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111th Adwa Victory Celebrated Throughout Ethiopia

Addis Ababa, Ethiopia March 2, 2007 (ENA) - 111th Adwa Victory Celebrated Throughout Ethiopia

The 111th anniversary of the Adwa victory was celebrated on Friday throughout Ethiopia.

Here in the capital, the Day was celebrated with various assortments.

In a statement he gave to local journalists during the celebration of the D-day at Menelik Square here in Addis Ababa, Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin urged all segments of the society to repeat the victory achieved in Adwa in the fight against poverty.

He said the Victory of Adwa was not the victory of Ethiopians only but was also the victory of Black African people entirely.

Seyoum said Ethiopians have been able to hand over the nation by safeguarding its sovereignty and territorial integrity from one to another generation.

Past millenniums were periods in which the Ethiopian people were subjected to untold sufferings, he said, adding that Ethiopians should word hard to bring about prosperity and happiness in the coming new millennium.

Seyoum also laid a wreath under at Menelik II monument during the occasion.

City Mayor Berhanu Dersesa, on his part said the Adowa Victory has become a great honor for all freedom lovers and black African people in particular.

Berhanu said the victory shows how Ethiopians, united, can tackle any obstacle they face.

Executive secretary of the Ethiopian Patriots Associations Setarege Ayalew said the new generation should exert utmost efforts to make poverty history.

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Menelik II (August 17, 1844 - December 12, 1913),

Conquering Lion of Judah, Elect of God, King of Kings of Ethiopia was negus negust (emperor) of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death.

Menelik II The son of King Haile Melekot of Shoa (1847 - 1855), was born in 1844 in Ankober, Shoa and heir to the Shewan branch of the Solomonic Dynasty which claimed descent from King Solomon of ancient Israel, and the Queen of Sheba. On the death of his father in 1855 he was taken prisoner by Emperor Tewodros II (Theodore II), a former minor noble originally named Kassa of Kwara, who had usurped the Imperial throne from the last Emperor of the elder Gondar branch of the Solomonic dynasty, Emperor Johannis III (John III).

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The Battle of Adowa

From Wikipedia

The Battle of Adowa (also known as Adwa or sometimes by the Italian name Adua) was fought on 1 March 1896 between Ethiopia and Italy near the town of Adwa, Ethiopia, in Tigray. It was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Abyssinian War.

As the twentieth century approached, Africa had been carved up between the various European powers, with the exception of the tiny republic of Liberia on the west coast of the continent and the ancient, newly landlocked kingdom of Ethiopia in the strategic Horn of Africa. Italy, a relative newcomer to the colonial scramble for Africa, having been left with only two impoverished territories on the Horn, Eritrea and Somalia, sought to increase its influence by conquering Ethiopia and creating a land bridge between its two territories. Italy and Ethiopia faced off in the First Italo-Abyssinian War, with the two armies at a standoff in Tigray.

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, and he met with his brigadiers Matteo Albertone, Giuseppe Arimondi, Vittorio Dabormida, and Giuseppe Ellena on the evening of 29 February. His subordinates argued forcefully for an attack, with 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.[2] Accordingly, his troops began their march to their starting positions shortly after midnight.

The battle

The Italian army comprised four brigades totalling 17,700 troops, with fifty-six artillery pieces.[3] One brigade under General Albertone was made up of Italian officered askari (native infantry) recruited from Eritrea. 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 metropoliton regiments in Italy into newly formed battalions for service in Africa[4].

As Chris Prouty describes:

They [the Italians] had inadequate maps, old model guns, poor communication equipment and inferior footgear for the rocky ground. (The newer Remingtons were not issued because Baratieri, under constraints to be economical, wanted to use up the old cartridges.) Morale was terrible as the veterans were homesick and the newcomers too inexperienced to have any esprit de corps. There was a shortage of mules and saddles.[5]

Estimates for the Ethiopian forces under Menelik range from a low of 80,000 to a high of 150,000, outnumbering the Italians by an estimated five or six times.[6] The forces were divided among Emperor Menelik, Empress Taytu, Ras Wale, Ras Mengesha Atikem, Ras Mengesha Yohannes and Ras Alula Engida, Ras Mikael of Wollo, Ras Makonnen, Fitawrari Gebeyyehu, and Negus Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam.[7] In addition, the armies were followed by a similar number of traditional peasant followers who supplied the army, as had been done for centuries.[8] Most of the army was composed of riflemen, a significant percentage of which were in Menelik's reserve; however, the army was also composed of a significant number of cavalry and firearm-less lancers.[9] On the night of Feb 29 and the early morning of March 1, three Italian brigades advanced separately towards Adwa over narrow mountain tracks, while a fourth remained camped.[10] David Levering Lewis states that the Italian battle plan called for three columns to march in parallel formation to the crests of three mountains — Dabormida commanding on the right, Albertone on the left, and Arimondi in the center – with a reserve under Ellena following behind Arimondi. The supporting crossfire each column could give the others made the… soldiers as deadly as razored shears. Albertone's brigade was to set the pace for the others. He was to position himself on the summit known as Kidane Meret, which would give the Italians the high ground from which to meet the Ethiopians.[11]

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 General Albertone to mistake one mountain for Kidane Meret, and when a scout pointed out his mistake, Albertone advanced directly into Ras Alula's position.

Unknown 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.[12] The Ethiopian forces positioned themselves on the hills overlooking the Adowa valley, in perfect position to receive the Italians, who were exposed and vulnerable to crossfire.[13]

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. His 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 Shewans and swamped the Italian defenders. Two companies of Bersaglieri who arrived at the same moment could not help and were annihilated.

General 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 toward Italian positions. However, Dabormida inadvertently marched his command into a narrow valley where the Oromo cavalry slaughtered his brigade shouting Ebalgume! Ebalgume! ("Reap! Reap!"). General 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".[14]

The remaining two brigades under Baratieri himself were outflanked and destroyed piecemeal on the slopes of Mount Belah. By noon, the survivors of the Italian army were in full retreat and the battle was over.

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Source: Wikipedia