Kassa Mercha had grown up in an Ethiopia that had become increasingly centralized under the rule of Emperor Tewodros II, the man who had brought about the end of Zemene Mesafint in 1855 after successful military campaigns against the Yejju Dynasty that had controlled the throne of Gondar for much of the 17th Century. The provinces of Tigray, Gojjam, Wollo, Begemdir and Shoa were united under his control as Tewodros turned towards unifying and modernizing Ethiopia to make sure she remained independent of expanding foreign powers. However, this was to be brief after the death of Empress Tewabech Ali which resulted in Tewodros giving into his violent tendencies that his wife had managed to sooth and would bring his downfall in the future. Tewodros had kept in contact with Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland, writing letters to her and other European monarchs in hopes of acquiring assistance in Ethiopian modernization but found himself becoming increasingly impatient with the lack of answers - with the exception of Paris who dispatched a Lazarist mission. The final straw was to be the failure of Captain Charles Cameron Duncan to deliver one of his letters directly to Queen Victoria, especially after traveling through what he perceived as enemy territory and this led to Tewodros imprisoning European diplomats and missionaries alike in a fit of rage. After British attempts at negotiating failed, an Anglo-Indian force was sent to rescue these prisoners as it successfully defeated the Ethiopian force at Arogye and liberated the European prisoners, finding that Tewodros had committed suicide to avoid becoming a British prisoner. However, Kassa had risen to prominence during the 1868 British Expedition to Ethiopia as General Napier, the commander of the Anglo-Indian force, approached him about securing logistical support in the campaign against Tewodros - he was happy to oblige them. By then, Kassa had managed to expand rapidly throughout northern Ethiopia and even into the Christian Eritrean Highlands as it only weakened Tewodros further which left him in a powerful position by the end of the British campaign. Kassa sought to secure British support and recognition of him as the new Emperor of Ethiopia but this proved to be unsuccessful as London wanted to avoid any pretense about an Anglo-Ethiopian alliance. Kassa did receive a gift in the form of 900 smooth-bore muskets as well as a battery of mountain guns and mortars that were enough to equip a regiment under his direct command while the Anglo-Ethiopian force withdrew. These were to be turned on a newly-crowned Emperor Tekle Giyorgis II who Kassa had refused to recognize as the Ethiopian Emperor, leading to a confrontation at Assem where he emerged victorious. Soon, Kassa was crowned Emperor Yohannes IV at Axum and by the same Abuna that had crowned his predecessor as he inherited an Ethiopian Empire that had been centralized under Tewodros - the only issue was her proper unification and modernization.
Yohannes continued where Tewodros had left off but pursued different policies - he opted to tour the various regions that made up Ethiopia, appointing local nobles to administrative posts after they formally submitted to him. Yohannes installed Menelik II as the King of Shoa and Tekle Haimanot as the King of Gojjam, encouraging them to expand Ethiopia's borders beyond Old Ethiopia but this created an unhealthy rivalry that manifested in the Battle of Embabo where Yohannes had to intervene as Menelik won. Spheres of influence and territories were then clearly defined under Yohannes' definition as a region was given to the other from each other's domains, the issue being resolved by dynastic marriages where Menelik married Taytu Betul of Tigray. Ethiopia had other issues than feudal rivalries, namely religion as Yohannes began with resolving the internal tensions and competing doctrines of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church where several different doctrines conflicted. The Tewahedo Doctrine had been the most prominent in Christian Ethiopia, declaring that there had only been two different Births of Christ from the Father and Virgin Mary as this had been the official doctrine preached by Alexandria. The Qibat Doctrine made the argument of Christ's flesh having become divine in the Womb of the Virgin Mary through Unction whereas the Sost Lidet Doctrine regarded that Unction was to the Baptism of Christ. To resolve these internal struggles of the Orthodox Church, Yohannes held the Council of Boru Meda in Wollo where it found the Tewahedo Doctrine to be in favor as Yohannes promoted the construction of Orthodox Churches and spread of Christianity. Yohannes also launched conversion campaigns throughout the predominantly-Islamic Wollo province where he encouraged Wollo's Muslims to convert to Orthodox Christianity but he could not force it as he feared Muslim Egyptian reprisals against the Coptic Orthodox Church in Alexandria. Despite this looming threat, Yohannes continued to facilitate the spread of Christianity throughout the Ethiopian Empire as he envisioned the creation of an Orthodox Christian Ethiopia that would be able to defeat the encroaching Egyptians, Sudanese and Ottoman Turks. However, this couldn't be achieved unless Ethiopia secured a European ally that wasn't interested in seizing her independence and willing to assist Ethiopia in modernizing which led to Yohannes turning to the Kingdom of Shoa. Yohannes summoned Menelik and Taytu to the re-established Ethiopian capital of Gondar, making an offer to the Shoan rulers about an alliance between them and Yohannes in order to unify and modernize Ethiopia. Under pressure from the Emperor and Tatytu, Menelik accepted this and was promised the throne of the Ethiopian Empire as Yohannes' southern flank was secured - not to mention, a growing power in Shoa had been acquired. Yohannes had recognized that Menelik's Shoan forces were growing in influence and size with the Shoan expansion further into the Horn of Africa which could potentially be used to enforce Shoan hegemony over historically northern-dominated Old Ethiopia.
Now that Yohannes had acquired Shoa as an ally, he turned towards another potential ally that Ethiopia was coming to depend on for military equipment - Britain, the nation that had been responsible for Yohannes' rise to power. London had become interested in Ethiopia as Yohannes emerged as the dominant figure in Ethiopia, slowly unifying Ethiopia under his grasp as they became more and more powerful while Yohannes made an overture towards Britain. He recognized the prominence of the British Empire in Africa, sending a small team of representatives to London in order to not only gain the UK as an ally but establish relations with other European countries seeking to expand their influence in Africa. This small team was led by Menelik and Kirkham where they met with the Gladstonian government, Menelik bringing up the issue of the Horn of Africa being dominated by Islamic influence and the possibility of the Ottoman Turks being able to retake the lands they formerly held. This appealed to British PM William Gladstone who possessed fervent anti-Turkish views which Ethiopian representatives attempted to play on, to a varying level of success as a shipment of seven thousand surplus Snider-Enfield rifles and a few thousand Martini-Henry rifles were sent to Ethiopia. A series of loans were given to Yohannes' government to provide the necessary financial backing for modernization purposes outside of the Ethiopian Army i.e. the construction of roads, railroads, infrastructure, etc. as its mission proved to be successful. The Ethiopian representatives arrived in Paris, Berlin and St. Petersburg where the small team of representatives managed to secure shipments of arms to Ethiopia but these were accompanied by advisors to neutralize the growing amount of British influence in the Ethiopian Army. There was also the issue of which European country seemed to be the best model for which the Ethiopian Empire could modernize off of - Menelik favored closer relations with St. Petersburg and Russian-style modernization. Yohannes proved to be more open to embracing a mixed Russo-Prussian unification and modernization process that was ultimately decided upon in a compromise between Yohannes and Menelik who were determined to bring Ethiopia into the modern age. However, their visions for the Ethiopian Empire would be threatened by another growing power in Northeast Africa that was under the nominal control of the Ottomans and were led by a man who wanted to unite the Nile River Basin under his nation's grip - Isma'il Pasha's Egypt.