Sebastopol (mortar) on:
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Sebastopol was the name of a large 
Tewodros, in an attempt to speed up industrialization in Ethiopia, took some British officials and German missionaries hostage to coerce technological help out of the United Kingdom. Instead the British government mounted an expedition to free the captives, which resulted in the 
Although there are no records of the mortar being used in the battle it remains half-buried in the ground, on the plateau at Meqedela, near Ethiopian Tourist Guide website, Landmarks and Monuments in Addis Ababa
artillery
Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
mortar commissioned by the Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
n emperor Tewodros II
, spoken = ; ''djānhoi'', lit. ''"O steemedroyal"''
, alternative = ; ''getochu'', lit. ''"Our master"'' (pl.)
Tewodros II ( gez, ዳግማዊ ቴዎድሮስ, baptized as Gebre Kidan; 1818 – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopi ...
. The name was taken from the Crimean
Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...
town Sevastopol
Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...
, the site of a battle during the Crimean War
The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia.
Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...
. The mortar weighed approximately 6.7 tons, and was capable of firing off half-ton artillery rounds.
Tewodros, in an attempt to speed up industrialization in Ethiopia, took some British officials and German missionaries hostage to coerce technological help out of the United Kingdom. Instead the British government mounted an expedition to free the captives, which resulted in the Battle of Magdala
The Battle of Magdala was the conclusion of the British Expedition to Abyssinia fought in April 1868 between British and Abyssinian forces at Magdala, from the Red Sea coast. The British were led by Robert Napier, while the Abyssinians were ...
. Tewodros ordered the mortar to be hauled up to his fortress capital, but it was too heavy.
Although there are no records of the mortar being used in the battle it remains half-buried in the ground, on the plateau at Meqedela, near Amba Mariam
Amba Mariam (Amharic: ዐምባ ማሪያም) is a village in central Ethiopia. Formerly known as Magdala or Makdala (መቅደላ ''Meḳdelā or Mäqdäla'') during the reign of Emperor Tewodros II (1855-1868). Located in the Debub Wollo Zone ...
. A bronze replica has been cast and displayed in the centre of a roundabout
A roundabout is a type of circular intersection or junction in which road traffic is permitted to flow in one direction around a central island, and priority is typically given to traffic already in the junction.''The New Shorter Oxford En ...
at Tewodros Square, Churchill Avenue, Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...
.
References
{{reflist Mortars Military history of Ethiopia Weapons of Ethiopia Weapons and ammunition introduced in 1868