Yohannes IV (Tigrinya: ዮሓንስ ፬ይ Rabaiy Yōḥānnes; horse name Abba Bezbiz also known as Kahśsai; born Lij Kahssai Mercha; 11 July 1837 – 10 March 1889)[1] was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1871 to his death in 1889 at the Battle of Gallabat, and king of Tigray from 1869 to 1871.

The available sources merely indicate that he was the youngest of his siblings, that he had a seriously ailing childhood, that he received some church education, and that he was initiated to manhood after killing some wild animals (lions and/or elephants) for trophies.

Often two explanations, which are not essentially contradictory, are forwarded by the sources: the first is related to his dissatisfaction with the rank and function given to him by the sovereign, while the second interprets his rebellion as a response to the appeal of abunä Salama who in 1867 wrote from prison to many notables condemning his perceived injustices of Tewodros.

In any case, for some time he (together with his followers) retired to the eastern lowlands and found refuge among the Afar, from which ethnic group he married a Muslim after she had been baptized with the name Tebaba Sellasie.

Kaśa then formed an alliance with wag šum Gobez Gebre Medhin of Lasta against Tewodros and began to harass the imperial representatives on both sides of the Mareb River.

[7] The imperial ambitions of Behaile Selassie are consolidated towards the end of the reign of Tewodros II; as early as 1867, he presented himself, during a correspondence with the British, as ruler of Ethiopia.

[12] On April 10, 1868, the expeditionary force arrived at the foot of Magdala and, three days later, after refusing to surrender to the British, the Nəgusä nägäst Tewodros II committed suicide.

[15] In return for the help that Yohannes provided the British, he received military equipment, estimated at 500,000 Pounds sterling, including: six mortars, six howitzers, approximately 900 muskets and rifles, ammunition, powder and 585,480 primers percussion.

[18] Nevertheless, the Napier expedition had an impact on the struggle for power; in addition to military equipment, a British instructor, John C. Kirkham, agrees to stay in Ethiopia to train the troops of Yohannes.

[22] Finally, on 11 July 1871, Tekle Giyorgis confronted Kaśa in the Battle of Adwa, but was defeated and confined to Enda Abba Selma, Tembien, where he would die two years later.

To ensure the realization of this policy, he toured each region and meeting appointed governors, usually from the local nobility, regardless of their former attitudes toward him, as long as they submitted and expressed to him their unflinching loyalty.

He thus managed, as the contemporary English vice-consul put it, "to hold the scales of justice with a firm and even hand"; "it was in 1884 the boast of King Yohannes that a child could pass through his dominions unharmed".

[6] In the first six years of his reign, he succeeded in achieving the unity of the predominantly Christian provinces, including Wag and Lasta, Semien and Begemder, Sayint, Gojjam, Wollo and Shewa.

[23][24][25] Yohannes inherited the empire encumbered with three religious questions which provoked him to seek a solution: the internal dissensions of the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church (EOC), Islam, and Christian foreign missionary activities.

The leading theologians of the three major disputing groups of the EOC — Karra (predominant in the north), Sägga or Śost Lədät (prevalent in Begemeder and Shewa) and Qəbat (based in Gojjam and Lasta) — tried to defend their respective doctrines.

Yohannes pleaded with the British to stop their Egyptian allies and even withdrew from his own territory in order to show the Europeans that he was the wronged party and that the Khedive was the aggressor.

The Egyptians were defeated again at the Battle of Gura (7–9 March 1876), where the Ethiopians were led again by the Emperor, and his loyal general, the capable (and future Ras) Alula Engida.

Yohannes took this opportunity to tie the Shewan King more closely to him by arranging for Menelik's daughter Zewditu (the future Empress of Ethiopia in her own right), to be married to his own son and heir, Ras Araya Selassie.

Ras Mohammed was brought to Emperor Yohannes and was confronted of his conspiracy in helping the Muslim colonizer and to bring down the Judeo Christian empire.

Domestic problems increased when the Neguses of both Gojjam and Shewa rebelled against Yohannes, and the Emperor had to turn his attention from the encroaching Italians to deal with his rebellious vassals.

Yohannes brutally crushed the Gojjame rebellion, but before he could turn his attention to Shewa news arrived that the Mahdist forces had sacked Gondar and burned its holy churches.

Augustus B. Wylde, who claimed to have heard the story from a priest who managed to escape the slaughter, wrote how Yohannes' uncle Ras Araya Dimtsu stood beside the body of his dead master with "a few of his soldiers and the bravest of the king's servants, who had lost their all, and had no more prospects to live for".

According to Wylde, as he saw death come Ras Araya announced "that he was now old and done for, that his time had come, and it was useless at his age to serve another master that he knew little about, and it was better to die like a man fighting unbelievers, than like a mule in a stable.

The seizures made by the Italians at this time ultimately resulted in the creation of the colony of Eritrea and the defeat of Italy at the Battle of Adwa at the hands of Emperor Menelik II.

There are other descendants of Emperor Yohannes IV in this "legitimate" line, but because of the wartime actions of Dejazmatch Haile Selassie Gugsa, this branch of the family fell into disfavor at the Imperial court and lost its position and influence.

Ras Mengesha Seyoum is married to Princess Aida Desta, a granddaughter of Emperor Haile Selassie and is the current head of the Tigrean branch of the Solomonic dynasty.

A nobleman by birth, a cleric by education, a zealot by faith, moralist by tendency, a monk by practice, a nationalist by policy, and a soldier and emperor by profession Yohannes undoubtedly had his weaknesses; they were not his own making, but rather imposed on him either by external pressure or inherited by his deep-seated values and traditional norms.

Finally, Yohannes heard that both his vassal kings have defected and during his campaign in Gojjam, Tekle Haymant confessed that they had concluded an agreement to help one another and rebel against the authority of the Emperor.

Yohannes's priority, however, was to avert the external threat and he decided to face the Mahdists who had penetrated twice as far as Gonder and burnt the churches, pillaged the country, and enslaved people.

Throughout his reign, Yohannes demonstrated selfless devotion to the defense of the territorial integrity of Ethiopian Empire against successive waves of external aggression, by Egyptians, Italians, and Mahdists Sudan.