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The Barefoot Emperor - An Ethiopian Tragedy (Paperback)
Loot Price: R324
Discovery Miles 3 240
You Save: R74
(19%)
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The Barefoot Emperor - An Ethiopian Tragedy (Paperback)
(2 ratings, sign in to rate)
List price R398
Loot Price R324
Discovery Miles 3 240
You Save R74 (19%)
Expected to ship within 9 - 15 working days
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A fascinating narrative excursion into a bizarre episode in 19th
century Ethiopian and British imperial history featuring a remote
African despot and his monstrous European-built gun. On one of
Addis Ababa's main roundabouts today sits a huge recently installed
mortar. This is a replica of 'Sevastopol', a 70-ton lump of
ordnance commissioned by one of the most extraordinary leaders
Africa has ever produced – King of Kings of Ethiopia, the Emperor
Theodore. In 1867, as his kingdom collapsed around him, Theodore
retreated to his mountain-top stronghold in Magdala. It took his
army six months to haul 'Sevastopol' through the gauges and passes
of the highlands. Sixty miles to the north, a British expeditionary
force under Sir Robert Napier – consisting of more than 10,000
fighting men, at least as many followers and 20,000 pack-animals,
including a number of Indian elephants – had been ferried to the
Red Sea Coast and built a railway line through the desert. Their
object: to rescue the British consul and sixty Europeans, held
prisoner by the increasingly erratic Theodore, who had taken to
massacring his prisoners-of-war and pitching captives over the
cliffs of Magdala. The resulting fate of Theodore and his mortar
forms the climax to this strange extravaganza, in which an isolated
medieval kingdom came dramatically face-to-face with an ascendant
Europe. Philip Marsden tells the tale with all his proven narrative
skill, deep love and first hand knowledge of Ethiopia.
General
Imprint: |
HarperPerennial
|
Country of origin: |
United Kingdom |
Release date: |
August 2008 |
Authors: |
Philip Marsden
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Dimensions: |
197 x 130 x 27mm (L x W x T) |
Format: |
Paperback
|
Pages: |
404 |
ISBN-13: |
978-0-00-717346-4 |
Categories: |
Books >
Humanities >
History >
General
Books >
History >
General
|
LSN: |
0-00-717346-6 |
Barcode: |
9780007173464 |
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