Qualla: Battle of Adwa

Battle of Adwa: Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sailko, CC BY 3.0. On the morning of 1 March 1896, a European army marched into the Ethiopian highlands under orders to defeat an African emperor and turn his country into an Italian protectorate. By sunset, over six thousand Italian and colonial soldiers were dead in the narrow valleys around the town of Adwa, an entire Italian brigade had been annihilated, and Emperor Menelik II - supported by his wife and co-ruler Empress Taytu Betul - had won one of the most consequential battles in modern African history. Twenty-nine years before Italian tanks would return, and forty years before Mussolini would scream Adua e vendicata - Adwa has been avenged - an Ethiopian force of well over 70,000 troops decisively defeated a European colonial army and made Ethiopia the only major African state to remain independent through the Scramble for Africa. The Italians had believed African kings were not supposed to win.

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Image: Sailko | CC BY 3.0

Battle of Adwa: The Treaty That Wasn't

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit A. Davey from Where I Live Now: Pacific Northwest, CC BY 2.0. The battle began with a translation problem. The Treaty of Wuchale, signed in 1889 between Menelik II and the Italians, had two versions. In Amharic, Article 17 read that Ethiopia could use Italian offices if it wished to communicate with foreign powers. In Italian, the same arti...

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Image: A. Davey from Where I Live Now: Pacific Northwest | CC BY 2.0

Battle of Adwa: A Coalition of Ethiopian Nobles

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Le Petit Journal - F. Méaulle, Public domain. Menelik did not march alone. The army that gathered near Adwa was a coalition of regional nobles, each commanding their own troops: Ras Makonnen Wolde Mikael with 15,000 riflemen from Harar; Ras Mikael of Wollo with 6,000 rifles, 5,000 spearmen, and 5,000 Oromo cavalry; Ras Menge...

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Image: Le Petit Journal - F. Méaulle | Public domain

Battle of Adwa: Three Separated Columns

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Sailko, CC BY 3.0. Baratieri's Italian corps numbered around 17,770 troops, including one brigade of Eritrean ascari under General Matteo Albertone led by Italian officers, and three brigades of Italians under Generals Dabormida, Ellena, and Arimondi. On the evening of 29 February, with supplies ru...

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Image: Sailko | CC BY 3.0

Battle of Adwa: Reap, Reap

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. Albertone's brigade was overwhelmed by midmorning. The Ethiopians took his heavy artillery once Balcha Safo's Hotchkiss guns neutralized the Italian artillery from the slopes of Mount Abba Gerima. Arimondi's center held until noon, when the Shewan and Wollo cavalry broke through ...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Battle of Adwa: What Adwa Meant

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Zheim, CC BY-SA 3.0. Over 6,000 Italian and colonial soldiers died. Around 3,800 were captured. Ethiopian losses were probably 4,000 to 7,000 dead and up to 10,000 wounded - staggering numbers, though the contemporary Italian traveler Augustus Wylde, visiting the battlefield months later, saw heaps o...

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Image: Zheim | CC BY-SA 3.0