The Battle Of Adowa

ESSAY
THE BATTLE OF ADOWA
The late Italian unification made ​​the transalpine country came late to the colonial scramble for Africa, when Britain and France had already established large overseasempires. The country was thought to have colonies needed to be a true continental power, and those aspirations were fueled when France occupied Tunisia in 1881, which was reserved for Italy as aninternational agreement. Interestingly, that Italy set foot in Africa was due to the British. They wanted to prevent the French were made to the port of Massawa on the Red Sea, which encouraged thegovernment of Rome to reclaim it. So, Eritrea was founded in 1885 where Italy had recently-obtained new colonies and African territory. Eritrea was poor, but its function was to be a bridgehead to attack amuch more appetizing objective: the Ethiopian empire.
The empire had a feudal structure, with Negus (king) and ras (Duke) who fought each other to proclaim negusti negus (king of kings). At that timeMenelik II held this title, then on May 2, 1889, Menelik signed a treaty of friendship with the Italians, the Treaty of Wuchale. This treaty unleashed the real nightmare for both kingdoms and anenormous controversy. The reason of the controversy was the Article 17, which did not say the same in the two languages ​​in which it was written. In Italian said that Ethiopia was forced to treat itsrelations with foreign powers by the Italian authorities, which made ​​it a protectorate. While in Amharic however, recommended simply consult the Italian government, in what cases that involved otherEuropean nations.
Such disputes developed the battle of Adowa on March 1, 1896 between Ethipia and Italy near the town of Adowa, Ethiopia, in Tigray. It was the climactic battle of the FirstItalo-Ethiopian War, securing the Ethiopian sovereignty.
Thus began a full-blown Italian invasion, consisting of about 20,000 men. The Italian general Oreste Baratieri, proposed to make the first move on the...