Author: Yonas T

How Yohannes IV turned an invasion into a decisive Ethiopian victory, November 1875 On 16 November 1875, an Egyptian expedition that had advanced into the northern Ethiopian highlands met a catastrophe near Gundet, above the Mareb River. Its commander, the Danish officer Søren Adolph Arendrup, was killed; much of his force was destroyed; and rifles and artillery intended to enforce Cairo’s demands passed into Ethiopian hands. The encounter lasted only hours, but its consequences reached far beyond the valley. The Cambridge History of Africa places the battle within a struggle for the frontier, the Red Sea approaches, and the authority of…