THE WORLD ATLAS

War · January 1895 – 26 October 1896

First Italo-Ethiopian War

Italy had held the Red Sea port of Massawa since 1885 and built the colony of Eritrea on the plateau behind it. In 1889 Emperor Menelik II signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Italy, but its Italian text made Ethiopia an Italian protectorate while the Amharic text did not, and in 1893 Menelik repudiated it.

In January 1895 Italian colonial troops under General Oreste Baratieri defeated Ras Mengesha of Tigray at Coatit and Senafe, then occupied Adigrat, Adwa and Mekelle and declared Tigray annexed. Menelik called up the nobility of the whole empire and marched north with an army of over 100,000, many armed with modern rifles. His forces overran an Italian outpost at Amba Alagi in December 1895 and forced the fort at Mekelle to surrender in January 1896. On 1 March 1896 Baratieri attacked near Adwa and his army was routed. In the Treaty of Addis Ababa of October 1896 Italy recognised Ethiopia's full independence, a victory that became a symbol for anti-colonial and Pan-African movements.

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Dates
January 1895 – 26 October 1896
Casualties
At Adwa alone an estimated 6,000 Italian and colonial troops and 4,000–7,000 Ethiopians were killed; estimates for the whole war run to about 9,000 Italian and colonial dead and about 10,000 Ethiopian.

The sides

Italy (with Eritrean colonial troops)

Ethiopian Empire

Timeline of the First Italo-Ethiopian War

  1. Italians repel Ras Mengesha's invasion of Eritrea at Coatit

    Menelik had repudiated the Treaty of Wuchale in 1893, and in December 1894 Bahta Hagos led a revolt against Italian rule in Eritrea, which was quickly crushed. Suspecting Ras Mengesha Yohannes, the ruler of Tigray, Governor Baratieri moved against him. Mengesha crossed into Eritrea with about 19,000 men, but on 13 January 1895 a colonial force of under 4,000, mostly Eritrean askaris, beat him at Coatit, opening the war.

  2. Baratieri routs Mengesha's retreating army at Senafe

    Mengesha withdrew towards Tigray, but Baratieri caught up with his camp in the Senafe basin on the evening of 15 January 1895. Italian mountain guns shelled the camp from the heights over two days, and the Tigrayan army broke up with heavy losses. The defeat left Tigray open to invasion, and Baratieri gathered his troops at Senafe for an advance south across the border.

  3. Italian troops occupy Adigrat in Tigray

    Crossing from Eritrea into the Ethiopian province of Tigray, Baratieri's army occupied the town of Adigrat on 25 March 1895. It became the main Italian base in Tigray, supporting further advances south. The Italians hoped that disaffected rulers such as Ras Mengesha, Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam and the Sultan of Aussa would join them, but Ethiopia's nobility instead rallied to the emperor.

  4. Italians occupy Adwa and declare Tigray annexed to Eritrea

    On 2 April 1895 Italian troops entered Adwa, the main town of western Tigray, and Baratieri issued a proclamation annexing Tigray to the colony of Eritrea. With the rainy season approaching, the Italians paused their advance. Menelik meanwhile sought help abroad, but France chose Italian goodwill over an alliance with him; Russia, which disliked a Catholic power ruling an Orthodox nation, sent arms.

  5. Menelik II calls the Ethiopian nobility to war

    On 17 September 1895 Menelik issued a proclamation summoning the men of Ethiopia to join his army at Were Ilu. Regional rulers who had resented his rise, among them Ras Mengesha of Tigray, answered the call. Over the following months an army of more than 100,000 assembled and marched north, armed with tens of thousands of modern rifles bought from France, Russia and even Italy.

  6. Italians push south past Debra Ailà and take Mekelle

    In October the Italians resumed their advance. On 9 October 1895 colonial battalions under General Giuseppe Arimondi drove Mengesha's rearguard from the pass of Debra Ailà, near Antalo. Mekelle, the Tigrayan capital, was occupied without a fight after Mengesha withdrew on Menelik's advice, and in October the Italians built a fort by the church of Enda Iyesus above the town. Advanced detachments went on south to the mountain stronghold of Amba Alagi.

  7. Ethiopians overrun the Italian outpost at Amba Alagi

    Major Pietro Toselli held Amba Alagi with about 2,000 Eritrean askaris. On 7 December 1895 the vanguard of Menelik's army under Ras Makonnen, joined by Ras Mengesha and Ras Welle, attacked from several sides and overran the position. Toselli and most of his men were killed. Arimondi, coming up from Mekelle with reinforcements, could only collect a few hundred survivors and fall back north, leaving a garrison in the unfinished fort at Mekelle.

  8. Ras Makonnen surrounds the Italian fort at Mekelle

    Major Giuseppe Galliano held the fort above Mekelle with about 1,150 askaris and 200 Italians and two mountain guns. Ras Makonnen's troops surrounded it on 18 December 1895 and a frontal assault a few days later was repulsed with heavy losses. Galliano was ordered to hold on while Baratieri concentrated the rest of the Italian army at Adigrat. In early January 1896 Menelik himself arrived with the main imperial army.

  9. Mekelle garrison surrenders and is allowed to leave

    After two weeks of bombardment the Ethiopians cut the fort off from its water supply and beat back attempts to retake the well. With his men dying of thirst, Galliano agreed to surrender with his commanders' permission on 21 January 1896. Menelik let the garrison march out with its weapons and gave it mules to rejoin Baratieri. The escort also let the emperor move his army west, through passes the Italians did not guard, towards Adwa.

  10. Menelik moves on Adwa; Baratieri follows with his army

    Rather than attack the fortified Italian base at Adigrat, Menelik marched his army west by way of Hawzen to the plain around Adwa. Fearing an invasion of Eritrea, Baratieri left Adigrat and moved his army towards Adwa to face him. Both armies were short of food: the Ethiopian host had exhausted the countryside, while the Italians, at the end of a long supply line, had provisions for only a few more days.

  11. Baratieri and his generals decide to attack

    On the evening of 29 February 1896 Baratieri, who knew he was about to be replaced by General Antonio Baldissera and was under pressure from Rome to win, met his four brigade commanders. With supplies running out, he suggested retreating towards Asmara, but the generals argued for an attack. Believing Menelik could field only about 30,000 men, Baratieri ordered an advance by night to positions overlooking the Ethiopian camp.

  12. Battle of Adwa: Menelik's army routs the Italians

    About 17,700 Italian and Eritrean troops in four brigades marched overnight on separate mountain tracks and lost touch with each other. At dawn on 1 March 1896 Albertone's brigade ran into the Ethiopian army, perhaps 73,000 to 100,000 strong, and the others were attacked in turn and cut off. By noon the Italian army was in flight, abandoning its artillery. Over 6,000 Italian and colonial troops were killed and about 3,800 captured.

  13. Crispi's government falls in Rome after the defeat

    News of Adwa reached Italy by telegraph almost at once and set off riots and demonstrations in several cities. Prime Minister Francesco Crispi, the main champion of colonial expansion in Ethiopia, was forced to resign, leaving office on 10 March 1896. Menelik offered peace if Italy publicly renounced its claim to a protectorate, but broke off talks when Italy asked for conditions. Talks went slowly while Italian prisoners remained in Ethiopian hands.

  14. Italians evacuate Adigrat, their last foothold in Tigray

    General Baldissera reorganised the defeated army in Eritrea and relieved the Italian garrison left behind at Adigrat. Menelik insisted on its surrender as a condition of the peace talks, and on 18 May 1896 Baldissera evacuated the fort. The Italians withdrew behind the Mareb river, which became the border between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and Menelik returned to his capital, Addis Ababa.

  15. Treaty of Addis Ababa: Italy recognises Ethiopian independence

    After months of negotiation, Italy agreed in August to abrogate the Treaty of Wuchale without conditions, and the Treaty of Addis Ababa was signed on 26 October 1896. Italy recognised Ethiopia's independence, paid for the upkeep of its prisoners and kept Eritrea up to the Mareb, Belesa and Muna rivers. Britain and France soon signed treaties treating Ethiopia as an equal, and it stayed independent until the Italian invasion of 1935.

Related

Other wars of the time

Sources