Mulugeta Yeggazu

Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu, (Amharic: ሙሉጌታ የግጋዙ; killed 27 February 1936) was an Ethiopian government official. He served as Imperial Fitawrari, Commander of the Mahel Sefari (Central Army) of the Ethiopian Army during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War.

Biography

Mulugeta fought as a young warrior in the Battle of Adwa during the First Italo-Abyssinian War. He served as Minister of Finance during the last years of Emperor Menelik II's reign and then again under Empress Zewditu.^[1] From 1916 to 1917, he was Ethiopia's Minister of Foreign Affairs. While governor of Illubabor, Mulugeta escorted then Ras Tafari (the later Emperor Haile Selassie) on his tour of Europe in 1924.^[2] In 1926, he was appointed as Minister of War, and a few years later commanded the loyalist troops to victory at the Battle of Anchem.

During the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, Mulugeta was appointed Imperial Commander of the Vanguard (Fitawrari) to replace the disgraced Birru Wolde Gabriel. Along with his son, Tadessa Mulugeta, he was killed during the retreat of his defeated army from Amba Aradam.^[3]

See also

• First Italo-Ethiopian War
  • Battle of Adwa
• Gugsa Welle's Rebellion
  • Battle of Anchem
• Second Italo-Ethiopian War
  • Ethiopian Christmas Offensive
  • Battle of Amba Aradam

Sources

1. ^ Aleqa Gebre-Igziabiher Elyas, Prowess, Piety, and Politics: The Chronicle of Abeto Iyasu and Empress Zewditu of Ethiopia (1909-1930), translated by Reidulf K. Molvaer (Köln: Rüdiger Köppe, 1994), p. 377 and note
2. ^ Haile Selassie I, My Life and Ethiopia's Progress: 1892-1937, translated by Edward Ullendorff (Chicago: Frontline Books, 1997), vol. 1 p. 84
3. ^ Anthony Mockler, Haile Selassie's War (New York: Olive Branch Press, 2003), pp. 103f, 395. ISBN 1566564735

External links

• Photo of Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu 1930