The Battle of Gur Amba was fought on 27 November 1852 between the forces of 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 regent, ''

Ras Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio stati ...

'' Ali II, and the rebel forces of Kassa Hailu. Kassa was victorious, and

Goshu Zewde Goshu Zewde of Gojjam (1783 or 1788-1852) was the governor of Damot, Metcha and Ybaba, the most of Gojjam was, indeed, under the government of his son Birru Goshu. He was elevated to the personal titles of Dejazmatch in 1825 and Ras by Empero ...

of Mota, Gojjam, the commander of the regent's forces, was killed.Sven Rubenson, ''King of Kings: Tewodros of Ethiopia'' (Addis Ababa: Haile Selassie I University, 1966), pp. 41f This was the first of a series of four victories which led to Kassa becoming Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia. This battle followed three years of peace between Kassa and ''Ras'' Ali, which ended in 1852 when Kassa refused to respond to ''Ali's'' summons. ''Ras'' Ali dispatched a large army to

Agawmeder Agawmeder (Amharic: አገው ምድር) was a historical state and region in the northwestern part of Ethiopia. Its most likely etymology is from ''Agew'' (አገው ägäw), a people living in the area, plus ''meder'' (land), thus meaning "Land o ...

after his rebellious vassal, and Kassa responded by moving to a fortified position near

Dengel Ber Dengel Ber is a town in western Ethiopia. Located on the south-western shore of Lake Tana in the Semien Gondar Zone of the Amhara Region, this town has a latitude and longitude of . Access to this town includes track roads to both Shawra and K ...

. ''Ras'' Ali's officers found Kassa's position too strong to attack, so they bypassed it by moving to

Dembiya Dembiya (Amharic: ደምቢያ ''Dembīyā''; also transliterated Dembea, Dambya, Dembya, Dambiya, etc.) is a historic region of Ethiopia, intimately linked with Lake Tana. According to the account of Manuel de Almeida, Dembiya was "bounded on Eas ...

, where they waited out the

rainy season The rainy season is the time of year when most of a region's average annual rainfall occurs. Rainy Season may also refer to: * ''Rainy Season'' (short story), a 1989 short horror story by Stephen King * "Rainy Season", a 2018 song by Monni * ''T ...

. ''Ras'' Ali then decided to give the job of destroying Kassa to another of his vassals, Goshu Zewde, and announced at the start of September he had given Kassa's lands to Goshu,

Sven Rubenson Sven (in Danish and Norwegian, also Svend and also in Norwegian most commonly Svein) is a Scandinavian first name which is also used in the Low Countries and German-speaking countries. The name itself is Old Norse for "young man" or "young warri ...

noting that "Ali probably did not care whether his overt enemy or his ally would be destroyed." The two armies spent much of September maneuvering for position until at last Kassa brought his men down into the plains of Dembiya. Amazed that Kassa would make what appeared to be an obvious mistake, Goshu's men immediately charged, and after a full day's combat, in which both sides suffered heavily, Kassa killed his opposing general and completely routed his opponent's men, who fled back to Gojjam.

References

Battles involving the Ethiopian Empire Battles of the Zemene Mesafint 1852 in Ethiopia Conflicts in 1852 September 1852 events {{Ethiopia-hist-stub