EASTERN AFRICAN STUDIES
Revealing Prophets
Edited by DAVID M. ANDERSON & DOUGLAS H. JOHNSON
Swahili Origins
JAMES DE VERE ALLEN
Being Maasai
Edited by THOMAS SPEAR & RICHARD WALLER
Jua Kali Kenya
KENNETH KING
Control & Crisis in Colonial Kenya
BRUCE BERMAN
Unhappy Valley
Book One: State & Class
Book Two: Violence & Ethnicity
BRUCE BERMAN & JOHN LONSDALE
Mau Mau from Below
GREET KERSHAW
The Mau Mau War in Perspective
FRANK FUREDI
Squatters & the Roots of Mau Mau 190563
TABITHA KANOGO
Economic & Social Origins of Mau Mau 194553
DAVID W. THROUP
Multi-Party Politics in Kenya
DAVID W. THROUP & CHARLES HORNSBY
Decolonization & Independence in Kenya 194093
Edited by B.A. OGOT & WILLIAM R. OCHIENG
Penetration & Protest in Tanzania
ISARIA N. KIMAMBO
Custodians of the Land
Edited by GREGORY MADDOX, JAMES L. GIBLIN & ISARIA N. KIMAMBO
Education in the Development of Tanzania 19191990
LENE BUCHERT
The Second Economy in Tanzania
T.L. MALIYAMKONO & M.S.D. BAGACHWA
Ecology Control & Economic Development in East African History
HELGE KJEKSHUS
Siaya
DAVID WILLIAM COHEN & E.S. ATIENO ODHIAMBO
Uganda Now
Changing Uganda
Developing Uganda
From Chaos to Order
Religion & Politics in East Africa
Edited by HOLGER BERNT HANSEN & MICHAEL TWADDLE
Kakungulu & the Creation of Uganda 1868-1928
MICHAEL TWADDLE
Controlling Anger
SUZETTE HEALD
Kampala Women Getting By
SANDRA WALLMAN
Slaves, Spices & Ivory in Zanzibar
ABDUL SHERIFF
Zanzibar Under Colonial Rule
Edited by ABDUL SHERIFF & ED FERGUSON
The History & Conservation of Zanzibar Stone Town
Edited by ABDUL SHERIFF
East African Expressions of Christianity
Edited by THOMAS SPEAR & ISARIA N. KIMAMBO
The Poor Are Not Us
Edited by DAVID M. ANDERSON & VIGDIS BROCH-DUE
Alice Lakwena & the Holy Spirits
HEIKE BEHREND
Empire State-Building
JOANNA LEWIS
Eroding the Commons
DAVID ANDERSON
Pastimes & Politics
LAURA FAIR
Political Power in Pre-Colonial Buganda
RICHARD REID
Potent Brews
JUSTIN WILLIS
A History of Modern Ethiopia 18551991
Second edition
BAHRU ZEWDE
Ethnicity & Conflict in the Horn of Africa
Edited by KATSUYOSHI FUKUI & JOHN MARKAKIS
Conflict, Age & Power in North East Africa
Edited by EISEI KURIMOTO & SIMON SIMONSE
Property Rights & Political Development in Ethiopia & Eritrea
SANDRA FULLERTON JOIREMAN
Revolution & Religion in Ethiopia
YVIND M. EIDE
Brothers at War
TEKESTE NEGASH & KJETIL TRONVOLL
From Guerrillas to Government
DAVID POOL
Pioneers of Change in Ethiopia
BAHRU ZEWDE
Remapping Ethiopia
Edited by W. JAMES, D. DONHAM, E. KURIMOTO & A. TRIULZI
Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia
Edited by DONALD D. DONHAM & WENDY JAMES
A History of Modern Ethiopia 18551991A History of Modern Ethiopia 18551991
SECOND EDITION
Bahru Zewde
Professor of History
Addis Ababa University
James Currey
OXFORD
Ohio University Press
ATHENS
Addis Ababa University Press
ADDIS ABABA
James Currey Ltd
73 Botley Road
Oxford
OX2 0BS
Ohio University Press
Scott Quadrangle
Athens, Ohio 45701, USA
Addis Ababa University Press and Research and Publications Office
Addis Ababa University
PO Box 1176
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Bahru Zewde 1991 and 2001
First published 1991
Second impression 1993
Second edition 2001
2 3 4 5 05
eBook edition published 2016
Ohio University Press
www.ohioswallow.com
James Currey
Boydell & Brewer Ltd
PO Box 9, Woodbridge
Suffolk IP12 3DF (GB)
www.jamescurrey.com
Boydell & Brewer Inc.
668 Mt Hope Avenue
Rochester, NY 14620-2731 (US)
www.boydellandbrewer.com
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Bahru Zewde
A history of modern Ethiopia, 1855-1991. - 2nd ed. - (Eastern African studies)
1. Ethiopia. History - 19th century 2. Ethiopia - History - 20th century
I. Title
963'.05
ISBN 0-85255-786-8 (James Currey paper)
Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data is available
ISBN 0-8214-1440-2 (Ohio University Press paper)
Maps by Katherine Kirkwood
Typeset in 10/12pt Baskerville by Colset Pte Ltd Singapore and revisions to second edition by Longhouse Publishing Services, Cumbria
Printed and bound in Britain
by Woolnough, Irthlingborough
ISBN 978-1-78204-786-5 (James Currey ePub eISBN)
ISBN 978-1-78204-986-9 (James Currey ePDF eISBN)
ISBN 978-0-8214-4572-3 (Ohio University Press eISBN)
To Kaleb
Illustrations
Maps
Sources of Illustrations
Art Gallery of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa: cover/3.29
Kurt Herzbruch. Abessinien. Munich, 1925, Fr. Seybold Verlag: 1.1, 3.23
Hormuzd Rassam. Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia, II.
London, 1869, John Murray: 2.1
Henry A. Stern. The Captive Missionary. London, 1868, Cassell, Petter & Galpin: 2 2
Photographic collection of the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, Addis Ababa University: 2.4, 2.8, 2.11, 2.15, 3.4, 3.6, 3.10, 3.11, 3.17, 3.19, 3.30, 4.1, 4.4, 4.9, 5.4, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7, 6.1, 6.3, 6.4, 6.5, 6.6, 6.7
(Album of the British Expedition to Maqdala, 1867-1868): 2.3
(Album Charles Michel-Cote, Ethiopie-Soudan, 1919-1920): 2.7
E. Canevari and G. Comisso. Il generale Tommaso Salsa e le sue campagne coloniali. Milan, 1935, A. Mondadori: 2.5
Achille Bizzone. Eritrea nel passate e nel presente. Milan, 1897, Societ editrice Sonzogno: 2.6
Philipp Paulitschke. Harar. Leipzig, 1888, F. A. Brockhaus: 2.9
Lincoln de Castro. Nella terra dei negus, I and II. Milan, 1915, Fratelli Treves: 2.10, 2.13, 3.9, 3.20
Otto Bieber. Geheimnisvolles Kaffa. Im Reich der Kaiser-Goetter. Vienna, 1948, Universum Verlagsgesellschaft: 2.12, 3.2
Das ist Abessinien. Berne, Leipzig, Vienna, 1935, Wilhelm Goldmann Verlag, GmbH: 2.14, 3.5, 3.7, 3.14, 3.21, 3.34
Leopoldo Traversi. Let Marefi. Milan, 1931, Edizioni Alpes: 3.1