Battle of Dabarki

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Battle of Dabarki
Date1848
(174 years)
Location
Dabarki, Ottoman Empire
(now Dinder, Sudan)[1]
Result Egyptian-Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ethiopian EmpireQwara

Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire

• Ottoman EmpireEgypt Eyalet
Commanders and leaders
Ethiopian EmpireKassa Hailu Unknown

The Battle of Dabarki, also known as the Battle of Dabarqi, was a military engagement fought between the forces of the future Ethiopian emperor Tewodros II, then Kassa Hailu, and the Ottoman province of Egypt in 1848.

The battle was a follow up to the Egyptian defeat under the brother of Tewodros and ruler of Qwara province, Kinfu Hailu, at the Battle of Wadkaltabu in 1837, which a young Kassa fought in.[2] Afterwords, the future emperor was forced to turn his attention to regional lords, rapidly defeating GoshuZawde of Gojjam at Gur Amba on November 27, 1852; Biru Alighaz, Aben, Yazew & Balewat Togusa (Gorgora Bichen) on April 12, 1853; leading historians to believe the defeat would spur the modernization of Tewodros II's army, culminating in the end of the Zemene Mesafint.

History[]

In the late 1840s, future Abyssinian Emperor Tewodros II embarked on a campaign to consolidate his empire by invading Gonder, which he occupied in 1847. With his victory in the south secured, Tewodros decided to strengthen his position by damaging his major rivals, namely Egypt, then a nominal province of the Ottoman Empire. Invading through Ethiopia's western frontier, the Ethiopian army occupied Metemma and advanced into the Egyptian-controlled Sudan.[3][4]

In March 1848, Tewodros decided to attack Dabarki, a fortified post garrisoned with Egyptian and Ottoman troops.[5][6] The Ethiopian attack faced heavy resistance and suffered many casualties from the Egyptian-Ottoman artillery.[7][6] The attack failed and led to the collapse of Tewodros' campaign, forcing his army to retreat into the nearby highlands.[3]

The battle at Dabarki greatly effected Tewodros' military thinking, inspiriting him to modernize the Ethiopian army with more modern artillery and firearms.[7][6] Several sources have described the battle as the first significant defeat in Tewodros' military career.[4][6]

References[]

  1. ^ Schlee, Günther (2012). Pastoralism in Interaction with other Forms of Land Use in the Blue Nile Area of Sudan (PDF). Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.
  2. ^ (2019). Module for history of Ethiopia and the horn for HLIS. Department of Science and Higher Education - Ethiopia. Addis Ababa
  3. ^ a b El Amin, Abdel Karim. Ahmed, Abdel Karim (2009). AN HISTORICAL STUDY OF THE SHAWAN – AMHARA CONQUEST OF THE OROMO and SIDAMA REGIONS OF SOUTHERN ETHIOPIA 1865-1900 URL:khartoumspace.uofk.edu/bitstream/handle/123456789/12646/AN%20HISTORICAL%20STU
  4. ^ a b Dunn, John. "'For God, Emperor, and Country!' The Evolution of Ethiopia's Nineteenth-Century Army." War in History 1, no. 3 (1994): 278-99. Accessed February 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/26004373.
  5. ^ Abir, M. "The Origins of the Ethiopian-Egyptian Border Problem in the Nineteenth Century." The Journal of African History 8, no. 3 (1967): 443-61. Accessed February 3, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/179830.
  6. ^ a b c d Dunn, John P. (2005). Khedive Ismail's Army. Psychology Press. ISBN 978-0-7146-5704-2.
  7. ^ a b Marcus, Harold G. (2002-02-22). A History of Ethiopia. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-22479-7.
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