Menelik II's conquests | |||||||
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The cover of French magazine Le Petit Journal, depicting attacks on Harar region | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Menelik II Ras Gobana Dacche Habte Giyorgis Dinagde Darge Sahle Selassie Tessema Nadew Welde Giyorgis Aboye Ras Makonnen |
Amir Abdullahi II Gaki Sherocho Kawo Tona Gaga Hassan Enjamo Mohammed Hassan and others... | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
est. 6 million deaths[3] |
Menelik II's conquests, also known as the Agar Maqnat (Amharic: አገር ማቅናት, romanized: ʾägär maqnat, lit. 'Colonization, Cultivation and Christianization of Land'),[4] were a series of expansionist wars and conquests carried out by Emperor Menelik II of Shewa to expand the Ethiopian Empire.[5]
In 1866 Menelik II became the king of Shewa, and in 1878 began a series of wars to conquer land for the Ethiopian Empire and to increase Shewan supremacy within Ethiopia.[6] This was carried out predominantly with soldiers from the Amhara people of Shewa.[7] Menelik is viewed as the founder of modern Ethiopia as a result of the expansion,[8][9] although it is viewed by many historians as constituting genocide due to the massive loss of life and extreme violence involved.[10][11][12]
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was invoked but never defined (see the help page).