EHSNA celebrates the Victory of the Battle of Adwa

The Battle
of Adwa is a significant event in Ethiopian history.  But it also had an effect on the entire world
because of the message it sent regarding racial and gender equality at a time
when those issues were being discussed in societies around the world,
especially in post-slavery America.  The
battle, fought on the cusp of February and March of 1896, also marked the first
time an African nation was able to repulse a powerful and white colonizer –
European nation, Italy, bent on building an empire.

  Adwa’s Effect on Gender Equality

In the
late 1800’s, European nations were engaged in carving up Africa for their
various empires.  Impress Taitu and her husband,
King Menelik II, ruled much of Ethiopia when the Italians began their designs
on making the nation a territorial part of their realm. With an invasion force
ready in Eritrea, they had approached the sovereigns with a treaty to seal the
deal. But the treaty was duplicitous in that it promised one thing and did
another. While one version of the treaty promised the Ethiopian sovereigns
suzerainty over Ethiopia, another version of it told the world that Ethiopia
was a vassal territory of Italy.

Impress
Taitu, a respected and powerful voice in the Ethiopian court, detected the
two-faced nature of the treaty and averred that she would rather die than sign
such a document. The court and the king took her statement to heart and walked
away from the treaty negotiations. The Italians took that as reason to invade
the country. Already colonized, Eritrea was used as a staging ground to launch
their invasion south into Ethiopia.

Queen
Taitu accompanied King Menelik and marched north to meet the main Italian force
at Adwa. She commanded about 16,000 troops and an artillery battery of her own
that she had gathered from her homeland region. 
All this was before women even had the right to vote in most western,
so-called civilized nations.

Prior to
the Battle of Adwa, the Queen and her soldiers had raided and claimed the water
supply of a subsidiary Italian garrison holed up near the town of Mekele. They
held the water supply for 15 days, despite repeated attacks. The garrison was
so parched, thanks to Queen Taitu and her troops that it surrendered when King
Menelik arrived in the area and threatened a direct assault.

Adwa’s Effect
on Racial Equality

The
western world was stunned when the armies of King Menelik and Queen Taitu sent
the Italians packing from the Horn of Africa. It was the first time an African
nation had repelled the quest for empire by a powerful European nation. This
was also the first time, in recent history, that a so-called “inferior race”
had defeated a white force.

King
Menelik was a wise ruler and a wiser general. He had seen other African
countries fall to imperial powers because they could not unite due to their
ethnic infighting. King Menelik was determined not to let this happen to
Ethiopia. With a grass-roots appeal to every corner of Ethiopia, he mobilized
Ethiopians to unite against the foreign aggressor as a result of which he w
raised an army of over 200,000. He armed his soldiers with 300,000 rifles, 5 million rounds of ammunition, 6 thousand
revolvers and 25,000 blades for lances. Ample provisions for a formidable
artillery force were secured as well.

The
battle was a nasty and bloody affair. The Italians fought valiantly but they
were out-numbered and out-smarted. One general’s brigade was decimated by
Ethiopian lancers and the general’s body was never found. At the conclusion of
the war, over 7,000 soldiers had vanished from each side of the force.

The
battle was a crushing and humiliating defeat for Italy. The Ethiopians drove
the retreating Italians to Eritrea and ultimately ran them out of the area
altogether. The Treaty of Addis Abba was drawn on the 26^th of
October, 1896, which was forced Italy to recognize Ethiopia as an independent
and sovereign nation.

  Emperor Menelik and
Empress Taitu Compelled the World to Notice

Because of
their ability to unite the country, the King and Queen were later crowned as
Emperor and Empress Consort of Ethiopia. Aside from their ability at
unification of the nation and their ability to repel a powerful European force,
they also caused much second-thinking around the world regarding gender and
racial equality. This was especially true in the United States where Americans
were just starting to adjust socially and culturally in its post-slavery era.
And the equality and suffrage of American women was just starting to bubble up
in the political cauldron of that time. Thus, by the victory of Adwa Emperor Menelik and Empress Taitu forced
the world to consider, contemplate, and think the role of woman, racial
inequality, and the capability of Africans in a way it was never been seen
before in history. 

EHSNA and
Battle of Adwa