Original sentence: Ethiopia's military victory over Italy secured it the distinction of being the only African nation to resist European colonialism with a decisive show of force.General Baratieri planned to surprise the larger Ethiopian force with an early morning attack, expecting that his enemy would be asleep.Heavily outnumbered, Baratieri refused to engage, knowing that due to their lack of infrastructure the Ethiopians could not keep large numbers of troops in the field much longer.In 1893, judging that his power over Ethiopia was secure, Menelik repudiated the treaty; in response the Italians ramped up the pressure on his domain in a variety of ways, including the annexation of small territories bordering their original claim under the Treaty of Wuchale, and finally culminating with a military campaign across the Mareb River into Tigray (on the border with Eritrea) in December 1894.Italian dead were estimated to number 9,500 to 12,000.The Italian army comprised four brigades totalling approximately 20,000 troops, with fifty-six artillery pieces
Edited sentence: General Baratieri planned to surprise the far larger Ethiopian force with an early morning attack, expecting that his enemy would be asleep.He repudiated the treaty, at which point the Italians ramped up the pressure in a variety of ways, including the annexation of small territories bordering their original claim under the Treaty of Wuchale, and finally culminating with a military campaign across the Mareb River into Tigray (on the border with Eritrea) in December 1894.Heavily outnumbered, Baratieri refused to engage, knowing that the Ethiopians could not keep large numbers of troops in the field much longer.In 1893, Menelik judged that his power over Ethiopia was consolidated.In this battle less than 15000 Italians plus a minor number of askaris fought against 100,000 Ethiopians who were armed with approximately 100,000 rifles of which about half were "fast firing".The Ethiopian victory made Ethiopia the first African country to resist a western colonialist attempt (though rather ephimeral), at least till the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, when Ehtiopia was subjected by fascist Italy.The Italians suffered about 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000 taken prisoner, whereas Ethiopian losses have been estimated around 4,000–5,000, but with 8,000 wounded