The Battle of Adwa and Ethiopia's Uncolonized Path Through the Scramble for Africa

Emperor Menelik II, who took power in 1889, exploited rivalries among Italy, Britain, France, and Russia while importing rifles and cannons by the tens of thousands to modernize Ethiopia's army. After subduing regional warlords, he pushed through administrative and tax reforms that could sustain a large national force. The flashpoint was the Treaty of Wuchale, signed on May 2, 1889, in Italian and Amharic: the Amharic Article 17 made Italian mediation optional, while the Italian text bound Ethiopia's foreign affairs to Rome, effectively claiming a protectorate. Menelik withdrew from the treaty in 1893. Italy sent an expeditionary force in 1895, and on March 1, 1896, at Adwa in northern Ethiopia, roughly 20,000 Italian soldiers met an army of nearly 100,000 led by Menelik and Empress Taytu Betul. Thousands were killed or captured by sunset. Prime Minister Francesco Crispi resigned within days. The Treaty of Addis Ababa, signed with Italy in 1896, recognized Ethiopian independence. Italy invaded again in 1935 under Benito Mussolini, holding the country for five years until liberation in 1941 by the Arbegnoch resistance and Allied forces led by Great Britain.