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The First Italian–Abyssinian War was one of the very few instances of successful armed African resistance to European colonialism in the 19th century.

On March 25, 1889, the Shewa ruler Menelik II — having conquered Tigray and Amhara, and with the support of Italy — declared himself Emperor of Ethiopia (Abyssinia in the European parlance of the time). Barely a month later, on May 2, he signed a treaty of amity with the Italians, which gave them control over Eritrea, the Red Sea coast to the northeast of Ethiopia, in return for recognition of Menelik's rule. Or so it seemed.

In fact, the bilingual Treaty of Wuchale did not say the same thing in Italian and Amharic. The former text established an Italian protectorate over Ethiopia, which Menelik discovered soon afterwards.

Menelik repudiated the treaty in 1893, at which point the Italians ramped up the pressure in a variety of ways, including military expeditions into Tigray (on the border with Eritrea) in 1895.

By then, however, Menelik had spent much of the previous four years building up a supply of modern weapons and ammunition. In December of 1895, he himself moved large forces into Tigray. Heavily outnumbered, the Italian commander, Oreste Baritieri refused to engage, but the Italian government of Francesco Crispi was unable to accept being stymied by non-Europeans. The prime minister specifically ordered Baritieri to bring about a battle.

The result was the Battle of Adowa (or Adua) on March 1, 1896. Almost half of all the Italian forces in East Africa were concentrated and engaged the Ethiopians who defeated them decisively. The actual battle took place in mountainous country to the north of the town of Adowa. The Italian army comprised four brigades totalling approximately 20,000 troops, with fifty-six artillery pieces.

General Baritieri planned to surprise the larger Ethiopian force with an early morning attack, expecting that his enemy would be asleep. However, the Ethiopians had risen early for Church services, and upon learning of the Italian advance, swept forth to meet it, and crushed the Italians. While Menelik's victory was in a large part due to sheer force of numbers, Menelik's planning had made them well-armed numbers.

Italian dead and missing numbered 4,133 with a further 2,000 captured. In addition four thousand Eritrean askaris were killed or captured. The Ethiopians had lost about 7,000 dead and 10,000 wounded. Italian prisoners were treated as well as possible under difficult circumstances, but 800 captured askaris, regarded as traitors by the Ethiopians, had their right hands and left feet amputated.

Menelik retired in good order to his capital, Addis Ababa, and waited for the discredited Crispi government to fall. It did within two weeks, and Menelik secured the Treaty of Addis Ababa in October, strictly delimiting the borders of Eritrea and forcing Italy to recognize the independence of Ethiopia.

See also

• Second Italo-Abyssinian War

• Wars of Ethiopia
• Wars of Italy