Warqenah Eshate
Encyclopedia
Hakim Warqenah Eshate was the first Ethiopia
n educated as a medical doctor, and an Ethiopian intellectual. He led the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to the United States in 1927 which negotiated a contract to build a dam on the upper Abay River; and beginning in 1934 he served as Ethiopia's Minister
to the United Kingdom
.
, son of Nagad ras Eshate Wolde Mariyam. Nagad ras had been forced to join Emperor Tewodros II
in his retreat to Magdala
where the emperor made his final stand
against the invading British soldiers
in 1868. In the confusion that followed the capture of Magdala, Warqenah was separated from his parents and found by the British soldiers alongside Alemayehu Tewodros weeping over the Emperor's body. Assuming that he was an orphan, Warqenah was taken under the protection of Colonel Charles Chamberlain. According to Bahru Zewde, Colonel Chamberlain took him to Aden
where he was made the ward of another colonel, Charles Martin, who brought to India, where Warqenah attended the mission schools at Rawalpindi
and Armistar. Richard Pankhurst
, however, presents another version of events in Warqenah's life after leaving Ethiopia: Colonel Chamberlain brought Warqenah to his home in Rawalpindi, serving as his guardian until his death in 1871, after which Warqenah was dispatched to the mission school at Armistar where Colonel Martin paid for his education. In both versions of the story, Warqenah was grateful enough to Colonel Martin's interest in him that he took the Colonel's name as his own.
The younger Martin enrolled at the Lahore Medical College in 1877; upon his graduation in 1882 under the name of Charles Martin, he performed two years of practice as an assistant surgeon, then travelled to Scotland where he undertook further specialized training and received certificates in medicine and surgery. Upon completion of these studies, in December 1891 he was appointed medical officer and surgeon in Burma.
of his homeland in 1896, he obtained three month's leave and attempted to return to Ethiopia. He was stopped at Zeila
, then part of British Somaliland
, by J.L. Harrington the British district officer, who told him that on account of the war he could not proceed, and in any case it would take six weeks to reach Addis Ababa
. While Dr. Martin was forced to return to his posting in Burma, his effort was not wasted: Harrington subsequently informed Emperor Menelik about the young Ethiopian doctor. Emperor Menelik was very interested to meet his compatriot and asked Harrington to arrange this. In 1898 Dr. Martin received a letter from Harrington inviting him to Ethiopia.
According to Bahru Zewde, basing his opinion on the events Warqenah recorded in his yet unpublished diary, Dr. Martin arrived in Ethiopia in late 1899, having his first audience with Emperor Menelik on 5 January 1900. But it in March of that year that he had the most important meeting of his first visit to Ethiopia.
He had pitched a tent in the center of Addis Ababa, where he began to treat patients free of charge. While occupied at this undertaking, as Pankhurst tells the story, "He was soon surprised to see an old lady accompanied by attendants, going back and forth in front of his tent and regarding him with obvious attention." The doctor, who had long forgotten the few words of Amharic
he knew as a child and was forced to rely on an interpreter to talk to his fellow countrymen, sent the man to ask the lady what she wanted.
Upon finding the scars, his grandmother then told him the story of his origin. His mother had
died of grief a few days after he had been taken away, and his father lived not much longer. His relatives all presented themselves to him, "his aunt apologizing for having deserted him in panic over thirty years earlier."
Although Pankhurst describes this reunion as "most romantic", Dr. Martin's own immediate response was remarkably distant. Bahru Zewde notes that "his diary gives a distinctly chilly impression of his return to his motherland and reunion with his relatives. He viewed the exuberance and excitement of his kin with clinical detachment, expressing scepticism about the identities of his maternal grandmother, Emahoy Salamnesh, his aunt and his half-sister". Bahru explains much of his response was due to "the culture shock that he must have gone through", and notes that either he must have confined his aloofness to his diary, or it did not bother his relatives who were "earnestly trying to find a bride for him."
Menelik asked the doctor to remain in Ethiopia and use his skills to benefit his fellow Ethiopians. Warqenah and Menelik argued over the salary: the doctor wanted 5,000 Maria Theresa thaler
s a year, while Menelik would only offer 2,000. Menelik did convince the doctor to stay for the lesser sum, promising a raise at the end of the first year. Warqenah found the year frustrating, for his efforts to open schools in Ethiopia were opposed so fiercely by the Ethiopian Church that no progress was made. The French and Russian diplomats, jealous of his closeness to the Emperor, claimed that he was a British spy.
When he found that the raise he had expected did not materialize, to the fury of Empress Taytu Betul
, the doctor refused to make his services available any longer and left Addis Ababa on 9 March 1901. On his journey to the coast, he met Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael, then governor of Harar
, with whom Warqenah formed a more amiable relationship. During his stay in Harar, Dr. Martin served with a British expedition sent in 1901 against the Somali
resistance leader, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
. Afterwards the doctor served as Ras Makonnen's personal physician for six months, for which service he was given gult over 70 acres in Jarso
. He finally left Ethiopia for Burma 2 February 1902, taking with him five Ethiopian boys to be educated abroad; one of them, Tedla Abebiyeu, later became a medical doctor.
It was during this period that Dr. Warqenah married Qatsala Tulu, the daughter of a Shewa
n aristocrat and attendant to the future Empress Zewditu. Her father had been reluctant to allow his daughter to marry a foreigner -- "as Warqenah was for all intents and purposes presumed to be", Bahru Zewde points out—but he was persuaded in the end to consent to the union. They left together for Burma around 1913, where Qatsala studied nursing and taught her husband Amharic and Oromo
. Together they had six sons and seven daughters, adding to the son, named Tewodros, Warqenah had by a woman he had married while studying in Scotland. Bahru Zewde states they had a happy marriage, until the 1930s when rumors of his infidelity led to their separation.
road until the responsibility was transferred to a group headed by David Hall, Warqenah's primary contributions were in the area of education and government. His first post, following his return, was as medical director of Menelik II Hospital. When the Tafari Makonnen School was opened in 1925, he was appointed superintendent. During his tenure, with the help of Heruy Welde Sellase, he wrote a book on world geography in Amharic. The collaboration, Bahru Zewde opines, "seems to have been mutually beneficial, as Heruy also managed to improve his English as he worked with Warqenah on the book. He was an important activist for the abolition of slavery in Ethiopia, founding a school for freed slaves that would teach them literacy and other skills which included weaving, tailoring, and carpentry. In July 1926 Warqenah published a moving article in the weekly newspaper Berhanena Selam, in which he argued abolishing slavery "represented the culmination of a course of events initiated by Menilek."
Dr. Warqenah served several government posts. On 1 July 1928, he was given the traditional Ethiopian title of Azaz and appointed president of the Special Court which handled cases involving Ethiopians and resident foreigners. In 1930, he was appointed governor of the model province of Chercher, a duty he discharged for four years. Although few details are known of how he administered Chercher, an article in the Berhana Selam compliments him for opening a school in Chercher and building roads. He achieved these improvements despite the sometime capricious instructions sent to him from Addis Ababa. In 1933 he was ordered to release seven persons he had detained on charges of keeping slaves; another instruction he received commanded the immediate transfer of 23,808 birr
to the capital, "which was the amount of the revenue of the Ministry of Commerce".
He simultaneously discharged diplomatic duties. In 1927 Dr. Warqenah led an official delegation to the United States to negotiate with a New York company, J.G. White Engineering, to build a barrage on Lake Tana
; Ras Tafari (later Emperor Haile Selassie) had selected this company in response to the Anglo-Italian agreement two years earlier, which had placed Lake Tana in the British sphere of influence. This visit was significant not only for Warqenah's meeting with the company, and officials of the United States which included President Coolidge
, but for arriving in Harlem
, where he delivered Ras Tafari's greetings to the African-American community and Tafari's invitation to skilled African Americans to settle in Ethiopia. Then, prior to becoming governor of Chercher, Dr. Warqenah journeyed to India in 1930, where he recruited 16 professionals, including two teachers, to come to Ethiopia and assist in its modernization.
Then in the wake of the Walwal Incident, Warqenah was made Ethiopian minister to the United Kingdom, "a post for which he was eminently qualified" Bahru Zewde observes. Faced with the lack of interest from the British government over Ethiopia's situation—the British authorities were in the large, supporters of Italy—he found valuable support in Sylvia Pankhurst
, who proved to be a tireless activist on behalf of Ethiopia. He contributed regularly to Pankhurst's weekly New Times and Ethiopia News, and their combined efforts built up a grass-roots movement of support for Ethiopia within Great Britain. Despite these efforts, the United Kingdom offered little support for Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
, which ended with Emperor Haile Selassie being forced into exile.
Events inside Ethiopia brought personal tragedy to Warqenah's life: the unsuccessful attempt
on Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
's life led to reprisals which included the summary execution of Warqenah's sons, Benyam and Yosef. Other members of his family, including his estranged wife Qatsala, his first son Tewodros, and his daughters and in-laws, were interned and deported to Italy. Warqenah turned his attention to obtaining the release of his imprisoned family, and his and their resettlement in India. Despite his efforts, he could only take four of his children with him to India, where he remained until 1941/2. Returning to Ethiopia, he dedicated the rest of his life to educating his grandchildren and the children of his relatives and neighbors at his house on the eastern outskirts of Addis Ababa.
Ethiopia
Ethiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
n educated as a medical doctor, and an Ethiopian intellectual. He led the Ethiopian diplomatic mission to the United States in 1927 which negotiated a contract to build a dam on the upper Abay River; and beginning in 1934 he served as Ethiopia's Minister
Foreign relations of Ethiopia
Like many states in sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia was relatively isolated from other countries not immediately adjacent to it, until well into the 19th century...
to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Early life
Warqenah was born in GondarGondar
Gondar or Gonder is a city in Ethiopia, which was once the old imperial capital and capital of the historic Begemder Province. As a result, the old province of Begemder is sometimes referred to as Gondar...
, son of Nagad ras Eshate Wolde Mariyam. Nagad ras had been forced to join Emperor Tewodros II
Tewodros II of Ethiopia
Tewodros II was the Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death....
in his retreat to Magdala
Amba Mariam
Amba Mariam is a village in central Ethiopia. It was known as Magdala or Meqdela during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia...
where the emperor made his final stand
Battle of Magdala
The Battle of Magdala was fought in April 1868 between British and Abyssinian forces at Magdala, from the Red Sea coast, which at that time was the capital city of Abyssinia...
against the invading British soldiers
1868 Expedition to Abyssinia
The British 1868 Expedition to Abyssinia was a punitive expedition carried out by armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire...
in 1868. In the confusion that followed the capture of Magdala, Warqenah was separated from his parents and found by the British soldiers alongside Alemayehu Tewodros weeping over the Emperor's body. Assuming that he was an orphan, Warqenah was taken under the protection of Colonel Charles Chamberlain. According to Bahru Zewde, Colonel Chamberlain took him to Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
where he was made the ward of another colonel, Charles Martin, who brought to India, where Warqenah attended the mission schools at Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi , locally known as Pindi, is a city in the Pothohar region of Pakistan near Pakistan's capital city of Islamabad, in the province of Punjab. Rawalpindi is the fourth largest city in Pakistan after Karachi, Lahore and Faisalabad...
and Armistar. Richard Pankhurst
Richard Pankhurst (academic)
Richard Keir Pethick Pankhurst OBE is a British academic with expertise in the study of Ethiopia.-Early life and education:...
, however, presents another version of events in Warqenah's life after leaving Ethiopia: Colonel Chamberlain brought Warqenah to his home in Rawalpindi, serving as his guardian until his death in 1871, after which Warqenah was dispatched to the mission school at Armistar where Colonel Martin paid for his education. In both versions of the story, Warqenah was grateful enough to Colonel Martin's interest in him that he took the Colonel's name as his own.
The younger Martin enrolled at the Lahore Medical College in 1877; upon his graduation in 1882 under the name of Charles Martin, he performed two years of practice as an assistant surgeon, then travelled to Scotland where he undertook further specialized training and received certificates in medicine and surgery. Upon completion of these studies, in December 1891 he was appointed medical officer and surgeon in Burma.
Return to Ethiopia
When Doctor Charles Martin heard of the Italian invasionFirst Italo-Abyssinian War
The First Italo-Ethiopian War was fought between Italy and Ethiopia from 1895 to 1896. Ethiopia's military victory over Italy secured it the distinction of being the only African nation to successfully resist European colonialism with a decisive show of force.-Background:On March 25, 1889, the...
of his homeland in 1896, he obtained three month's leave and attempted to return to Ethiopia. He was stopped at Zeila
Zeila
Zeila, also known as Zaila , is a port city on the Gulf of Aden coast, situated in the northwestern Awdal region of Somalia.Located near the Djibouti border, the town sits on a sandy spit surrounded by the sea. It is known for its offshore islands, coral reef and mangroves. Landward, the terrain is...
, then part of British Somaliland
British Somaliland
British Somaliland was a British protectorate in the northern part of present-day Somalia. For much of its existence, British Somaliland was bordered by French Somaliland, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa...
, by J.L. Harrington the British district officer, who told him that on account of the war he could not proceed, and in any case it would take six weeks to reach Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
. While Dr. Martin was forced to return to his posting in Burma, his effort was not wasted: Harrington subsequently informed Emperor Menelik about the young Ethiopian doctor. Emperor Menelik was very interested to meet his compatriot and asked Harrington to arrange this. In 1898 Dr. Martin received a letter from Harrington inviting him to Ethiopia.
According to Bahru Zewde, basing his opinion on the events Warqenah recorded in his yet unpublished diary, Dr. Martin arrived in Ethiopia in late 1899, having his first audience with Emperor Menelik on 5 January 1900. But it in March of that year that he had the most important meeting of his first visit to Ethiopia.
He had pitched a tent in the center of Addis Ababa, where he began to treat patients free of charge. While occupied at this undertaking, as Pankhurst tells the story, "He was soon surprised to see an old lady accompanied by attendants, going back and forth in front of his tent and regarding him with obvious attention." The doctor, who had long forgotten the few words of Amharic
Amharic language
Amharic is a Semitic language spoken in Ethiopia. It is the second most-spoken Semitic language in the world, after Arabic, and the official working language of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. Thus, it has official status and is used nationwide. Amharic is also the official or working...
he knew as a child and was forced to rely on an interpreter to talk to his fellow countrymen, sent the man to ask the lady what she wanted.
- She replied that she wished to examine his arms and legs, as she believed him to be her grandson who had been lost at Magdala as a child. He cordially invited her to examine him, but stipulated that she must first tell him what she expected to find. She replied, "a long scar on the left arm and another on the right leg."
Upon finding the scars, his grandmother then told him the story of his origin. His mother had
died of grief a few days after he had been taken away, and his father lived not much longer. His relatives all presented themselves to him, "his aunt apologizing for having deserted him in panic over thirty years earlier."
Although Pankhurst describes this reunion as "most romantic", Dr. Martin's own immediate response was remarkably distant. Bahru Zewde notes that "his diary gives a distinctly chilly impression of his return to his motherland and reunion with his relatives. He viewed the exuberance and excitement of his kin with clinical detachment, expressing scepticism about the identities of his maternal grandmother, Emahoy Salamnesh, his aunt and his half-sister". Bahru explains much of his response was due to "the culture shock that he must have gone through", and notes that either he must have confined his aloofness to his diary, or it did not bother his relatives who were "earnestly trying to find a bride for him."
Menelik asked the doctor to remain in Ethiopia and use his skills to benefit his fellow Ethiopians. Warqenah and Menelik argued over the salary: the doctor wanted 5,000 Maria Theresa thaler
Maria Theresa thaler
The Maria Theresa thaler is a silver bullion-coin that has been used in world trade continuously. Maria Theresa Thalers were first minted in 1741, using the then Reichsthaler standard of 9 thalers to the Vienna mark. In 1750 the thaler was debased to 10 thalers to the Vienna Mark...
s a year, while Menelik would only offer 2,000. Menelik did convince the doctor to stay for the lesser sum, promising a raise at the end of the first year. Warqenah found the year frustrating, for his efforts to open schools in Ethiopia were opposed so fiercely by the Ethiopian Church that no progress was made. The French and Russian diplomats, jealous of his closeness to the Emperor, claimed that he was a British spy.
When he found that the raise he had expected did not materialize, to the fury of Empress Taytu Betul
Taytu Betul
thumb|Taytu BetulTaytu Betul was an Empress of the Ethiopian Empire and the wife of Emperor Menelek II.-Biography:...
, the doctor refused to make his services available any longer and left Addis Ababa on 9 March 1901. On his journey to the coast, he met Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael, then governor of Harar
Harar
Harar is an eastern city in Ethiopia, and the capital of the modern Harari ethno-political division of Ethiopia...
, with whom Warqenah formed a more amiable relationship. During his stay in Harar, Dr. Martin served with a British expedition sent in 1901 against the Somali
Somali people
Somalis are an ethnic group located in the Horn of Africa, also known as the Somali Peninsula. The overwhelming majority of Somalis speak the Somali language, which is part of the Cushitic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language family...
resistance leader, Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Mohammed Abdullah Hassan
Sayyīd Muhammad `Abd Allāh al-Hasan was a Somali religious and patriotic leader...
. Afterwards the doctor served as Ras Makonnen's personal physician for six months, for which service he was given gult over 70 acres in Jarso
Jarso (Hararge)
Jarso is one of the 180 woredas in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Part of the Misraq Hararghe Zone, Jarso is bordered on the south by the Harari Region, on the west by Kombolcha, on the north by the city of Dire Dawa, on the east by the Somali Region, and on the southeast by Gursum...
. He finally left Ethiopia for Burma 2 February 1902, taking with him five Ethiopian boys to be educated abroad; one of them, Tedla Abebiyeu, later became a medical doctor.
Second visit to Ethiopia
Dr Warqenah returned to Ethiopia towards the end of 1908, serving as the medical officer to the British legation at Addis Ababa. Upon his return, he found the elderly emperor in poor health, and "attended to by competing doctors who reflected the rival interests of their legations." Following the dismissal of the German physician, Dr. Zintgraff, who had been accused of attempting to poison the Emperor, Dr. Warqenah became Menelik's attending physician at the request of the monarch August 1909, and remained in his service until a year before Menelik's death in 1913.It was during this period that Dr. Warqenah married Qatsala Tulu, the daughter of a Shewa
Shewa
Shewa is a historical region of Ethiopia, formerly an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire...
n aristocrat and attendant to the future Empress Zewditu. Her father had been reluctant to allow his daughter to marry a foreigner -- "as Warqenah was for all intents and purposes presumed to be", Bahru Zewde points out—but he was persuaded in the end to consent to the union. They left together for Burma around 1913, where Qatsala studied nursing and taught her husband Amharic and Oromo
Oromo language
Oromo, also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa, Afan Boran, Afan Orma, and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names , is an Afro-Asiatic language, and the most widely spoken of the Cushitic family. Forms of Oromo are spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and...
. Together they had six sons and seven daughters, adding to the son, named Tewodros, Warqenah had by a woman he had married while studying in Scotland. Bahru Zewde states they had a happy marriage, until the 1930s when rumors of his infidelity led to their separation.
Returning to Ethiopia
After serving 28 years service with the British government, Dr. Warqenah returned to Ethiopia in 1919 and offered his services to the government. Despite being the only Ethiopian who with a complete medical education, he served his homeland in other ways. Although he was in charge of building the Addis Ababa - JimmaJimma
Jimma, also Jima, is the largest city in southwestern Ethiopia. Located in the Jimma Zone of the Oromia Region, it has a latitude and longitude of . The town was the capital of Kaffa Province until the province was dissolved. Prior to the 2007 census, Jimma was reorganized administratively as a...
road until the responsibility was transferred to a group headed by David Hall, Warqenah's primary contributions were in the area of education and government. His first post, following his return, was as medical director of Menelik II Hospital. When the Tafari Makonnen School was opened in 1925, he was appointed superintendent. During his tenure, with the help of Heruy Welde Sellase, he wrote a book on world geography in Amharic. The collaboration, Bahru Zewde opines, "seems to have been mutually beneficial, as Heruy also managed to improve his English as he worked with Warqenah on the book. He was an important activist for the abolition of slavery in Ethiopia, founding a school for freed slaves that would teach them literacy and other skills which included weaving, tailoring, and carpentry. In July 1926 Warqenah published a moving article in the weekly newspaper Berhanena Selam, in which he argued abolishing slavery "represented the culmination of a course of events initiated by Menilek."
Dr. Warqenah served several government posts. On 1 July 1928, he was given the traditional Ethiopian title of Azaz and appointed president of the Special Court which handled cases involving Ethiopians and resident foreigners. In 1930, he was appointed governor of the model province of Chercher, a duty he discharged for four years. Although few details are known of how he administered Chercher, an article in the Berhana Selam compliments him for opening a school in Chercher and building roads. He achieved these improvements despite the sometime capricious instructions sent to him from Addis Ababa. In 1933 he was ordered to release seven persons he had detained on charges of keeping slaves; another instruction he received commanded the immediate transfer of 23,808 birr
Ethiopian birr
The birr is the unit of currency in Ethiopia. Before 1976, dollar was the official English translation of birr. Today, it is officially birr in English as well....
to the capital, "which was the amount of the revenue of the Ministry of Commerce".
He simultaneously discharged diplomatic duties. In 1927 Dr. Warqenah led an official delegation to the United States to negotiate with a New York company, J.G. White Engineering, to build a barrage on Lake Tana
Lake Tana
Lake Tana is the source of the Blue Nile and is the largest lake in Ethiopia...
; Ras Tafari (later Emperor Haile Selassie) had selected this company in response to the Anglo-Italian agreement two years earlier, which had placed Lake Tana in the British sphere of influence. This visit was significant not only for Warqenah's meeting with the company, and officials of the United States which included President Coolidge
Calvin Coolidge
John Calvin Coolidge, Jr. was the 30th President of the United States . A Republican lawyer from Vermont, Coolidge worked his way up the ladder of Massachusetts state politics, eventually becoming governor of that state...
, but for arriving in Harlem
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, which since the 1920s has been a major African-American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands...
, where he delivered Ras Tafari's greetings to the African-American community and Tafari's invitation to skilled African Americans to settle in Ethiopia. Then, prior to becoming governor of Chercher, Dr. Warqenah journeyed to India in 1930, where he recruited 16 professionals, including two teachers, to come to Ethiopia and assist in its modernization.
Then in the wake of the Walwal Incident, Warqenah was made Ethiopian minister to the United Kingdom, "a post for which he was eminently qualified" Bahru Zewde observes. Faced with the lack of interest from the British government over Ethiopia's situation—the British authorities were in the large, supporters of Italy—he found valuable support in Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...
, who proved to be a tireless activist on behalf of Ethiopia. He contributed regularly to Pankhurst's weekly New Times and Ethiopia News, and their combined efforts built up a grass-roots movement of support for Ethiopia within Great Britain. Despite these efforts, the United Kingdom offered little support for Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War
Second Italo-Abyssinian War
The Second Italo–Abyssinian War was a colonial war that started in October 1935 and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire...
, which ended with Emperor Haile Selassie being forced into exile.
Last years
With the arrival of Emperor Haile Selassie in England, their relationship became strained. Bahru Zewde states, on the authority of Emmanuel Abraham and Dr. Ammanuel Gebre Selassie, that part of their disagreement arose over finances; Haile Selassie was broke, and Warqenah, also in desperate need of funds, sold the Ethiopian legation building—which he had bought with his own money in the first place.Events inside Ethiopia brought personal tragedy to Warqenah's life: the unsuccessful attempt
Yekatit 12
Yekatit 12 is a date in the Ethiopian calendar, equivalent to 19 February in the Gregorian calendar, which is commonly used to refer to the indiscriminate massacre and imprisonment of Ethiopians by elements of the Italian occupation forces following an attempted assassination of Viceroy Rodolfo...
on Marshal Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani
Rodolfo Graziani, 1st Marquis of Neghelli , was an officer in the Italian Regio Esercito who led military expeditions in Africa before and during World War II.-Rise to prominence:...
's life led to reprisals which included the summary execution of Warqenah's sons, Benyam and Yosef. Other members of his family, including his estranged wife Qatsala, his first son Tewodros, and his daughters and in-laws, were interned and deported to Italy. Warqenah turned his attention to obtaining the release of his imprisoned family, and his and their resettlement in India. Despite his efforts, he could only take four of his children with him to India, where he remained until 1941/2. Returning to Ethiopia, he dedicated the rest of his life to educating his grandchildren and the children of his relatives and neighbors at his house on the eastern outskirts of Addis Ababa.