Mulugeta Yeggazu

This article is about a person whose name includes a patronymic. The article properly refers to the person by his given name, Mulugeta, and not as Yeggazu.

Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu[note 1] (Amharic: ሙሉጌታ ይገዙ; 17 February 1865[1] – 27 February 1936) was an Ethiopian government official, who served in the first cabinet formed by Emperor Menelik II. He served as Imperial Fitawrari, Commander of the Mahel Sefari (Central Army) of the Ethiopian Army during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.

Biography

Of Amhara descent, Mulugeta came from Menz in Shewa, he was relative of Emperor Menelik II and Tessema Nadew, and was a descendant of Tedu, the 18th century ruler of Morat in northern Shewa.[1]

Mulugeta fought as a young warrior in the Battle of Adwa during the First Italo-Ethiopian War in 1896. In January 1905, he became palace treasurer (Bajerond), and a confidant of Menelik II. In 1908, he served as Minister of Finance during the last years of Emperor Menelik II's reign. He was demoted when Menelik's health detoriated and affairs was nominally ruled by Lij Iyasu. Tessema Nadew, regent of Ethiopia, reappointed Mulugeta as dejazmach over Gimira to the west Jimma. In 1916, after the deposition of Lij Iyasu, he was again made minister of Finance under Empress Zewditu.[1][2][3]

From 1916 to 1917, he was Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs. While governor of Illubabor, Mulugeta escorted then Ras Tafari (the later Emperor Haile Selassie) on his tour of Europe in 1924.[4] In 1926, he was appointed as Minister of War, and a few years later commanded the loyalist troops to victory at the Battle of Anchem.

During the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Mulugeta was appointed Imperial Commander of the Vanguard (Fitawrari) to replace the disgraced Birru Wolde Gabriel. Along with his son, Tadessa Mulugeta, he was killed during the retreat of his defeated army from Amba Aradam .[5]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Mulugeta Yeggazu is also spelled in various sources as Mulugeta Yegazu[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Ofosu-Appiah, L.H (1977). Dictionary of African biography. New York: Reference Publications. pp. 114–115. ISBN 9780917256011. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. ^ "Historical Background". 4 June 2011. Archived from the original on 4 June 2011.
  3. ^ Aleqa Gebre-Igziabiher Elyas, Prowess, Piety, and Politics: The Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia (1909-1930), translated by Reidulf K. Molvaer (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 1994), p. 377 and note
  4. ^ Haile Selassie I, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: 1892-1937, translated by Edward Ullendorff (Chicago: Frontline Books, 1997), vol. 1 p. 84
  5. ^ Anthony Mockler, Haile Selassie's War (New York: Olive Branch Press, 2003), pp. 103f, 395. ISBN 1-56656-473-5


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