By the mid nineteenth century, efforts were made by Ethiopian monarchs to counter the feudalistic tendencies of the country and unify it under a central authority. Italy, on the eve of the same century, was only recently unified and was therefore a latecomer in the European imperialism enterprise. The Italians wanted their share of the African pie. Thus, they cast hungering eyes on an African kingdom that happened to be one of the oldest Christian nations in the world.The Battle of Adowa was fought March 1, 1896. The Italian army was commanded by General Oreste Baratieri. He was opposed by the Ethiopian emperor, Menelik. The Italians invaded Ethiopia from Eritrea, which was a colony of Italy. Indeed, contingents of Eritreans fought on the Italian side, as well Tigrayans, traditional enemies of the Ethiopians.Alerted to Italian movements, Menelik dispatched his field commander, Ras Mekonnen, to contest the incursion. First, Mekonnen concentrated his attacks against Eritrean and Tigrayan colonial troops, eventually routing them. The Ethiopians then set upon the Italians with a fury. Fighting raged for hours with Ethiopian troops surrounding and virtually annihilating Italian battalions. The survivors were put to flight. Baratieri barely escaped the disaster with his life.The reasons for the Ethiopian victory.One: Weapons. The Ethiopians possessed guns in quantity, but the quality of those guns was an essential key to success. 70,000 men out of an army of 100,000, were equipped with mostly French-made modern repeating rifles. The Ethiopian army was the only African military force equipped with cannon and machine guns. A few of the cannon were operated by Europeans in Menelik's service. Africans, however, comprised the majority of cannon operators.Two: It helped that the Italians were outnumbered. Certainly, Europeans were normally at a numerical disadvantage in relation to their African foes. But superior Eurpean arms often compensated for lack of numbers. In the Italians' case, their weapons provided no real advantage in a contest where there existed a negligible weapons disparity. Ethiopian superiority in numbers amounted to the icing on the cake of victory.Three: Italian rashness. Baratieri was unwilling to confront a strong Ethipian army. He and a likeminded general favored avoiding a pitch battle. They were hoping to wait for the Ethiopian army to dissolve due to lack of provisions. Other generals favored an immediate attack. Those generals had the backing of the Italian government. Barratieri could have overruled his aggressive-minded generals. Rome was another matter. With the weight of his government pressing down on him, Barratieri had no choice but to launch an attack.Four: The Ethiopians knew where the Italians were when the Italians could not locate each other. The Italian army advanced against the Ethiopians in separate columns. It was a haphazard march with columns getting lost, losing contact or becoming entangled. Ethiopian awareness of Italian positions enabled the former to strike at a place and time of its own choosing.Up to 6,900 Italians and their colonial troops, out of 20,000 were killed. 7,000 Ethiopians perished in the battle. Adowa was a shock to a European world that had become accustomed to defeating African armies in its relentless quest to occupy the African continent. Ethiopia was the only African country to avert colonization by force of arms.Source: Wars of Imperial Conquest in Africa: 1830-1914 by Bruce Vandervort.
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