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2.3.2. Foreign Policy During Yohannes IV (1872-1889)

Yohannes IV succeeded Tewodros II as emperor of Ethiopia from 1872-1889. Like his predecessor, Yohannes considered Islam and Egypt's continued attempts to invade Ethiopia as a threat to the country's territorial integrity. He also saw European colonial expansion as a greater threat, which proved true when Italy gained control of the port of Massawa in 1885. However, Yohannes IV died fighting against Sudanese resistance groups that had invaded Western Ethiopia under the false presumption that he was collaborating with the British.

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4K views1 page

2.3.2. Foreign Policy During Yohannes IV (1872-1889)

Yohannes IV succeeded Tewodros II as emperor of Ethiopia from 1872-1889. Like his predecessor, Yohannes considered Islam and Egypt's continued attempts to invade Ethiopia as a threat to the country's territorial integrity. He also saw European colonial expansion as a greater threat, which proved true when Italy gained control of the port of Massawa in 1885. However, Yohannes IV died fighting against Sudanese resistance groups that had invaded Western Ethiopia under the false presumption that he was collaborating with the British.

Uploaded by

Raol TA
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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2.3.2.

Foreign Policy during Yohannes IV (1872-1889)

Yohannes IV succeeded Tewodros II. Like his predecessor, Yohannes considered Islam as a
threat to the territorial integrity of the polity. Indeed Egypt tried to put a serious security
threat in
its continued attempt to invade the country under many pretexts, yet its motive was to control
the
source of Blue Nile. These, however, were not successful as Egypt faced subsequent defeat
both
in 1875 and 1876 at the Battle of Gundet and Gura respectively (Keller). In addition to
Muslim
threat, the emperor saw European expansionism as greater threat to the survival of the
country.
In fact his calculation of threat has turned out to be real as Italy got a foot hold at the port of
Massawa in 1885.This colonial ambition of Italy was reflected by the Foreign Minister
speech
―The Red Sea is the key to the Mediterranean‖ implicating the strategic importance of
Ethiopia
(Novati). However, the emperor died fighting with the ―Mahadists‖. The Sudanese
resistance
groups against British rule happened to invade Western Ethiopia because of their
presumption
that Yohannes IV was collaborating with the British.

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