Content area
Full Text
The Siege of Magdala: The British Empire Against the Emperor of Ethiopia. By Volker Matthies. Translated by Steven Rendali. Princeton, NJ: Markus Wiener, 2012. Pp. xxiv, 207; maps, photographs, notes, bibliography, indices. $88.95 cloth, $28.95 paper.
The present work, the English edition of Unternehmen Magdala: Strafexpedition in Äthiopien, is a stimulating and richly illustrated study of the Napier Expedition of 186768. The author presents a compelling narrative of the principal events of the British campaign in Ethiopia, with periodic asides devoted to comparative analysis and the presentation of primary sources. His chief accomplishment is to highlight a number of provocative but little-noticed dimensions of the conflict.
Following a brief foreword by Richard Pankhurst, the Introduction considers various interpretations of this "Curious Campaign," from a humanitarian intervention to a Victorian small war, an industrial conflict, and an instance of embedded journalism. The chapters that follow address the following, seriatim: the course of Ethiopian history over the long term; the ascendancy of Tewodros ?, his diplomatic overtures to Britain, and the origins of the hostage crisis; the identities of the hostages themselves and the nature of their treatment; the British debates about the crisis and the planning and staffing of...