Menelik II Quotes
God, in his bounty, has struck down my enemies and enlarged my empire and preserved me to this day. I have reigned by the grace of God. As we must all die sometime, I will not be afflicted when I die. Enemies have come who would ruin our country … They have passed beyond the sea which God gave us as a frontier … With God’s help I will get rid of them.
There is a striking similarity of speech between Menelik and the monarchs of Europe with respect to his Divine right of rule and dependence on God. Ethiopia, in contrast to the rest of Africa, was a Christian kingdom and had been so for centuries. Menelik mobilized his people and produced a humiliating defeat for the Italians at Adowa in 1896 who never forgot and returned to conquer Ethiopia in the early part of World War II.
Menelik II, 1889-1909, Emperor of Ethiopia, Statement to his people when the Italians invaded, 1895
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
Menelik II (Ge'ez: ዳግማዊ ምኒልክ dagmawi mənilək ); baptised as Sahle Maryam (Ge’ez: ሣህለ ማርያም sahlä maryam) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913 and King of Shewa from 1866 to 1889. At the height of his internal power and external prestige, the process of territorial expansion and creation of the modern empire-state was completed by 1898. He is widely honored by many Ethiopians and commemorated during the celebration of the Battle of Adwa, which is celebrated on March 1 or 2 across Ethiopia and in the diaspora. Many Pan-Africans regard him as an advocate for African independence against European powers during the Scramble for Africa.
