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

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

n regent, '' Ras'' Ali II, and the rebel forces of

Kassa Hailu Tewodros II (, once referred to by the English cognate Theodore; baptized as Kassa, – 13 April 1868) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 until his death in 1868. His rule is often placed as the beginning of modern Ethiopia and brought an end to ...

. Kassa was victorious, and

Goshu Zewde Goshu Zewde of Gojjam (1783 or 1788–1852), also known by his horse name Abba Kanno, was a prominent governor of Damot (historical region), Damot, Mecha (woreda), Mecha, and Yibaba during the first half of the 19th century. While his son Birru Go ...

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 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 of the Agaw ...

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 Ku ...

. ''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 ...

, 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 * '' ...

. ''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 is a Scandinavian masculine first name. In Old Norse the meaning was "young man" or "servant" and the original Old Norse spelling was ''sveinn''. Variants such as '' Svend'' are found in Danish and Norwegian. Another variant, '' Svein'' ...

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 {{Ethiopia-hist-stub