Ethiopia wins the Battle of Adwa

Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II defeated an invading Italian army at Adwa. The victory kept Ethiopia independent when most of Africa was colonized.

Context

The war grew out of the 1889 Treaty of Wuchale. The Italian and Amharic texts of one article differed, and Italy read it as making Ethiopia a protectorate. Menelik rejected the treaty in 1893, and Italy moved toward war.

On 1 March 1896 an Ethiopian army of well over 80,000 men, with modern rifles and some artillery, met about 14,500 Italian troops under General Oreste Baratieri. Britannica says Italy lost over 6,000 killed and that perhaps 70 percent of its soldiers were killed or captured. Troop and casualty counts vary between sources.

The Treaty of Addis Ababa in October 1896 ended the Italian protectorate claim, and other powers recognized Ethiopian independence. Italian Prime Minister Crispi's government fell. Italy invaded again in 1935 and occupied Ethiopia until 1941.

Both sides had acquired modern firearms: European governments, including Italy's rivals, had sold weapons to Menelik. The Italian plan failed after columns lost contact with each other in rough terrain around Adwa, which allowed the Ethiopians to concentrate their larger force. The victory was celebrated across the colonized world, and it became a symbol for later African and Pan-African movements. Ethiopia's independence lasted except for the Italian occupation of 1936 to 1941.