Battle of Adwa
1 March 1896 · in Battle View, played out step by step on the ground where it was fought
Ethiopian forces under Emperor Menelik II decisively defeated an Italian army on 1 March 1896, securing Ethiopia's independence during the Scramble for Africa.
The sides
- Italy, led by Oreste Baratieri: about 17,700 men
- Ethiopia, led by Menelik II: about 100,000 men
States that fought: Ethiopian Empire, Italian Africa, Kingdom of Italy.
How it went
Battle of Adwa
Italy holds Eritrea and claims all of Ethiopia as a protectorate under the Treaty of Wuchale, whose Italian text says what its Amharic text does not. Emperor Menelik II rejects it and marches north with the largest army Ethiopia has ever raised. Facing it in the mountains, short of food and pressed by Rome to win, General Baratieri decides to attack.
The night march
On the night of 29 February four Italian brigades set out along mountain paths in the dark, to seize the passes looking down on the Ethiopian camps round Adwa.
Albertone too far
Misled by his guides and a bad map, Albertone takes a hill seven kilometres beyond the pass he was sent to, and marches on alone. At dawn his askari stand at Kidane Mehret, in sight of the Ethiopian camps. It is Sunday, and many of Menelik's men are at mass.
The first attack
From six o'clock tens of thousands fall on Albertone's brigade. The askari hold for three hours, their guns firing case shot into the charges, and Fitawrari Gebeyehu is killed leading the vanguard. By nine the brigade is broken and Albertone is a prisoner.
Dabormida turns away
Baratieri sends Dabormida forward to help, but his brigade bears right, into the valley of Mariam Shavitu, away from the rest. Arimondi and Ellena hold the line of Mount Raio and Mount Belah with a gap opening on their right.
Mount Raio
Menelik sends in his reserve. The armies of Shewa, the empress's men and the other lords come over the hills on every side, and the Ethiopian guns outrange the Italian batteries. By noon the centre gives way; Arimondi is killed and Baratieri rides for the rear.
Mariam Shavitu
Cut off in his valley, Dabormida fights on alone through the afternoon against Ras Mikael's Oromo horsemen and the warriors who keep coming. His brigade is destroyed, and he is never seen again.
Adwa
Some 7,000 Italians and askari are dead and 3,000 taken prisoner; Ethiopia loses perhaps 5,000 men. In Rome the government falls, and in October Italy recognises Ethiopia's full independence. Adwa becomes a symbol across Africa and the world: an African army had beaten a European one.
Ethiopian numbers are estimates; perhaps 100,000 men were in the camps round Adwa. Italian numbers include some 4,000 Eritrean askari. The mountain positions are simplified.
People and wars
- Menelik II (1844 CE – 1913 CE): Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 who expanded the empire, founded Addis Ababa and defeated Italy at Adwa in 1896.