressors. The manifesto said: “From across the sea, enemies have come to us; they invaded our land and seek to destroy our faith, our fatherland. I endured everything and negotiated for a long time, trying to save our country. But the enemy is moving forward and, acting deceitfully, threatens our country and our people. I am going to defend my homeland and hope to defeat the enemy. Let everyone who is in the power go after me, and those of you who are weak to fight, let them pray for the victory of our weapons. "

In October 1895, the emperor, at the head of his vanguard, numbering 25 thousand infantry and 3 thousand horsemen, set out from Addis Ababa and went to meet the enemy. All in all, under his command was more than a 100,000-strong army. At the beginning of December 1895, the 15-thousandth vanguard of the Ethiopian army defeated a 2,500-strong detachment of Italians in the battle. The Battle of Amba Alag had a huge psychological impact on the Ethiopians: the idea of ​​the invincibility of Italian weapons was dispelled. The Ethiopians celebrated their next victory in January 1896, when, after a long siege, the Italian 1,500-strong garrison of Mekele surrendered. Reinforcements were requested from the metropolis.

The number of colonial troops by the beginning of 1896 reached 17 thousand people. Concentrating the main forces near Adua, the commander-in-chief of the Italian army, General Oreste Baratieri, chose the tactic of waiting. Menelik's army also reached the area of ​​Adua. The size of his army outnumbered the Italian corps, but there was a lack of modern artillery and combat training of Menelik's soldiers in comparison with the Italians.

At the end of February 1896, a fierce battle ensued along the entire front near Adua. Poorly navigating the terrain, the command of the Italian troops inaccurately determined the disposition of their troops, and the planned general battle turned into uncoordinated battles, which was in the hands of the Ethiopians. Having fired shells even before the general engagement, the Italian artillery turned out to be useless. Ethiopians opposed military training and discipline with firmness and courage. The Battle of Adua was a disaster for the Italian army. In this battle, the enemy lost 11 thousand people killed, about 3.6 thousand were taken prisoner. The Ethiopian side also suffered losses - 6 thousand killed and 10 thousand wounded.

On October 26, 1896, the Italian-Ethiopian peace treaty was signed in Addis Ababa. It contained the following articles: ending the state of war between both sides and establishing "for all time" peace and friendship between Italy and Ethiopia. Cancellation of the Ucchiale treaty, recognition by Italy "fully and without any restrictions" of Ethiopia's independence.

Interest in Ethiopia in Russia has existed for a long time: because of the similarity of religions, because of the Ethiopian origin of the Hannibal family, the ancestors of A.S. Pushkin. Since the 1870s, a geopolitical factor has also been added, associated primarily with the opening of the Suez Canal. On the private initiative of the Cossacks, headed by the ataman N. I. Ashinov, the village "New Moscow" was founded at the exit from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

Since the mid-1890s, the actions of official Russia have also intensified in Ethiopia. The Russian government declared its support for Ethiopia in its resistance to Italian aggression. At the same time, her moral support from Russia - in the press and through diplomatic channels - was combined with the provision of military and humanitarian aid. So, at the beginning of 1896, 30 thousand Berdan guns, 5 million cartridges and 5 thousand sabers were transferred to Ethiopia. A fundraiser was launched to provide assistance to the wounded Ethiopians, a detachment of the Russian Red Cross was sent to the country, which deployed a hospital in Addis Ababa. Strengthening of Russian-Ethiopian ties at the end of the 19th century. led to the establishment in 1898 of diplomatic relations between the two countries at the mission level. Ethiopia became the first country in Africa with which Russia established diplomatic relations.

The absence of direct political and economic interests in Ethiopia allowed Russia to take the place of benevolent adviser under the Ethiopian emperor. Before the Russian mission, headed by P. M. Vlasov, the task was "to win the trust of the negus and, if possible, to protect it from the intrigues of political rivals, especially the British, who are pursuing such ambitious, predatory goals in Africa."

Russian officers who came to Ethiopia took a direct part in the military expeditions of the Ethiopian troops, and also, fulfilling the assignment of the Russian General Staff, explored the country, its nature, population, flora and fauna. Russia then had a clearer and clearer idea of ​​Ethiopia than most Western European states.

Long-standing cultural and historical ties connect Russia and Ethiopia. It would seem how far from us this East African country is! However, Russia and Ethiopia have a lot in common. First of all, of course, it is the belonging of both countries to the Eastern Christian tradition. In Ethiopia, as in Russia, people of different faiths live - Muslims, Jews - Falasha, pagans. But the tradition of Ethiopian statehood was formed by Christians - followers of the Coptic Church. Therefore, Ethiopia has always been viewed in Russia as a fraternal Orthodox country.

Ethiopia is a potential ally

Interest in Ethiopia in the Russian Empire intensified in the second half of the 19th century, which was associated with the transformation of Russia into a major world power and the desire to take part in world politics, having secured connections with new allies, including on the African continent. Naturally, the ideological substantiation of Russia's political interests in Ethiopia was the religious community of the two states. On the other hand, Ethiopia, which at some point became one of the two African countries that did not undergo colonization (the second is Liberia, where African-American immigrants from the United States and the West Indies were allowed to create their own sovereign republic), needed a strong European ally. powers that could help her to strengthen the army and maintain political sovereignty. Moreover, in the 1880s - 1890s, under the leadership of Emperor Menelik II, Ethiopia not only defended its own political independence, but also strengthened as a centralized state, expanded into the nearest regions in order to establish hegemony over more backward feudal possessions and tribes.

As noted by the Russian historian K.V. Vinogradov, “Ethiopia also sought to ensure the inviolability of its borders and, fearing an external threat mainly from England and Italy, tried by all available means to enlist the support of the Russian Empire, which had no direct state colonial interests in Africa and acted as a political opponent of these states "(Quoted from: Vinogradova KV Problems of military-political and cultural-religious interaction between Ethiopia and Russia in modern times. Abstract of the thesis ... Candidate of Historical Sciences. Krasnodar, 2002).

It should be noted here that the Ethiopian emperors (negus) tried to contact Russia as early as the 17th-18th centuries, but then their attempts were unsuccessful. The situation began to change with the strengthening of Russia's positions in world politics, including in the East. When Russian diplomacy, supported by the army and navy, began to gain victories over the Ottoman Empire, seeking to improve the situation of the Slavic peoples of the Balkans and, at the same time, all peoples professing Eastern Christianity, interest in Ethiopia increased as well. Church circles insisted especially actively on the development of cooperation with Ethiopia. Indeed, a large number of followers of Eastern Christianity lived in Ethiopia, who were considered as close confessional believers (although they were not Orthodox, but followed the Myafizite rite). Orthodox hierarchs hoped to place the Ethiopian Church, like other Eastern Christian churches, under the control of the Russian Orthodox Church, which also required strengthening the presence of the Russian Empire in East Africa.

Ashinov and his "New Moscow"

Late 19th - early 20th centuries - the time of development of Russian-Ethiopian relations. They began with several Russian missions to Ethiopia, or, as it was then called, Abyssinia, but individual historical figures made a much greater contribution to the development of bilateral relations. A native of the Terek region, Nikolai Ivanovich Ashinov (1856-1902) was more of an adventurous person than a jealous person of state interests. However, it turned out that he was one of the initiators of the Russian penetration into Ethiopia.

Ashinov, who lived in Tsaritsyn, appeared in St. Petersburg and actively exaggerated the topic of the need for the East African, and specifically the Ethiopian expansion of the Russian Empire. By the way, both British and French military-diplomatic circles drew attention to Ashinov as a specialist on the "Eastern question". So, the French invited Ashinov to Algeria, hoping that he would be able to create a detachment of Cossacks and bring him to North Africa for French service. The British, in turn, offered Ashinov to conduct anti-Russian agitation among the tribes of Afghanistan for a certain reward. However, Ashinov, although he was an adventurer, was not without a patriotic component. Therefore, he did not accept the proposals of foreign agents and continued to convince the Russian authorities of the need for the Ethiopian expedition. In 1883 and 1885. he twice visited Ethiopia, after which he began to propagandize at the royal court the idea of ​​creating a Cossack settlement on the Red Sea coast. Largely thanks to Ashinov's mediating activity, an Ethiopian delegation arrived in 1888 to celebrate the 900th anniversary of the Baptism of Rus.

In the same 1888, Ashinov, together with Archimandrite Paisiy, began preparations for an expedition to Ethiopia. According to Ashinov's plan, a detachment of 150 Terek Cossacks and 50-60 Orthodox monks and priests was to arrive in East Africa under the guise of a "spiritual mission". Its task was to form a Cossack army on the territory of Ethiopia, subordinate to the Ethiopian Negus, but, at the same time, preserving autonomy and being an instrument of Russian influence in the region. The Cossack colony was to be named "New Moscow".

On December 10, 1888, the expedition left Odessa on a private steamer. Initially, the Cossacks and priests behaved secretly and preferred not to leave the cabins so that no one would find out about the plans of the expedition. However, as we approached the Red Sea coast, the situation changed. On December 20, 1888, the expedition arrived in the Egyptian Port Said, and on January 6, 1889 - in Tajur. When the steamer entered the Italian-controlled waters of the Red Sea, the Italian colonial authorities dispatched a gunboat to meet it. However, the fact that the Italian officers and sailors saw on the deck of a ship moving towards them, led them to complete delight. They realized that the Russian ship did not pose any serious military-political threat - a banquet table was laid on the deck, singers performed, lezginka danced with daggers.

The detachment stopped at the abandoned Turkish fortress of Sagallo, which was located in the territory of the residence of the Somali tribes. Today it is the state of Djibouti, and at that historical period this territory was included in the sphere of influence of France. This explains the appearance at Sagallo of three French ships with a military detachment - literally three weeks after the fort was chosen by Ashinov and his people. The French demanded that Ashinov surrender immediately and remove the Russian flag. Ashinov refused to remove the flag, after which French troops began to shoot at the fortress. Five people were killed, and Ashinov himself received a severe leg injury. The French command arrested all Russian subjects and deported them to the territory of the Russian Empire. However, a hundred Cossacks and mountaineers still managed to leave and then get to Russia on their own, through the mediation of the Russian consul in Egypt.

Emperor Alexander III, who did not want the deterioration of relations with European states, was not delighted with such an initiative of Ashinov. The Russian government announced that the expedition of Ashinov and Paisiy was of a private nature and the official Russian authorities had nothing to do with it. Therefore, Ashinov was exiled for three years under police supervision to the Saratov province, and Archimandrite Paisiy was sent to a Georgian monastery. This is how the first attempt of Russian penetration into Ethiopia and the creation of a Russian colony on its territory ended.

Mission of Lieutenant Mashkov

However, Ashinov's unsuccessful expedition and its negative perception by the tsarist government did not mean that the Russian Empire abandoned its plans to establish allied relations with Ethiopia. Almost simultaneously with Ashinov's adventurous campaign, the official Russian envoy, Lieutenant Viktor Fedorovich Mashkov (1867-1932), went to Ethiopia. Also a Cossack by origin, a native of the Kuban, Mashkov graduated from the Pavlovsk military school and served in the 15th Kuban infantry regiment. He had long and thoroughly interested in Ethiopia, and accordingly was an ardent supporter of the development of Russian-Ethiopian political, economic and cultural ties.

Back in 1887, Second Lieutenant Mashkov sent a letter to the Minister of War P.S. Vannovsky, in which he insisted on the need to develop Russian-Ethiopian ties and equip an expedition to Ethiopia. The Minister of War conveyed the letter of the second lieutenant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs N.K. Gears. However, the latter's response was evasive - the government was afraid to send a second expedition to Ethiopia, since it was during this period that Nikolai Ashinov made a similar proposal. Nevertheless, in 1888, already a lieutenant, Mashkov achieved an audience with the Minister of War and managed to convince him of the necessity of his trip to Ethiopia. The Minister of War, in turn, reported on Mashkov's idea to the emperor. Good was received. However, the government, as in the case of Ashinov's expedition, did not want to give Mashkov's trip official status. Therefore, the lieutenant was temporarily dismissed from military service, and went to Ethiopia as a correspondent for the newspaper Novoye Vremya. But the money for the expedition, in the amount of two thousand rubles, was nevertheless allocated to him by the state. Montenegrin Sladko Zlatichanin became Mashkov's companion.

Arriving in the port of Obock in February 1889, Mashkov hired a guide and guards and set off in a caravan towards Ethiopia. However, he was not allowed further than Harar - a special permission from the Ethiopian emperor was required to visit inner Ethiopia. Mashkov, who by this time had run out of financial resources, had to turn to the local Greek diaspora for help. The envoy stayed in the Shoah for another three months, after which he was received by the new Negus Menelik II who had just ascended the throne. Mashkov stayed at Menelik's court for a whole month, during which time he managed to win the sympathy of the Ethiopian negus and, in the end, the monarch presented him with a letter and a gift for the Russian emperor. Having reached Russia, Mashkov was awarded the reception of Alexander III himself, to whom he personally conveyed the message and gifts of Menelik II.

Here it is necessary to dwell briefly on the personality of the new Ethiopian emperor. Menelik II (1844-1913) before ascending to the imperial throne bore the name Sahle Mariam. By birth, he belonged to the Solomon dynasty that ruled the country for many centuries, tracing its lineage to the biblical king Solomon. But the father of Sahle Mariam was not a Negus, but the ruler of Shoa Haile Melekot. In 1855 Haile Melekot died and Sahle Mariam inherited the Shoah throne. But during the war with the Ethiopian emperor Theodros II Sahle Mariam was captured and imprisoned in the mountain castle of Magdala. In 1864 Tewodros II married his own daughter Atlash to a noble prisoner. But in 1865 the imperial son-in-law fled to the Shoah. In 1889, as a result of internecine strife, Sahle Mariam came to power throughout Ethiopia. This was facilitated by the death of the reigning emperor Yohannis V in a battle with the followers of the Sudanese Mahdi. On March 9, 1889, Sahle Mariam was crowned under the name Menelik II.

From the very beginning of his reign, Menelik II began to pursue a balanced policy aimed at preserving the political independence of Ethiopia and developing its economy. First of all, Menelik sought to improve the Ethiopian army, as well as expand the territory of the country and strengthen the control of the central government over the numerous provinces, which, in addition, were inhabited by heterogeneous ethnic groups professing a variety of religions. Menelik II was friendly to the Russian Empire, counting on its support in the confrontation with the British and Italian colonialists. It was during his reign that the rapid development of Russian-Ethiopian military-political and cultural ties took place.

Since Ethiopia interested the Russian emperor, and the letter of the Negus was required to be answered, Mashkov had to make a second expedition to East Africa. This time Mashkov was accompanied by his old companion Sladko Zlatichanin and relatives - the bride Emma and brother Alexander. The most cordial welcome awaited Russian representatives in Ethiopia. Almost every day Mashkov was received by the negus Menelik. The Emperor of Ethiopia tried to convince the Russian envoy of the need to send Russian military instructors to the country - perfectly understanding the danger of the situation surrounded by colonial powers, Menelik wanted to strengthen and modernize the army as much as possible. To do this, he needed the help of the Russian Empire, which the Ethiopians hoped for as an Orthodox state, which, moreover, did not have colonies in Africa and was devoid of frank colonial appetites. During his stay in Ethiopia, Mashkov not only communicated with the emperor and Ethiopian officials on political topics, but also traveled around the country, visiting its sights and studying the life of the local population, nature, history and culture of the ancient land.

In March 1892 Mashkov's expedition departed back to Russia. The Russian envoy was carrying with him an answer from Negus Menelik, in which he assured the Russian emperor that he was not going to accept the Italian protectorate under any conditions (Italy, which had seized part of the Red Sea coast, had long wanted to “take possession of Ethiopian territory”). In St. Petersburg, Mashkov was again received by Emperor Alexander III, and then by the heir to the throne, Nicholas II. However, the War Ministry remained skeptical about Mashkov's activities. In the end, the lieutenant had to resign. However, he was hired by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and sent to Baghdad as part of the Russian consulate. Then Viktor Mashkov worked as the consul of Russia in Skopje, after the revolution he remained in exile in Yugoslavia, where he died in 1932.

War with Italy and "Count Abay"

Mashkov's mission came just at a time when relations between Ethiopia and Italy were deteriorating. As a reminder, back in 1889 the Negus signed the Uchchal Treaty with Italy, according to which Ethiopia recognized Italian sovereignty in Eritrea. However, Italy demanded more - the establishment of a protectorate over all of Ethiopia. Menelik flatly refused to accept the conditions of the Italian side, while simultaneously proceeding to modernize the country's economy and, most importantly, to strengthen and improve its armed forces. In 1893, he announced the termination of the Uchchal agreement from 1894. War with Italy became inevitable. The situation was aggravated by the fact that Italy was supported by Great Britain, which did not want French or, moreover, Russian influence to spread to Ethiopia. At the same time, France sold weapons to the Negus, and the Russian Empire officially supported Ethiopia in the confrontation with Italy.

In March 1895, a Russian expedition headed by Nikolai Leontyev (1862-1910) arrived in Ethiopia. A graduate of the Nikolaev Cavalry School, Nikolai Stepanovich Leontiev came from a family of nobles in the Kherson province. After receiving a military education, he served in the Ulan Life Guards Regiment. In 1891, he went into the reserve with the rank of lieutenant and was assigned by the captain to the 1st Uman regiment of the Kuban Cossack army. The purpose of the Leontief expedition was to establish diplomatic relations between Ethiopia and Russia and to offer military organizational assistance to the Negus. The expedition consisted of 11 people, the deputy chief captain K.S. Zvyagin. Having visited the courtyard of Menelik II, Nikolai Leontiev brought a response message from the negus to St. Petersburg.

When the First Italo-Abyssinian War of 1895-1896 began, Esaul Leontyev again went to Ethiopia - this time at the head of Russian officers and medical workers - volunteers. It was, perhaps, the first detachment of Russian internationalist soldiers in history on a distant African land to take part in the anti-colonial struggle of the local population against the expansion of European powers. Leontiev and his associates became reliable military advisers and instructors for the Ethiopian army. Negus Menelik II consulted with Nikolai Leontyev and other Russian officers on all the most important military issues. Nikolai Leontyev carried out many special assignments for Negus Menelik II, in particular, he traveled to Rome in August 1896, then visited St. Petersburg and Constantinople.

It was Nikolai Leontyev who convinced Menelik of the need to use the tactics tested by the Russians during the war with Napoleon in 1812. gradual "exhausting". Guerrilla warfare on its own territory ideally matched the specifics of the Ethiopian army, especially considering the lack of weapons and modern training on the one hand, and excellent fighting qualities for close combat and guerrilla actions on the other. Having exhausted the enemy, he should have dealt a decisive blow.

However, the assistance to the Russian Empire was not limited to the dispatch of military advisers. In November 1895, a covert operation was carried out to supply Ethiopia with a large consignment of weapons. The Russian steamer was carrying 30,000 rifles, 5 million cartridges, artillery shells and 5,000 sabers for the Ethiopian army. Nikolai Leontiev was directly involved in the creation of the armed forces of Ethiopia. Already after the Italo-Abyssinian war, which ended on October 26, 1896 with the defeat of Italy, the Italian side recognized the independence of Ethiopia and the payment of indemnity to Addis Ababa, Leontyev began to create units of a new type in the Ethiopian army. In February 1899, he formed the first battalion, service in which was organized according to the classical standards of the Russian army. The battalion was based on a company of Senegalese riflemen under the command of Russian and French officers hired by him in Saint-Louis.

In addition to participating in the creation of the Ethiopian army, Leontiev played an important role in the development of East Africa. In particular, he led one of the expeditions to Lake Rudolf. In this campaign, in addition to 2,000 Ethiopian infantry and cavalry soldiers, Russian officers and Cossacks took part. Having lost 216 people killed, the detachment went to the shore of Lake Rudolf. Lieutenant Masterpiece, who was wounded in this campaign, raised the Ethiopian flag over the lake. The trust of Negus Menelik II to Nikolai Leontiev was so great that in Ethiopia the title of count was specially introduced, which had not previously existed in the country, and it was awarded to Leontyev, who was here called "Count Abai". In the summer of 1897, Menelik II appointed “Count Abay” governor-general of the equatorial provinces of Ethiopia, conferring the highest military rank on him as “dejazmegi”. Thus, the Russian officer not only contributed to the establishment of bilateral relations between Russia and Ethiopia, but also made a huge contribution to the modernization of the Ethiopian armed forces, making a great military and political career at the court of Negus Menelik II. Later, with the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Leontyev returned from Ethiopia to Russia and took an active part in hostilities, commanded the reconnaissance of one of the regiments of the Kuban Cossack army. He died from the consequences of the wounds received during the war five years later - in 1910 in Paris.

Bulatovich, Artamonov and even Gumilev ...

The stay in Ethiopia of another famous Russian traveler Alexander Bulatovich also belongs to the same historical period as the activity of Nikolai Leontiev at the court of the Ethiopian negus Menelik II. It was this man who made the famous camel trek along the Djibouti - Harer route, and then became the first among European travelers to cross Kaffa, a difficult and dangerous Ethiopian province. A native of Orel, Alexander Ksaverievich Bulatovich (1870-1919) was a hereditary nobleman, the son of Major General Ksaveriy Bulatovich. After graduating from the lyceum, he served as a titular adviser in the office in charge of educational and charitable institutions, but this occupation was clearly not to his liking for a young man of an adventurous warehouse, and on May 28, 1891, he enrolled as a volunteer in the Life Guards Hussar Regiment. A little over a year later, on August 16, 1892, he received the title of cornet.

In 1896 Bulatovich, like some other Russian officers, got the idea to go to the aid of the people of Ethiopia, who were fighting the Italian colonialists. He joined the Russian Red Cross Mission in Ethiopia and quickly became one of the trusted aides of the Negus Menelik II. It was in this capacity that he covered the distance between Djibouti and Harer on camels in three days. Together with two postal couriers Bulatovich followed through the uninhabited desert area. On the way back, Bulatovich was attacked by nomads from the Somali tribe Danakil, who took away all things and mules. However, this time Bulatovich was lucky - he was discovered by the detachment of Nikolai Leontiev. As a military adviser, Bulatovich helped Menelik in the conquest of the warlike tribes that lived in the southern regions of Ethiopia. For his valiant service Bulatovich was awarded the highest award of Ethiopia - a golden shield and a saber. Bulatovich subsequently published memoirs about his stay in Ethiopia, which are one of the most valuable sources on the history and ethnography of Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century (Bulatovich A. With the troops of Menelik II. Diary of a campaign from Ethiopia to Lake Rudolf. SPb., 1900. Reprinted in the book. "With the troops of Menelik II. M., 1971).

After returning from Ethiopia, Bulatovich continued his military service for some time, participating in the rank of lieutenant in the suppression of the Ihetuan uprising in China. In 1902 he was promoted to captain, commanded a squadron of the Life Guards Hussar Regiment, but in 1903 he resigned from military service and took monastic vows under the name of Hieromonk Anthony. In this capacity, Bulatovich repeatedly visited Ethiopia, attempting to create a monastery of the Russian Orthodox Church there. During the First World War, Hieromonk Anthony served as an army priest, for which he was awarded a pectoral (priestly) cross on the St. George ribbon. He died in 1919, during the Civil War, trying to protect a woman from an attack by bandits.

Thus, at the end of the 1890s. The Russian Empire establishes official allied relations with Ethiopia. The official Russian mission is located in Addis Ababa. In 1897, Colonel Leonid Artamonov, another extremely interesting figure in Russian-Ethiopian relations at the turn of the century, was appointed head of her convoy. Unlike most of the heroes of our article, Artamonov, on the contrary, was not an adventurer, but a conscientious soldier of the imperial army. Leonid Konstantinovich Artamonov (1859-1932) graduated from the Kiev military gymnasium, the Konstantinovskoe and Mikhailovskoe artillery schools. He began the service of second lieutenants in the 20th artillery brigade in 1879. Participated in the Akhal-Tekin expedition in 1880-1881, after which he studied at the Nikolaev Engineering Academy and the Nikolaev Academy of the General Staff. Artamonov's service took place, for the most part, in the south of the Russian Empire - in Central Asia and the Caucasus. He managed to visit with reconnaissance missions in the Ottoman Empire (in 1888), Persia (in 1889 and 1891) and Afghanistan (1893).

In 1897, 38-year-old Leonid Artamonov, promoted to colonel a year earlier, was appointed chief of the convoy of the Russian mission in Addis Ababa. In parallel, his competence included the provision of military advisory assistance to Emperor Menelik II. The mission itself was headed by an experienced Russian diplomat, an actual state councilor, Pyotr Mikhailovich Vlasov, who had previously worked in Persia.

At this time, the interests of the European powers, primarily Great Britain and France, clashed due to contradictions over control over the upper reaches of the White Nile. In July 1898, the famous incident in Fashoda took place, when a detachment of 8 officers and 120 soldiers under the command of Major Marchand occupied the village of Fashoda on the upper Nile. The British leadership responded with indignant statements and France was forced to retreat, not wanting a direct conflict with Great Britain. Marchand's detachment was withdrawn from Fashoda back to the territory of the French Congo. In return, France received some territorial concessions in the Central African region. Claimed control over territories in the upper Nile and Ethiopia. In 1898, Leonid Artamonov, as a military adviser to Menelik II, became one of the leaders of the successful campaign of the Ethiopian army to the White Nile under the leadership of Dajazmach Tasama.

In the period from the end of the 1880s. and at the beginning of the First World War, Ethiopia was visited by an impressive number of Russian citizens, including officers and Cossacks who served as volunteers and military advisers to the Ethiopian army, clergymen, and travelers. In particular, the outstanding Russian poet Nikolai Gumilyov also visited Abyssinia. In 1908, twenty-two-year-old Gumilyov, who had been fond of African themes since childhood, made his first trip to Ethiopia. Little is known about him, but there is reliable information about the reception of Nikolai Gumilyov at the court of Menelik II. At least Gumilev himself left an essay "Is Menelik Dead", dedicated to the Ethiopian emperor.

Much more productive was Nikolai Gumilyov's second expedition to East Africa, undertaken by him in 1913. Unlike the first trip, the poet coordinated his second trip with the Academy of Sciences. He planned to cross the Danakil Desert, but the Academy of Sciences did not want to sponsor such an expensive and dangerous route and Nikolai Gumilyov changed his plans. Arriving in Djibouti, he took a train, and then, after its breakdown, on a railcar, covered the path to the city of Dire Daua, from where he set off in a caravan to Harer. In this Ethiopian city, Nikolai Gumilyov personally met the Tefari race, who at that time was the governor of the province of Hare. Subsequently, the Tefari races would become the emperor of Ethiopia under the name Haile Selassie I, and would enter world popular culture as an object of worship for the Rastafarians - followers of the religious and political subculture that appeared in the 1920s - 1930s in Jamaica and subsequently embraced not only African American and African Caribbean, but also the "white" world. Having visited Harer, Gumilev undertook a trip across the territory of the Galla people who professed Islam. September 1, 1913 Gumilev returned to Russia. African wanderings made a great impression on him and became one of the sources of poetic inspiration.

Russian-Ethiopian relations were seriously disrupted by the Russian-Japanese, and then the First World War. The beginning of the Russo-Japanese War led to the curtailment of military aid to Ethiopia. Moreover, many Russian officers and Cossacks who served at the court of Menelik II and who provided serious assistance to the Negus in the modernization of the Ethiopian army rushed from Ethiopia to their homeland. The professional military, drawn to Ethiopia by the spirit of adventurers, could not stand aside when their own homeland entered the war. The outbreak of the First World War had an even greater negative impact on Russian-Ethiopian relations, as did the revolution that followed the First World War. Subsequently, already in the middle and second half of the twentieth century, the Soviet Union provided serious assistance to Ethiopia. But that's a completely different story.