Abyssinia & Sir Robert Napier [15min]

Abyssinia was not a colony but it illustrated the anxieties and vulnerability of the British in spite of their apparent global authority. In the 19th century the new emperor, Tewodros II, Theodore as the British called him, complained that he needed help to defend Ethiopia against Islam -- specifically from the Muslim Egyptians of the Ottoman Empire. But the British did not condemn the Ottoman Empire, which they thought might keep the Russians in check nor Egypt because it was an important source of cotton. Theodore wrote to Victoria for help. She did not write back. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian Christopher Lee and narrated by actor Juliet Stevenson. (You may listen again online to the five most recent episodes of "Empire".)

Worse, Foreign Secretary Lord Russell announced that the consul in Abyssinia was to be withdrawn. Theodore regarded this action as demeaning. So he gaoled the consul. The British, three years after receiving Theodore's letter, sent a reply by envoy. Theodore, with all courtesy, put him in the same gaol as the consul.

In September 1867 the British told Theodore that they were coming to get their men out of gaol. His reply was to burn down his capital at Dabra Tabor and marchd his army to the mountain fortress at Magdala. Roped to the end of his battle line were Her Majesty's local diplomatic corps.

The commander in chief of the Bombay army, Sir Robert Napier (1810-1890), set out to rescue the two men (Abyssinia was in the theatre of British India) and teach Theodore a lesson. Robert, 1st Baron Napier of Magdala, was a colonial soldier and born in Ceylon (Sri Lanka). He joined the Bengal Engineers in 1826 fought in the Sikh Wars (1845, 1848) and distinguished himself during the Indian Mutiny in 1857 especially during the campaign to relieve the siege of Lucknow (1858).

Napier had 60,000 troops, the latest Snider rifles, a railway, a naval brigade, a water condenser and well-boring equipment. Napier's genius was in his planning. The first battle, on Good Friday 1868, turned into a massacre of the Abyssinians. Napier demanded Theodore's surrender. Theodore's reply was, "A warrior who had dandled strong men in his arms like infants will never suffer himself to be dandled in the arms of others." On Easter Monday, at 4pm, the British advanced on the citadel and within the half hour their flag flew over Magdala. Theodore was dead and British pride restored. Napier was given a barony as a result. Later he was Commander-in-Chief in India (1870), Governor of Gibraltar (1876) and held what was then the army's highest rank, Field Marshal.