Author(s) :

Assefa Balcha.

Volume/Issue :

Abstract :

Based on available written and local oral sources, this article revisits the political and socio-economic scene of the city of Dessie, South Wollo, Ethiopia, after the Battle of Segelle. The main objective of this historical study is thus to re-examine and explain how the unlimited intervention of the central government in the immediate after years and in the ensuing decades following the defeat in 1917 of Negus Mikael at Segelle deprived Dessie of what it should have managed to obtain and to develop itself as one of the potentially thriving urban centers in Ethiopia. The ill-fated Segelle debacle, which was a turning point in the history of Wollo’s short-lived political ascendancy, had had far-reaching economic and political consequences throughout the Imperial period. The study focuses particularly on how the political leadership at the national and provincial levels thwarted, if not totally blocked, the development of the town. With the exception of the Italian interlude and the unrelenting effort of the business community, the development of Dessie with its geo-political and economic advantages was not meaningfully enhanced even after the replacement in 1974 of the Imperial regime by the military junta or the Derg that ruled the country up to the start of the last decade of the twentieth century.

No. of Downloads :

3