Battle of Gallabat
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Ethiopian warriors (circa 1845)
| date | 9. - 10. March 1889 |
|---|---|
| place | Gallabat , Sudan |
| output | Sudanese Pyrrhic Victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
Zeki Tummal |
|
| Troop strength | |
| 85,000 | 130,000 infantrymen , 20,000 cavalrymen |
| losses | |
|
15,000 killed? |
15,000 killed? |
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Aba - Jebel Gedir I - Sennar I - Jebel Gedir II - al-Ubayyid I - al-Ubayyid II - Sennar II - Sinkat - Sheikan - First Battle of El Teb - Second Battle of El Teb - Tamanieh - Khartoum - Abu Klea - Gallabat - Toski - Firket - Atbara - Omdurman - Umm Diwaykarat
The Battle of Gallabat (also known as the Battle of Metemma ) was fought between March 9-10, 1889 between Sudanese Mahdists and Ethiopian forces. The battle is an important event in Ethiopian history because Nəgusä Nägäst (the emperor) Yohannes IV was killed in this battle.
The battle took place at the two twin settlements Gallabat (in today's Sudan ) and Metemma (in today's Ethiopia). Both names are used side by side and both designations are correct.
Conflicts between Ethiopia and Sudan after the Mahdi uprising
In Sudan occupied by the Egyptians , the Mahdi uprising broke out in 1881 under the self-proclaimed Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad . As a result, many of the Egyptian garrisons in the country were isolated. As a consequence, the British , who had taken over Egypt in 1882, negotiated in a treaty with the Emperor Yohannes IV of Ethiopia that the Egyptian garrisons could be evacuated and the troops could march through Ethiopian territory to Massaua . As a result, the Caliph Abdallahi ibn Muhammad , the successor of Muhammad Ahmad, saw the Ethiopians as his enemies and sent his troops to attack them.
The twin settlements Gallabat and Metemma were on the trade route from the Nile to Gonder , the old imperial city. The Mahdists used these settlements as a base for attacks on Ethiopia. These moves led to the defeat of the Mahdists by Ras Alula at the Battle of Kufit in 1885 .
The sack of Gonder
A few years later, in January 1887, the Negus of Gojjam , Tekle Haymanot (a vassal of Emperor Yohannes) attacked the Mahdists in Metemma and sacked the city. The following counter-attacks by the Mahdists were unsuccessful. The caliph then held a large army show in Omdurman on July 31, 1887 under the command of his Commander-in-Chief Abu Angia and sent him to fight the Ethiopians. This invaded Ethiopia with 100,000 men. Tekle Haymanot faced him at Sar Weha's but was badly beaten. The Mahdists moved into Gonder and sacked the city. Churches were looted and set alight, and many of the residents were led into slavery .
Despite this destruction of the historic capital, Emperor Yohannes held back with a counterattack because he feared the Ras Sahle Mariam , who was then only ruler of the Shoah . He wanted to wage a campaign against Sahle Mariam, but the clergy and his senior officers urged him to deal with the Mahdist threat first. But then Ras Gobana Dacche, with an alliance of troops from Sheva and Oromo, managed to defeat the Mahdists hard in the Battle of Guté Dili (October 14, 1888). Thereupon the emperor followed the recommendations of his advisors. According to Alqa Lamlam, he said, “If I return, I can fight the Shoah later when I return. And if I die at Matemma in the hands of the Gentiles, I will go to heaven. "
The battle
In late January 1889, Yohannes gathered an army of 130,000 infantrymen and 20,000 cavalry soldiers in Dembiya . The Sudanese had 85,000 men and fortified their positions in Gallabat . They surrounded the city with a high zeriba , a barrier of intertwined thorn bushes that had the effect of barbed wire .
On March 8, 1889, the Ethiopian army arrived within sight of Gallabat and the attack began the next day. The wings were commanded by the emperor's nephews, Ras Haile Maryam Gugsa led the left wing and Ras Mengesha Yohannes the right. The Ethiopians managed to set the Zeriba on fire and, by concentrating their attacks on part of the defense , breached the Mahdist lines and entered the city. The defenders suffered heavy losses and were on the verge of collapsing completely when the battle unexpectedly turned in their favor.
Emperor Yohannes, who led his army from the front, had dismissed a wound in the hand, but a second bullet hit him fatally in the chest. He was taken back to his tent, where he died the following night. Before his death, Yohannes ordered his nobles to recognize his own son Ras Mengesha as his successor. The Ethiopians, demoralized by the death of their ruler, began to migrate, leaving the field - and victory - to the Mahdists.
The Mahdists apparently knew nothing of the emperor's death until "the stench of the rapidly decaying imperial corpse drew the attention of a spy and the almost beaten Sudanese stormed out of their zeriba to chase the dejected Ethiopians like sparrows." On March 12, the troops of the Mahdist commander Zeki Tummal the Ras Mangasha and Alula with their remaining entourage who brought the emperor's body home near the Atbara . The Mahdists inflicted heavy losses on the Ethiopians and captured the emperor's body. They cut off her head and sent her back to Omdurman as a trophy.
aftermath
The emperor's death resulted in a period of political chaos. Although the ruler had chosen his son Ras Mengescha as his successor and asked Ras Alula and other nobles for their support, Menelik II was recognized as the new ruler in Ethiopia after a few weeks .
For the Mahdists, the consequences were severe. The loss of many of their best warriors weakened their fighting strength significantly. The caliph decided to be cautious and stopped offensive actions against Ethiopia. This reduced the conflict to small border skirmishes.
literature
- Gallabat . In: Encyclopædia Britannica . 11th edition. tape 11 : Franciscans - Gibson . London 1910, p. 412 (English, full text [ Wikisource ]).
Web links
- Yohannes IV. In: Ethiopian History. (English).
Individual evidence
- ↑ Heinrich Pleticha (ed.): The Mahdi uprising in eyewitness reports. Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, Munich 1981, ISBN 3-423-02710-X , p. 237.
- ^ Bahru Zewde: A History of Modern Ethiopia. James Currey, London 1991, p. 59.
- ↑ Alessandro Triulzi: Trade, Islam, and the Mahdia in Northwestern Wallagga, Ethiopia. In: Journal of African History. Vol. 16 (1975), pp. 64-68.
- ↑ Haggai Erlich: Ras Alula and the Scramble for Africa. Red Sea Press, Lawrenceville 1996, p. 133.
- ↑ Haggai Erlich: Ras Alula. P. 134.
- ↑ Haggai Erlich ( Ras Alula. P. 134) states that until the declaration of the dying emperor it was assumed that Ras Mangesha was the emperor's nephew.
- ^ David L. Lewis: The Race to Fashoda. Weidenfeld and Nicolson, New York 1987, p. 107.
- ↑ Haggai Erlich: Ras Alula. P. 135 f.
- ^ Paul B. Henze: Layers of Time. Palgrave, New York 2000, p. 162.
- ↑ Winston Churchill : The river war. Eyre and Spottiswoode, London 1952, p. 83.