Might an unanswered letter, from one mercurial leader of a proud nation to another, lead to territorial invasion, massive casualties, and ignominious downfall? Don't tell Bush 43 nor former Iranian President Ahmadinejad about a most curious episode involving Emperor Theodore of Ethiopia and the lack of response his personal missive to Queen Victoria received, with such an unintended consequence.
The parallels are striking. Like Iran during the second Bush years, Ethiopia then was opening to the West after a time of isolation. Enamored of technology, Theodore had invited foreign engineers to modernize his nation. Like Ahmadinejad, he was struggling to consolidate power from rivals. Like Iran now, squeezed presently between American armies on both sides, Ethiopia then was surrounded by the expansive power of khedival Egypt. Under its assertive foreign policy, a reaction to Napoleon's attack on home soil (akin, for Bush as for most Americans to al-Qaeda's strikes on the US), Cairo considered the African Red Sea coast and Sudanese Nile Valley to be their essential security buffers.
By writing a letter of greetings in 1862 to Queen Victoria that began with the religious invocation, "In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God in Trinity", Theodore sought common cause with someone whom his British advisor had told him, as Head of the Church of England and "a great Christian Queen who loves all Christians", would always protect the one true religion. This was a role close to his own heart, for he saw himself as a lone bulwark against Islam. "See how Islam oppresses the Christian", he lamented, finding "Turks" everywhere he looked. "I have told them to leave the land of my ancestors," he wrote. "They refuse. I am now going to wrestle with them."
For a British monarch and her diplomatic corps, it was simply too presumptuous that a mere African chief should invoke the divine right of kings and consider himself, as Theodore's letter introduced himself, "Chosen by God, King of Kings, Theodore of Ethiopia". So for two years the letter sat in the Queen’s inbox unacknowledged, until the day she found it in her interests to write back.
Ahmadinejad's letter to Bush similarly invoked religion from the opening line. If in his case he wrote as an observant Muslim, he still sought common monotheistic ground. He began with the bismillah, invoked the name of Jesus with standard formulaic blessings, and posted what is the most unusual complimentary close in the history of diplomatic correspondence- Vasa/am ala man ataba'al hoda, or And peace to those who obey the guidance.
The purpose of Theodore's letter was not readily apparent. He greeted the Queen, gloated on his victories over obscure enemies, and gave both thanks for presents received and excuses for those not sent. It seems he wanted most to announce his importance to the outside world. Calling himself "King of Kings", he pulled rank on a mere Queen.
One also wonders what prompted Ahmadinejad to write to Bush. Some think he wished to seize the high ground in this dance between antagonists, not yet on speaking terms but, with help from internationalists like Henry Kissinger and Javier Solana, inching ever closer. Perhaps he was appealing to his own constituents, as part of a chess match with local players. More cynically, he may merely have wanted to upstage Osama bin Laden, whose widely distributed scoldings of the West had captured the imagination of Muslims worldwide.
On May 26, 1864, Queen Victoria finally saw fit to answer the Emperor, addressing him as "Our Good Friend Theodore, King of Abyssinia". What had spurred her to action was that Theodore. in a fit of pique for his letter having been ignored for so long, had thrown a number of her subjects and other Europeans into chains. The story became a press potboiler, thanks in part to New York Herald correspondent Henry Morton Stanley, and British public opinion finally stirred.
Hormuzd Rassam, the Queen's chosen courier, was a character from central casting- an Iraqi Christian and naturalized Briton, former aide to British archaeologist Sir Austen Layard of Sumer fame, bearing two cases of fine curaçao liqueur as a gift for the tej-loving sovereign. Rassam waited a year for Theodore's permission to approach the court, and upon arrival was promptly thrown into prison alongside the others.
More letters were exchanged, Queen Victoria continuing to call Theodore "Our good friend", Theodore continuing alternately to harangue and to flatter. Four years passed. As Alan Moorehead wrote in The Blue Nile, "It was one of those dilemmas which are the agony of responsibility. What was the British government to do? They were unwilling to invade, threats were dangerous, and negotiation was leading nowhere. The only alternative was to do nothing and hope the situation would resolve itself." If this sounds familiar, it should.
In 1868, the Queen’s final ultimatum to the emperor went ignored and a British invasion force of 32,000 men and 55,000 animals, including 44 Indian elephants, massed on the Red Sea coast under the command of Sir Robert Napier. They were to face what might be considered Africa's first weapon of mass destruction- a seventy ton mortar built by Theodore's German engineers.
By no surprise, the campaign was short and the casualties one-sided. Two British soldiers and untold thousands of Ethiopians died in battle. Theodore killed himself, his stronghold at Magdala was taken, and Napier decamped. He left behind a bloody war of succession fueled by abandoned British weapons and took home with him treasures from plundered monasteries, some still on display in the V&A, and a £9 million war bill.
As Ahmadinejad ended his own letter, "Those in power... will be constantly judged in the immediate and distant futures. The people will scrutinize our presidencies. Did we manage to bring peace, security and prosperity to the people, or insecurity and unemployment ... The question here is what has the hundreds of billions of dollars, spent every year on the Iraqi campaign, produced for the citizens?" In retrospect, the Magdala campaign seems like a bargain, but still a steep price to pay for an unanswered letter.