Their words

“God created me, lifted me out of the dust, and restored this empire to my rule. He endowed me with power, and enabled me to stand in the place of my fathers.”

Source: Letter to Queen Victoria, 29 October 1862, in the translation sent with Consul Cameron's despatch; printed in C. T. Beke, The British Captives in Abyssinia (1867), pp. 78-79

Context The letter asked for an embassy and for craftsmen and arms; it reached London, was filed without an answer, and the silence helped push the emperor towards jailing the Europeans at Maqdala.

Tewodros IIEthiopia · c. 1818 – 1868 (reigned 1855–1868)

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