Three columns of fresh infantry marched through narrowing mountain passages; they would approach Adwa by 9 a.m. This Week in History, thousands of men and women take up arms in a desperate struggle to decide the independence of Africa’s second-to-last uncolonized country: Ethiopia.
Ever since 1895, the Italian Empire sprawled out over what crumbs of Africa remained out of the British and French spheres. They could not touch Algeria, for the French had already cemented themselves there, nor could they venture to far across the Mediterranean, as the Ottoman holdouts were constantly under British pressure. The slim-pickings left few slices of the African pie for Italy, one of the later European powers to emerge as a united nation.
In fact, the Italians faced so much market competition that in 1881, after the French refused a plan to split Tunisia between the two powers, the Italians took it as a slap in the face, referring to it literally as “The Slap of Tunis.”
All this taken to account, Ethiopia remained a substantial prize. Despite French forces occupying Djibouti and powerful British interests in Somaliland and Eritrea, the Ethiopian heartland remained untouched. And pressure was mounting to make a move.
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That heartland was ruled by a vibrant, though shaken, court headed by Emperor Menelik II and his wife Empress Tatyu Betul, both coronated in 1889. With colonial interests pressing all sides of the country and even stripping away access to the coastline, Ethiopian political decisions were foremost guided by a desire to maintain independence, though views differed on how best to do so.
Conservatives sought at all costs to preserve the Ethiopian way of life alongside independence, while progressives pressured the monarchy to embrace western industrialization to modernize the country. As both sides grumbled throughout the crises and minor defeats dealt by the Italians in the Ethiopian frontier throughout 1895, no political debate could fix the situation on the ground.
The Italians marched on the early morning of March 1, 1896. The army was divided into three columns of soldiers, many of whom had never seen or experienced the African countryside they were about to plunge into.
The decision to set off was made in haste late the night prior by several generals led by Govenor of Eritrea Oreste Baratieri. The governor was in his final few days of office, and despite dealing blows to the Ethiopians and curbing an uprising during his tenure, perhaps Baratieri felt that he lacked a crowning achievement or defining battle.
Yet, the Italian Empire was not overflowing with abundance through its conquests. Despite expanding its territorial possessions on a map, their coffers were drained by the mounting expenses of guarding a population that detested Italian rule.
Baratieri’s soldiers had taken advanced positions in the months prior and were poised to strike deep into Ethiopia and defeat the Ethiopians in a pivotal engagement. At least, that’s how many of Baratieri’s officers saw it. They clamored to prove themselves capable of defeating an inferior Ethiopian force that was seemingly the only obstacle in the way of a true occupation of Ethiopia proper. Why wait? Why wither away while allowing the Ethiopians to reorganize? Rumor had it that King Menelik II’s soldiers would run out of supplies in days.
The governor caved; the Italians marched. These soldiers, however, were not a glorious bunch. The government in Rome had given the colonial administrations whatever scraps could be spared from Italy, and those scraps were scattered to soldiers positioned in garrisons all over the colonies. Whatever crumbs were left from those scraps went to the force probing Adwa.
Old cartridges and rifles, freshly conscripted units, five days of supplies and an unclear survey of the mountain passes were just the surface level issues facing the Italians. They became lost and separated as they advanced into the unknown.
The rumors were correct, however. Menelik’s army would run out of supplies, and it was not a matter of days, but a single day. Menelik planned to disband or fall back on March 2.
Through several spy reports, Menelik knew of the Italian advance, and by his side were the armies of his loyal nobles, and even the help of 5,000 soldiers and thousands of women under the command of Empress Tatyu.
Fighting began over several advanced positions held by the Ethiopians on the hillsides outside Adwa. Unlike the unequal warfare of previous colonization attempts, the Ethiopians had equipped themselves with Hotchkiss guns, early machine guns that could easily repel an Italian advance. Soon, Ethiopian pressure broke several Italian units, while the Italian conscripted Ascari’s faced determined though diminishing resistance at the hands of several Ethiopian armies.
After some time, the outnumbered and arguably less-equipped Italians realized the blunder in their offensive. But before they could act on their failure, thousands upon thousands of fresh reserves crashed into their lines. Menelik had sent in his greatest units of Shewa soldiers, decisively crushing the Italians.
A desperate attempt to assemble units to block the Italian retreat was swiftly torn apart, and with it, countless Italian officers and even Italian General Arimondi.
The Ethiopians had won the day. Though they outnumbered the Italians by some 5-1, the defeat was undoubtedly a sign that the initial stages of colonization were over. The hubris and confidence of the Italian imperialists were shattered.
Menelik II knew that this victory was not a total defeat of the Italians. He simply had some treaties revised to secure the independence of Ethiopia and curb Italian influence. There was no grand reconquest of the coast, or establishment of an Ethiopian empire. Instead, until 1935, Ethiopia remained one of the last holdouts against colonization.
Years later Ethiopia would face defeat at the hands of an embittered Italian Empire now led by the fascists, but that’s for another week in history. Thank you for reading, and for more information I highly recommend watching World War Two on YouTube, a channel that has covered World War II week-by-week for the war’s duration.