Lecture at the Colloquium on Modern and Contemporary History

This week, Wolbert G. C. Smidt, Professor at Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, will be visiting the Colloquium for Modern and Contemporary History at the Department of History. There, he will deliver a lecture entitled ‘Empire Beyond Europe: Ethiopia’s Expansion and State-Building under Menelik II in the Context of Global Empires’.

The lecture examines the extent to which Ethiopia, expanding under Emperor Menelik II, can be understood as an “empire” at all within the framework of comparative empire studies, and what structures characterised this political entity. Furthermore, the lecture explores the role played by global transfers of ideas and the reception of European colonial practices in Ethiopian state-building. Finally, the lecture reflects on the implications of these findings for empire research. Using the Ethiopian example, it aims to demonstrate how imperial models circulated globally, were appropriated and transformed outside Europe, and continue to shape political conflicts to this day.

The lecture will take place on Wednesday, 20 May 2026 at 6.15 pm in Lecture Hall F2 of the Fürstenberghaus. Students and other interested parties are warmly invited.