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Historical person

Tewodros II

1818–1868

Tewodros II was emperor of Ethiopia from 1855 to 1868 and sought to reunify and centralise a politically fragmented realm. His detention of European representatives provoked the British expedition to Magdala, and he died by suicide as the fortress fell.

Born Kassa Hailu, Tewodros rose by defeating regional rivals and was crowned emperor in 1855 with an ambitious programme of political and military centralisation. He sought European technical assistance and attempted to strengthen royal authority over provincial nobles and the church. Relations with Britain deteriorated after appeals for diplomatic support went unanswered and Europeans were detained, prompting the 1868 expedition that ended at Magdala.

In George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman on the March, His reputation causes Napier to send him beyond the British lines to negotiate with regional opponents of Emperor Tewodros II, transforming a transport job into an undercover mission through unfamiliar highland politics. In Paul Fraser Collard’s Fugitive, He joins the British expedition into Abyssinia, a vast logistical undertaking aimed at freeing European hostages held by Emperor Tewodros II at Magdala.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring Tewodros II (2 series)

Jack Lark in Order

by Paul Fraser Collard 14 books 4.3(18,489)

Jack Lark is a Victorian military-adventure sequence following an East End-born soldier whose talent for impersonation repeatedly carries him into identities and commands that are not his own. The main novels move from the Crimean War through India, Persia and Italy to the American Civil War, Abyssinia, the…

All books in this series

0.5. Rogue

First published 2014 · 2.5(5)

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0.6. Recruit

First published 2015 · 2.5(5)

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0.7. Redcoat

First published 2015 · 2.5(5)

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1. The Scarlet Thief

First published 2013 · 4.1(3,667)

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2. The Maharajah’s General

First published 2013 · 4.3(3,001)

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3. The Devil’s Assassin

First published 2015 · 4.3(2,393)

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4. The Lone Warrior

First published 2015 · 4.3(2,428)

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5. The Last Legionnaire

First published 2016 · 4.3(2,077)

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6. The True Soldier

First published 2017 · 4.5(1,628)

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7. The Rebel Killer

First published 2018 · 4.3(1,130)

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8. The Lost Outlaw

First published 2019 · 4.4(687)

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9. Fugitive

First published 2020 · 4.3(594)

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10. Commander

First published 2021 · 4.4(465)

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11. Diamond Hunter

First published 2022 · 4.2(404)

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The Flashman Papers in Order

by George MacDonald Fraser 12 books 4.2(80,547)

The Flashman Papers present the supposed memoirs of Sir Harry Paget Flashman, the bully expelled from Rugby School in Tom Brown’s School Days who becomes a decorated Victorian soldier despite being a coward, liar, opportunist and sexual predator. George MacDonald Fraser places this fictional witness inside documented nineteenth-century…