Battle of Adwa The Battle of Adwa ( also known as Adowa , or sometimes by the Italian name " Adua " ) was fought on 1 March 1896 between the Ethiopian Empire and the Kingdom of Italy near the town of Adwa , Ethiopia , in Tigray . It was the climactic battle of the First Italo - Ethiopian War , securing Ethiopian sovereignty . As the 20th century approached , most of Africa had been carved up among the European powers . The two independent exceptions were the young Republic of Liberia on the west coast of the continent and the Ethiopian Empire in the strategic Horn of Africa . The newly unified Kingdom of Italy was a relative newcomer to the colonial scramble for Africa . Italy had two recently obtained African territories : Eritrea and Somaliland . Both were near Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa and both were impoverished . Italy sought to improve its position in Africa by conquering Ethiopia and joining it with its two territories . Background . In 1889 , the Italians signed the Treaty of Wuchale with then " Negus " Menelik of Shewa . The treaty ceded territories previously part of Ethiopia , namely the provinces of Bogos , Hamasien , Akkele Guzay , Serae , and parts of Tigray . In return , Italy promised Menelik ' s rule , financial assistance and military supplies . A dispute later arose over the interpretation of the two versions of the document . The Italian - language version of the disputed Article 17 of the treaty stated that the Emperor of Ethiopia was obliged to conduct all foreign affairs through Italian authorities . This would in effect make Ethiopia a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy . The Amharic version of the article however stated that the Emperor could use the good offices of the Kingdom of Italy in his relations with foreign nations if he wished . However , the Italian diplomats claimed that the original Amharic text included the clause and that Menelik knowingly signed a modified copy of the Treaty . The Italian government decided on a military solution to force Ethiopia to abide by the Italian version of the treaty . As a result , Italy and Ethiopia faced off in what was later to be known as the First Italo - Ethiopian War . In December 1894 , Bahta Hagos led a rebellion against the Italians in Akkele Guzay , in what was then Italian controlled Eritrea . Units of General Oreste Baratieri ' s army under Major Pietro Toselli crushed the rebellion and killed Bahta . The Italian army then occupied the Tigrayan capital , Adwa . In January 1895 , Baratieri ' s army went on to defeat Ras Mengesha Yohannes in the Battle of Coatit , forcing Mengesha to retreat further south . By late 1895 , Italian forces had advanced deep into Ethiopian territory . On 7 December 1895 , " Ras " Makonnen , " Ras " Welle Betul and " Ras " Mengesha Yohannes commanding a larger Ethiopian group of Menelik ' s vanguard annihilated a small Italian unit at the Battle of Amba Alagi . The Italians were then forced to withdraw to more defensible positions in Tigray , where the two main armies faced each other . By late February 1896 , supplies on both sides were running low . General Oreste Baratieri , commander of the Italian forces , knew the Ethiopian forces had been living off the land , and once the supplies of the local peasants were exhausted , Emperor Menelik ' s army would begin to melt away . However , the Italian government insisted that General Baratieri act . On the evening of 29 February , Baratieri met with his brigadiers Matteo Albertone , Giuseppe Arimondi , Vittorio Dabormida , and Giuseppe Ellena , concerning their next steps . He opened the meeting on a negative note , revealing to his brigadiers that provisions would be exhausted in less than five days , and suggested retreating , perhaps as far back as Asmara . His subordinates argued forcefully for an attack , insisting that to retreat at this point would only worsen the poor morale . Dabormida exclaiming , " Italy would prefer the loss of two or three thousand men to a dishonorable retreat . " Baratieri delayed making a decision for a few more hours , claiming that he needed to wait for some last - minute intelligence , but in the end announced that the attack would start the next morning at 9 : 00 . His troops began their march to their starting positions shortly after midnight . Forces assembled . The Italian army comprised four brigade s totaling 17 , 978 troops , with fifty - six artillery pieces . However , it is likely that fewer fought in the actual battle on the Italian side : Harold Marcus notes that " several thousand " soldiers were needed in support roles and to guard the lines of communication to the rear . He accordingly estimates that the Italian force at Adwa consisted of 14 , 923 effectives . One brigade under General Albertone was made up of Eritrean askari led by Italian officers . The remaining three brigades were Italian units under Brigadiers Dabormida , Ellena and Arimondi . While these included elite Bersaglieri , Alpini and Cacciatori units , a large proportion of the troops were inexperienced conscripts recently drafted from metropolitan regiments in Italy into newly formed " di formazione " battalion s for service in Africa . As Chris Prouty describes : Estimates for the Ethiopian forces under Menelik range from a low of 73 , 000 to a high of over 120 , 000 , outnumbering the Italians by an estimated five or six times . The forces were divided among Emperor Menelik , Empress Taytu Betul , " Ras " Wale Betul , " Ras " Mengesha Atikem , " Ras " Mengesha Yohannes , " Ras " Alula Engida , " Ras " Mikael of Wollo , " Ras " Makonnen Wolde Mikael , " Fitawrari " Gebeyyehu , and " Negus " Tekle Haymanot Tessemma . In addition , the armies were followed by a similar number of traditional peasant followers who supplied the army , as had been done for centuries . Most of the army was composed of riflemen , a significant percentage of which were in Menelik ' s reserve ; however , there were also a significant number of cavalry and infantry only armed with lance s . The Ethiopian Army had a small team of Russian advisers and volunteers commanded by the Kuban Cossack army officer N . S . Leontiev . Battle . On the night of 29 February and the early morning of 1 March three Italian brigades advanced separately towards Adwa over narrow mountain tracks , while a fourth remained camped . David Levering Lewis states that the Italian battle plan However , the three leading Italian brigades had become separated during their overnight march and at dawn were spread across several miles of very difficult terrain . Their sketchy maps caused Albertone to mistake one mountain for Kidane Meret , and when a scout pointed out his mistake , Albertone advanced directly into Ras Alula ' s position . Unbeknownst to General Baratieri , Emperor Menelik knew his troops had exhausted the ability of the local peasants to support them and had planned to break camp the next day ( 2 March ) . The Emperor had risen early to begin prayers for divine guidance when spies from Ras Alula , his chief military advisor , brought him news that the Italians were advancing . The Emperor summoned the separate armies of his nobles and with the Empress Taytu beside him , ordered his forces forward . Negus Tekle Haymanot commanded the right wing , Ras Alula the left , and Rasses Makonnen and Mengesha the center , with Ras Mikael at the head of the Oromo cavalry ; the Emperor and his consort remained with the reserve . The Ethiopian forces positioned themselves on the hills overlooking the Adwa valley , in perfect position to receive the Italians , who were exposed and vulnerable to crossfire . Albertone ' s askari brigade was the first to encounter the onrush of Ethiopians at 6 : 00 , near Kidane Meret , where the Ethiopians had managed to set up their mountain artillery . Accounts of the Ethiopian artillery deployed at Adwa differ ; Russian advisor Leonid Artamonov wrote that it comprised 42 Russian mountain guns supported by a team of fifteen advisers , but British historians suggest that the Ethiopian guns were Hotchiss and Maxim pieces captured from the Egyptians or purchased from French and other European suppliers . Albertone ' s heavily outnumbered askaris held their position for two hours until Albertone ' s capture , and under Ethiopian pressure the survivors sought refuge with Arimondi ' s brigade . Arimondi ' s brigade beat back the Ethiopians who repeatedly charged the Italian position for three hours with gradually fading strength until Menelik released his reserve of 25 , 000 Shewa ns and swamped the Italian defenders . Two companies of Bersaglieri who arrived at the same moment could not help and were cut down . Dabormida ' s Italian brigade had moved to support Albertone but was unable to reach him in time . Cut off from the remainder of the Italian army , Dabormida began a fighting retreat towards friendly positions . However , he inadvertently marched his command into a narrow valley where the Oromo cavalry under Ras Mikael slaughtered his brigade , while shouting " Ebalgume ! Ebalgume ! " ( " Reap ! Reap ! " ) . Dabormida ' s remains were never found , although his brother learned from an old woman living in the area that she had given water to a mortally wounded Italian officer , " a chief , a great man with spectacles and a watch , and golden stars " . The remaining two brigades under Baratieri himself were outflanked and destroyed piecemeal on the slopes of Mount Belah . Menelik watched as Gojjam forces under the command of Tekle Haymonot made quick work of the last intact Italian brigade . By noon , the survivors of the Italian army were in full retreat and the battle was over . Immediate aftermath . 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 ; Ethiopian losses have been estimated around 4 , 000 – 5 , 000 killed and 8 , 000 wounded . In their flight to Eritrea , the Italians left behind all of their artillery and 11 , 000 rifles , as well as most of their transport . As Paul B . Henze notes , " Baratieri ' s army had been completely annihilated while Menelik ' s was intact as a fighting force and gained thousands of rifles and a great deal of equipment from the fleeing Italians . " The 3 , 000 Italian prisoners , who included General Albertone , appear to have been treated as well as could be expected under difficult circumstances , though about 200 died of their wounds in captivity . However , 800 captured askaris , regarded as traitors by the Ethiopians , had their right hands and left feet amputated . Augustus Wylde records when he visited the battlefield months after the battle , the pile of severed hands and feet was still visible , " a rotting heap of ghastly remnants . " Further , many had not survived their punishment , Wylde writing how the neighborhood of Adwa " was full of their freshly dead bodies ; they had generally crawled to the banks of the streams to quench their thirst , where many of them lingered unattended and exposed to the elements until death put an end to their sufferings . " There does not appear to be any foundation for reports that some Italians were castrated and these may reflect confusion with the atrocious treatment of the askari prisoners . Baratieri was relieved of his command and later charged with preparing an " inexcusable " plan of attack and for abandoning his troops in the field . He was acquitted on these charges but was described by the court martial judges as being " entirely unfitted " for his command . Public opinion in Italy was outraged . Chris Prouty offers a panoramic overview of the response in Italy to the news : The Russian support for Ethiopia led to the advent of a Russian Red Cross mission . The Russian mission was a military mission conceived as a medical support for the Ethiopian troops . It arrived in Addis Ababa some three months after Menelik ' s Adwa victory . Follow - up to Ethiopian victory . Emperor Menelik decided not to follow up on his victory by attempting to drive the routed Italians out of their colony . The victorious Emperor limited his demands to little more than the abrogation of the Treaty of Wuchale . In the context of the prevailing balance of power , the emperor ' s crucial goal was to preserve Ethiopian independence . In addition , Ethiopia had just begun to emerge from a long and brutal famine ; Harold Marcus reminds us that the army was restive over its long service in the field , short of rations , and the short rains which would bring all travel to a crawl would soon start to fall . At the time , Menelik claimed a shortage of cavalry horses with which to harry the fleeing soldiers . Chris Prouty observes that " a failure of nerve on the part of Menelik has been alleged by both Italian and Ethiopian sources . " Lewis believes that it " was his farsighted certainty that total annihilation of Baratieri and a sweep into Eritrea would force the Italian people to turn a bungled colonial war into a national crusade " that stayed his hand . As a direct result of the battle , Italy signed the Treaty of Addis Ababa , recognizing Ethiopia as an independent state . Almost forty years later , on 3 October 1935 , after the League of Nations ' s weak response to the Abyssinia Crisis , the Italians launched a new military campaign endorsed by Benito Mussolini , the Second Italo - Abyssinian War . This time the Italians employed vastly superior military technology such as tanks and aircraft , as well as chemical warfare , the Ethiopian forces were soundly defeated by May 1936 . Following the war , Italy occupied Ethiopia for five years ( 1936 – 41 ) , before eventually being driven out during World War II by British Empire and Ethiopian patriot forces . Significance . " The confrontation between Italy and Ethiopia at Adwa was a fundamental turning point in Ethiopian history , " writes Henze . On a similar note , the Ethiopian historian Bahru Zewde observed that " few events in the modern period have brought Ethiopia to the attention of the world as has the victory at Adwa " . The Russian Empire had sold some artillery pieces to the Ethiopian forces and paid enthusiastic compliments to the Ethiopian success . One of the documents of that time stated " The Victory immediately gained the general sympathy of Russian society and it continued to grow . " The unique outlook which polyethnic Russia exhibited to Ethiopia disturbed many supporters of European nationalism during the twentieth century . The Russian Cossack captain Nikolay Leontiev with a small escort was present at the battle as an observer . This defeat of a colonial power and the ensuing recognition of African sovereignty became rallying points for later African nationalists during their struggle for decolonization , as well as activists and leaders of the Pan - African movement . As the Afrocentric scholar Molefe Asante explains , On the other hand , many writers have pointed out how this battle was a humiliation for the Italian military . One student of Ethiopia , Donald N . Levine , points out that for the Italians Adwa " became a national trauma which demagogic leaders strove to avenge . It also played no little part in motivating Italy ' s revanchist adventure in 1935 " . Levine also noted that the victory " gave encouragement to isolationist and conservative strains that were deeply rooted in Ethiopian culture , strengthening the hand of those who would strive to keep Ethiopia from adopting techniques imported from the modern West – resistances with which both Menelik and Ras Teferi / Haile Selassie would have to contend " .