Political Era

The Modern Imperial Period

1855 – 1974

Draft — not yet source-verified

A single epoch spanning distinct phases: the mid-nineteenth-century reunification (from Tewodros II), the territorial expansion and Adwa-era empire under Menelik II, the 1936–1941 Italian occupation as a rupture, and the long reign of Haile Selassie — ending with the 1974 revolution.

Schema-test stub (draft). Lens: state consolidation, the politics of sovereignty against colonialism, and a centralizing monarchy. Contains regimes and events such as the reign of Menelik II and the Battle of Adwa.

This epoch deliberately bundles distinct phases (unification, the Adwa-era empire, the 1936–41 Italian occupation as a rupture, and the Haile Selassie period); they are expressed as regimes/events within it. It may later be sub-divided (see DECISIONS.md). Full content to follow.

In this era

Events

The Political Structure of Late-Nineteenth-Century Ethiopia · Late nineteenth century
The Scramble for Africa and Ethiopia · c. 1884–1914
The Mahdist Threat and Ethiopia's Frontiers · 1880s–1890s
The Treaty of Wuchale · 2 May 1889
The Founding of Italian Eritrea · 1 January 1890
The First Italo-Ethiopian War · 1895–1896
The Battle of Adwa · 1 March 1896
The Treaty of Addis Ababa (1896) · October 1896

Sources

Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia, 1855–1991, 2nd ed. (Oxford: James Currey, 2001).