Battle of Debre Tabor

Battle of Debre Tabor
Date 7 February 1842 Location Debre Tabor Result Pyrrhic victory for Ras Ali II
Belligerents
Yejju Oromo	Tigray
Commanders and leaders
Ras Ali II	Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam
Strength
about 30,000	about 30,000

The Battle of Debre Tabor was a conflict during the Zemene Mesafint in 1842 initiated by Dejazmach Wube Haile Maryam to overthrow Ras Ali II as Regent of the Emperor of Ethiopia and gain control of Ethiopia. This confused battle was won by Ras Ali, but at a steep price, and this victory failed to cement his position as the most powerful warlord of his time.

Dejazmach Wube's strategy against Ras Ali depended on his ability to import more firearms, which would provide him with a tactical superiority that would more than outweigh the vaunted cavalry of Ras Ali's Oromo kinsmen, and to obtain an Abuna for the Ethiopian Church, who would help unite the demoralized Christian population behind him. Wube made several appeals to obtain firearms from European governments, but did not succeed in obtaining any until the middle of 1841 when Theophile Lefebvre returned from France with a small quantity of weapons and a number of artisans who immediately began to repair a cannon Wube had obtained from Ras Wolde Selassie and manufacture war materials. About the same time, he learned that a new Abuna was on his way to Ethiopia, Abuna Salama III, who arrived in Ethiopia in the last months of 1841. With this success, the Dejazmach lost all discretion and he treated the envoys of Ras Ali with contempt, and announced that he would defeat Ras Ali, whom he claimed was still a Moslem at heart, and install Tekle Giyorgis, related to the Solomonic dynasty, on the Imperial throne in Gondar.

Once Abuna Salama arrived in Wube's camp the Dejazmach marched into Begemder, where with the help of Birru Goshu he captured Gondar, then the allies continued south against Ras Ali's army. The two forces met near Debre Tabor 7 February 1842; Ras Ali had summoned nearly 30,000 soldiers to support him, amongst whom were Wube's brother Dejazmach Merso and Ali's uncle Dejazmach Birru Aligaz. Mordechai Abir observes that this "was clearly a battle between the Christian Amhara and Tigrean elements and the Galla [Oromo], fighting desperately to preserve their predominant position in northern Ethiopia."

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