She Made Italy Surrender: The Forgotten Empress Who Saved Ethiopia

Married and set aside 4 times, Taytu Betul was never meant to rule. This is the true story of the Ethiopian empress who became Emperor Menelik II's equal — and defied a European empire to keep her nation free. A true story, drawn from treaties, campaign records, and the chronicles of her own court. Taytu was told to stay behind the throne — and instead helped defeat a European empire. Would you have crossed that divide? Whose impossible love should we tell next? Two Ethiopias that were never supposed to meet — a fallen northern house and the rising Solomonic south — the political marriage of 1883 that became a partnership of equals — the capital she chose and named, Addis Ababa — the Treaty of Wuchale and the single word that nearly turned Ethiopia into a colony — her stand against Italy, the siege of Mekelle where she cut off the enemy's water, and the victory at Adwa in 1896 — and the bittersweet cost that followed, when the empire she helped save pushed her from power. History's most unlikely loves — and every one of them is true. Follow Impossible Vows for more true, impossible loves. The true story of Taytu Betul and Menelik II is a tale of forbidden expectations broken in 19th-century imperial Ethiopia — a real love and power partnership, an empress who crossed the divide of gender and rank, and the African empire that refused European conquest. Source: 1. Wikipedia — Taytu Betul 2. Wikipedia — Menelik II 3. Wikipedia — Battle of Adwa 4. Wikipedia — Treaty of Wuchale 5. UNESCO — Taytu Betul: the rise of an Itege #truestory #historicalromance #forbiddenlove #TaytuBetul #MenelikII #Ethiopia #BattleofAdwa #Adwa #history #Africanhistory #empress #lovestory #royalty #powercouple #truestory