The Battle of Adwa of 1896: A victory for
the African continent
Given the
different interpretation of the Article 17 of the Wuchale
Treaty by Ethiopia and Italy, the road to the battle of Adwa was inevitable. Both
Generals Baratieri and Arimondi
moved their forces westward and camped at Sawiyra,
about 40 kms east of Adwa. Menelik
moved into Adwa with about 100,000 soldiers.
The Italian espionage agents were giving false intelligence information
to the Generals since the spies were themselves Ethiopians. Rases in the north
were ordered to cut the Italian supply lines to further put the Italian troops
into a very difficult position logistically because they could not access food
and ammunitions from their bases.
On 29
February1896, the Italians decided to attack Adwa in three directions. The
directions were: the northern column, the eastern column and the main attack
directed to the town of Adwa. In the morning of 1 March1896, the decisive
battle commenced. Eastern Adwa was so mountainous and no wonder the Italian forces on the eastern
column got lost. Menelik,
who led the eastern counteroffensive force, easily defeated the lost Italian
troops. Ras Mengesha and Ras Mi’Kael repulsed the northern offensive. The forces destined to Adwa town dispersed after receiving the news that the other two columns
were destroyed. The Italians were defeated and Ethiopians became victorious.
The battle of Adwa became a historical emblem when African peasants defeated a very
well trained, armed and disciplined colonial army. It is the only known and recorded battle that
Africans had won over colonialism in the continent at a very significant scale.
This battle has made Ethiopia a symbol of African independence, courage and empowerment to a
continent ravished by European colonialism.
The battle of Adwa, however, has had serious political effects on the Ethiopian
polity. When Emperor Menelik
defeated the Italians, he did not drive them out of the occupied territory of Eritrea. The big question is why?
From innocent
eyes, one would argue that Menelik was exhausted of
war and possibly the peasant army was not willing to pursue or push the
Italians out of Eritrea. Some say that Menelik ran short of food provisions and ammunitions.
Another group of analysts says that Italians had a huge military force in Eritrea.
Had Menelik tried to attack their stronghold; that
would have meant pressing Italians for another war or even a bigger war. Some say that Ras Mengesha reported lack of
water in the areas they would have attacked, which in turn could have weakened Menelik’s fighting capability. May be Menelik was
satisfied with the victory he won over Italians at the battle of Adwa and therefore did not want to continue with the war.
But recent
analysts believed that Menelik had agreed to Italian colonialization of Eritrea
as outlined on the article 3’s of Friendship and Wuchale
Treaties. Remember that Emperor Yohannes IV did not pursue the Egyptians beyond Eritrea
either. Did Menelik
simply copy this technique from his predecessor? May be these rulers considered Eritrea
as Italy
