Iyasu V.
Iyasu V. (also Jesus V. , Ethiop . ኢያሱ፭ኛ, title: Lij ("Lidsch" = prince) and Abeto (prince); * February 4, 1897 , † November 25, 1935 ) was uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia from December 12th 1913 to September 27, 1916, previously regent from 1910/11 to 1913, after his dismissal in 1916 largely powerless opposing emperor until 1921.
Succession to the throne and power struggles
His grandfather and predecessor Menelik II suffered several strokes during the last years of his life before he died in 1913. At the beginning of his long illness, he named his grandson, Lij Iyasu, his rightful heir in 1909. Young Iyasu found himself in a difficult position. He was a son of Ras Mika'el, an important Oromo prince. His father was Menelik's son-in-law (a former Muslim who had been forcibly converted by Yohannes IV ) and ruler from Wollo , from an Ethiopian line of the prophet Mohammed. Because of his origins, Iyasu had only limited support from the Shewa nobility . In 1910, after the de facto regent Taytu Betul , the wife of his paralyzed grandfather, was overthrown, he took over the government together with the regent Ras Tesemma appointed by Menelik. After his unexpected death in 1911, he assumed full reign. Despite his de facto position as King ( Negus ) Iyasu V (May 1911), Iyasu therefore cautiously declared in August 1911 that he would continue to hand over the affairs of government to his grandfather's prime minister until Menelik's death Government had.
As early as 1910 and 1911, in the early days of his reign, there were therefore armed clashes between the supporters of Iyasu and those of Menelik's wife Taytu Betul and other schoan leaders. When his grandfather died in 1913, Iyasu was only 16 years old and still not officially crowned emperor (King of Kings = Neguse Negest). Due to prophecies and political-tactical considerations, he postponed his coronation himself; first he had his father Ras Mika'el crowned the whole of northern Ethiopia with the original imperial crown in May 1914, shortly after the emperor's death (Tigray and Wollo). The aim was that his legitimacy to rule could be traced back to two kings, not only that of Shewa, but also that of Wollo. This was an expression and part of a policy with which he changed the power structure within Ethiopia. The Shewa elites, who had previously dominated state power, had to gradually hand them over to other regional princes and regions. In doing so, the young ruler tried to distribute power more evenly than before according to the realities of Ethiopia (feudal-federal model). Princes and officials with other ethnic backgrounds, including Muslims, gained a considerable amount of importance.
At the beginning of the First World War Iyasu sympathized with the German Empire , Austria-Hungary ( Central Powers ) and the (pan) Islamic Ottoman Empire . The reasons given are pro-Islamic feelings or the desire to have one's own access to the sea, which was previously blocked by the neighboring English , French and Italian colonies.
Whether the accusation by Orthodox Christians and British propaganda that Iyasu converted to Islam and intended a power shift in favor of the faster growing Muslim population is correct remains controversial; at least there was no formal conversion . The chronicles commissioned by him and written by contemporaries were destroyed during the Italian occupation, Haile Selassie, in turn, later “corrected” this chapter of historiography and made Iyasu a “non-person”.
First World War and the fall
At the end of 1915, Iyasu followed the German insistence and the call of the Turkish-Ottoman Sultan - Caliph for "Holy War". Previously there had been two unsuccessful attempts by the German-Turkish side to send camouflaged missions across the Red Sea to Ethiopia, the purpose of which was to promote Ethiopia's entry into the war on the part of the Central Powers. The first mission in February 1915 was under the direction of the ethnologist Leo Frobenius , the second in June 1915 under the direction of Salomon Hall . However, both missions were intercepted by the Italians in Eritrea. In addition, the German ambassador in Addis Ababa, Friedrich Wilhelm Karl von Syburg , tried to persuade Ethiopia to enter the war with promises of future territorial gains on the Red Sea. In early 1916, German submarines appeared off Eritrea , and Somali rebels who had fled to Ethiopia or emissaries of the Somali dervish rebellion within the territory claimed by the British were also given German weapons. Instead of the coast to the Red Sea or Somalia, however, he attacked the Anglo-Egyptian South Sudan . German agents had staged an uprising by Christian Africans and Muslim Darfuris , while pro-Turkish Senussi from Libya were supposed to advance through Egypt to Northern Sudan. However, Iyasu's enterprise failed right from the start, and his clearly inferior Ethiopian troops were quickly defeated in May. The Allies consequently saw him as an enemy, while Anglo-Egyptian troops advanced rapidly and inexorably on Addis Ababa in return .
At the same time, British agents sparked a rebellion against him among the Shewa nobles in September . Iyasu and his father were defeated in October 1916 at the Battle of Segale , north of Addis Ababa. Until 1917 he stayed in his residence in Harar. Iyasu was expelled before his actual coronation and, after years of flight, was imprisoned in 1921 as a recognized anti-emperor by only a few parts of the population (especially the Afar of the Awsa Sultanate). During the coup in 1916, it was decided that Iyasu's aunt Zewditu should be the new empress. Iyasu's cousin Tafari Mekonnen (Haile Selassie), the son of Ras Mekonnen , was appointed regent and heir to the throne, but could not become king (Negus) until 1928 and was only crowned emperor after Zewditus death in 1930. In 1936, Haile Selassie went into British exile (until 1941) after Italian invasion troops had broken the resistance of the Ethiopian armed forces in the decisive battle of May-Chew with modern weapons such as tanks and poison gas ( Italian-Ethiopian War (1935-1936) ). Various versions of Iyasu's death are circulating, including one that Haile Selassie alleged that he had Iyasu killed just before his escape from the lost battle in order to prevent the fascist conquerors from using him as a puppet ruler. Iyasu's death was only announced after the victory of the Italians in 1936, as they had hoped to the end for the support of his last supporters.
Descendants and iyasuists
His son Lij Engeda Eshet Iyasu (1914–1938) was proclaimed emperor by the Ethiopian patriots in 1937 against the Italians, but died in 1938 as a guerrilla of malaria. Lij Iyasu's sons Lij Girma Iyasu (1914–1941, poisoned in Kenya), Lij Tewodros Iyasu (1915–1941) and Dejazmatch Yohannes Iyasu (1914–1977) fought in the country against the Italians, but Dejazmatch became Yohannes and Iyasus Iyasu arrested on Haile Selassie's return and was only released by the military junta when Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974. When the military junta was overthrown, Lij Mesfin proclaimed himself emperor in 1991, without having found support from the monarchists until his death in 1999. Even today, Iyasu's successors lay claim to the throne of Ethiopia. B. Dejazmatch Yohannes' son Girma Yohannes Iyasu.
literature
- Éloi Ficquet, Wolbert GC Smidt (Ed.): The Life and Times of Lïj Iyasu of Ethiopia. New Insights. Lit, Münster 2014, ISBN 978-3-643-90476-8 .
- Harold Marcus: A History of Ethiopia . Berkeley - Los Angeles - London 1994.
- Harold Marcus: The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia, 1844-1914 . Oxford 1975.
- Bahru Zewde: A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1974 . London - Athens - Addis Ababa 1991.
- Kebbede Mengesha: YeTarik Mestawesha . Addis Ababa 1953.
- Autobiography of Emperor Haile Sellassie I. My Life and Ethiopia's Progress. translated by Edward Ullendorff, Oxford 1976.
Web links
- Newspaper article about Iyasu V. in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Iyasu means Joshua, the etymological translation "Jesus" is inappropriate, since this name is rendered as Iyesus in Ethiopia
- ↑ How Ethiopian prince scuppered Germany's WW1 plans. BBC News, September 25, 2016, accessed September 25, 2016 .
- ^ The Solomonic Dynasty Genealogy
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Menelik II |
Emperor of Ethiopia 1913–1916 |
Zauditu |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Iyasu V. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Jesus V .; Lij Iyasu; Joshua V. |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | uncrowned emperor of Ethiopia |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 4, 1897 |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 25, 1935 |