Battle of Assam

Part of: inner-Ethiopian power struggle

date	July 11, 1871
place	Assam River, Tigray , Ethiopia
output	Win Kassa (i) Merchas

Parties to the conflict
Cash desk Mercha	Tekle Giyorgis II.
Commander
Cash desk Mercha	Tekle Giyorgis II.
Troop strength
around 12,000	around 60,000
losses
unknown	around 500 dead and 1,000 wounded

The Battle of Assam (sometimes also known as the Battle of Asem or Battle of Adwa ), a small tributary of the Wari , was fought on July 11, 1871 and was the decisive military conflict between the Ethiopian ruler Tekle Giyorgis II († 1873) and his son-in-law and competitor for the imperial throne dejazmach Kassa (i) Mercha, the subsequent Yohannes IV. († 1889). The superior armament and discipline of his troops ensured Kassa Mercha victory over his rival, who was captured in the course of the battle with a large part of his army.

Starting position

After the death of Tewodros II in the course of the British Ethiopia expedition of 1868 , wag shum Gobaze was able to assert himself as his successor and was crowned negusa nagast (German: "King of kings") as Tekle Giyorgis II . However, some of the powerful partial princes of the country were in opposition to the new ruler from the start, including the ras of Shoah , who later became Emperor Menelik II , and Kassa Mercha of Tigray . While Menelik was able to come to terms with the emperor, there was an open power struggle between Kassa and him in 1871.

procedure

In June 1871, Tekle Giyorgis II marched into Tigray at the head of an army whose strength is given as 60,000 men, where he initially encountered little resistance. In the course of his further advance on the provincial capital Adwa , the battle of May Zulawu broke out on June 21 , which lasted all day. Despite the fivefold superiority of his opponent, Kassa Mercha's armed forces won thanks to their better discipline and armament. Tekle Giyorgis II withdrew towards the Mareb River the next day , but was bypassed by Kassa Mercha's army and finally forced to battle again on July 11, around 10:30 am. In this decisive battle, which lasted only two hours, Kassa was victorious again. Tekle Giyorgis II, who had tried to win the battle in his favor with a cavalry attack on the center of Kassa, was wounded and taken prisoner. His demoralized fighters then surrendered by the thousands to the victorious Kassa, so that around 24,000 more prisoners fell into his hands in this way. On January 21, 1872 Kassa was crowned as Yohannes IV as the new negusa nagast .

Reasons for Kassa's victory

The decisive factor in Kassa's victory was the extremely modern armament of his troops, which he owed to the British, by Ethiopian standards. He had supported the British-Indian Army with food during their Ethiopia expedition of 1868 and helped secure their supply and telegraph lines . As a thank you for this, the British gave him six mortars , six howitzers , 855 shotguns and muskets , which were not necessary for the British Army due to their age, 400 rounds of artillery ammunition, around 40,000 rounds of ammunition for small arms, as well as gunpowder and other equipment left. However, the British had not given in to Kassa's insistence that some military advisers be provided. However, he managed to find a "replacement" in John Charles Kirkham , a British adventurer who had served as a sergeant under Charles George Gordon in China and who had accompanied the Ethiopian expedition as a sutler . Kirkham's know-how and British weapons made Kassa the militarily strongest prince of Ethiopia and his opponent Tekle Giyorgis II, who for his part had avoided contact with the British "intruders", clearly superior.

References and comments

↑ Unless otherwise stated, all information in this entry is based on Bahru Zewde: A History of Modern Ethiopia. 1855-1991. Reprint of the 2nd edition from 2002, Addis Ababa University Press, Addis Ababa 2005, ISBN 0-8214-1440-2 , p. 42f. and Harold G. Marcus: A History of Ethiopia. Updated Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley et al. a. 2002, ISBN 978-0-520-22479-7 , p. 72.
↑ In the case of the strength ratios of the two armies given here, it must be taken into account that these are not the actual numbers of combat troops. Rather, it can be assumed that the figures given include a not inconsiderable number of people entrusted with purely logistical tasks. This is all the more true for the army of Tekle Giyorgis II, as Ethiopian rulers were often accompanied on their campaigns by thousands of servants, courtiers and other people who could be classified as mere "battle-wanderers".
↑ Figures based on Volker Matthies: Company Magdala. Punitive expedition in Ethiopia. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-572-0 , pp. 142f. and Saheed A. Adejumobi: The History of Ethiopia (= Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations). Greenwood Press, London et al. a. 2006, ISBN 978-0-313-32273-0 , p. 27.
↑ Matthies (2010), p. 143.

[1] Unless otherwise stated, all information in this entry is based on Bahru Zewde: A History of Modern Ethiopia. 1855-1991. Reprint of the 2nd edition from 2002, Addis Ababa University Press, Addis Ababa 2005, ISBN 0-8214-1440-2 , p. 42f. and Harold G. Marcus: A History of Ethiopia. Updated Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley et al. a. 2002, ISBN 978-0-520-22479-7 , p. 72.

[2] In the case of the strength ratios of the two armies given here, it must be taken into account that these are not the actual numbers of combat troops. Rather, it can be assumed that the figures given include a not inconsiderable number of people entrusted with purely logistical tasks. This is all the more true for the army of Tekle Giyorgis II, as Ethiopian rulers were often accompanied on their campaigns by thousands of servants, courtiers and other people who could be classified as mere "battle-wanderers".

[3] Figures based on Volker Matthies: Company Magdala. Punitive expedition in Ethiopia. Ch. Links Verlag, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-572-0 , pp. 142f. and Saheed A. Adejumobi: The History of Ethiopia (= Greenwood Histories of the Modern Nations). Greenwood Press, London et al. a. 2006, ISBN 978-0-313-32273-0 , p. 27.

[4] Matthies (2010), p. 143.