Tekle Giyorgis II

Tekle Giyorgis II held the Ethiopian throne for three years between Tewodros and Yohannes, and lost it because he had no modern rifles. He was born Wagshum Gobeze, of the ruling house of Lasta, a region with its own dynastic claim reaching back to the Zagwe kings, and he was a nephew by marriage of Tewodros II. He rebelled against Tewodros as most regional lords eventually did, and when Tewodros shot himself at Magdala in 1868 Gobeze was the strongest claimant standing. He was crowned in 1868 taking the throne name Tekle Giyorgis, married a daughter of Tewodros, and attempted what every claimant of that century attempted: to make an overlordship of Lasta and Begemder into rule over Tigray, Shewa and the Oromo lands as well. He got the church's recognition and the submission of some of the nobility, and never got Tigray. Kassa Mercha of Tigray had guided the British expedition to Magdala and been paid in modern artillery and rifles, which he did not use until he had to. In July 1871 the two met at Assam near Adwa. Tekle Giyorgis had the larger army by a wide margin and was destroyed by disciplined fire from a much smaller force. He was captured, imprisoned, and died in captivity in 1873. Kassa was crowned Yohannes IV six months after the battle. The engagement is one of the clearest demonstrations in African history of what breech-loading rifles did to numbers. He is counted as Tekle Giyorgis II because a king of that name had reigned five separate times in the eighteenth century during the Era of the Princes. His widow, Tewodros's daughter, was later married to Yohannes's son. The rifles that decided Assam had been given for guiding an invading army through the country, which is a transaction later Ethiopian writers judged variously.

• Nationality: Ethiopian
• Roles: ruler