Description

The Battle of Adwa was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. The Ethiopian army defeated an invading Italian and Eritrean force led by Oreste Baratieri on March 1, 1896, near the town of Adwa. The victory, aided by vastly superior numbers, decisively thwarted the Kingdom of Italy's attempt to expand its colonial empire in the Horn of Africa. As a result, by the end of the 19th century Ethiopia was the only independent country left in Africa, which had otherwise been carved up by European powers following the Berlin Conference. Adwa became a pre-eminent symbol of pan-Africanism and secured Ethiopian sovereignty until the Second Italo-Ethiopian War forty years later.