Tewodros II was born Kassa Hailu sometime around 1818. His father, Hailu wolde Giyorigis, was the ruler of Qwara district, located on the Ethiopian-Sudanese border. His military experience started when he served in his half brother’s army (Prouty and Rosenfeld 1982, 71). His half brother died in 1839 and Qwara was lost to the family and claimed by Empress Menen of Gondar. Kassa Hailu resorted to become a shifta, one who refuses to recognize his feudal lord. Kassa Hailu organized his own army in the plains of Qwara. When he became too powerful to ignore, as a way to deal with him with out using force, he was named dajazmach of Qwara and given the hand of Tawabach, the daughter of Ras Ali of Begemder, in 1845. (Zewde 2001, 28)