(Tewodros II; known as Kassa before his accession to the throne). Born 1818 in Kwara; died Apr. 13, 1868, in the fortress of Magdala. Emperor of Ethiopia from 1855.
Theodore was the son of a minor feudal lord in Kwara. As emperor, he tried to transform Ethiopia into a strong centralized state by introducing a series of reforms to concentrate political power in the hands of the sovereign. Theodore took personal control of all state revenue, created a unified army, and prohibited the slave trade. His reforms met with stubborn opposition from the most powerful feudal lords and from Great Britain, whose plans of colonial expansion were hindered by the emergence of a strong Ethiopia. With the support of the feudal lords, Britain started the Anglo-Ethiopian War of 1867–68. When the British took the fortress of Magdala, Theodore committed suicide to avoid capture.