Audacity of Adwa
Monday, March 1st, 2010
by Teddy Fikre
EA4C Guest Blogger
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On this day today, 114 years ago, Hebert defeated Hate. On this day today, 114 years ago, a band of Ethiopian and Eritrean brothers and sisters united to deliver a stunning blow to the menace of colonialism in a place called Adwa. Up until this time, European powers had divided Africa—and for the most part the rest of the world—into a personal chess board. They carved out chunks of land throughout the continent and proclaimed it as a God given vestige, the people that inhabited those lands deemed slaves and surfs forever. Adwa, in one compelling moment, shattered the myth of a superior race; Adwa shattered the idea that Africans were lesser humans. In one compelling moment, Adwa gave hope to millions of enslaved people across the world.
On the dawning of the 19th century, throughout Africa, every inch of the continent was occupied space, colonized by France, Great Britain, Portugal, Spain, and Belgium to name a few. The one country that did not occupy a significant part of Africa was Italy; the one country that remained free from the clutches of colonization was Ethiopia. Naturally, Italy saw in Ethiopia an elixir to the complex it harbored; Italy saw in the colonization of Ethiopia redemption of sorts, to join the league of colonizers. So in 1895, Italy began a systematic invasion of Ethiopia, of course guised under the nonsense of trying to “civilize” a civilization that has been in existence centuries before Europe immerged from the “Dark Ages”.
On March 1st, 1896, four Italian brigades numbering 17,700 troops armed with state of the art weaponry advanced on Adwa. There, they were met by an awesome array of Ethiopian and Eritrean patriots, patriots who would rather die at the hands of Italian Remingtons than live under the flag of a colonial power. The story of Adwa cannot be contained in one article let alone one book, it is a truly transformational moment—a watershed occurrence—that would forever alter the calculus of race and pierce a bullet through the heart of European exceptionalism. The Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, led by Emperor Menelik, Empress Taytu, Ras Atikem amongst other leaders, obliterated the Italian forces. The Italian forces, led by General Baratieri, assumed that the Ethiopians would cower before the approaching Italian Army. The Ethiopians and Eritreans did anything but; they matched the arrogance of the Italian army with an awesome display of bravery. In the valleys of Adwa, an African army tamed the mendacity of a European power that lusted power over human decency.
The Battle of Adwa is not the province of Ethiopians and Eritreans alone; it is a beacon that shone a light in the darkest moments of African-American slaves throughout the world. Because of Adwa, African-Americans who were “freed” only a score before were given a moment to believe in hope. Men like Marcus Garvey and Du Boise and up the line to Malcolm X and Martin Luther King were touched and inspired to lead a suffering people to a mountain top. The bible says that Ethiopia shall one day stretch forth her wings, Adwa was the first wing, the day will come where Ethiopia will stretch forth her second wing and deliver Africa to a place of true liberation, where Africa is no longer suffering under the vestiges of “neo-Colonialism”.
The day will come where Africa will be United Apart, working together for a common cause, instead of killing each other over senseless borders drawn up for us by the remnants of European masters. The day will come where Africa will import ideas instead of AK47s, where Africa will export finished goods instead of raw resources. When that day comes, we will look back at Adwa as the birth of liberty. We celebrate you, the patriots of Adwa; it is because of you that I am able to write this article. It is because of Adwa that we were able to elect an African-American the President of the most powerful country in the world. Adwa is the birthplace of audacity—Yichalal!
Ethiopian-Americans for Change has started a powerful dialogue group where we exchange ideas and discuss historical grievances. The group contains a diverse group of Ethiopians and Eritreans. This is how we overcome our differences, not through bullets but through a dialogue.
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This blog submission was written by Teddy Fikre. The views of guest bloggers are not the views of Ethiopian-Americans for Change. Guest bloggers represent the broad dissection of views and outlooks within our community.
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Nice attempt in trying to bridge the gap between Eritreans and Ethiopians, but many Eritreans feel as though Ethiopia betrayed them, and they do not want to identify themselves with the history of Ethiopia. So if you ask any Eritrean about Adwa, they denigrate our victory. Let alone the Eritreans, but our own so called Ethiopian Tigrays, those in support of TPL, claim that the Adwa was solely won by Tigrays bravery and not by other Ethiopians. They are trying to recreate and dilute the true historic facts. It is time people addressed it!
Why do you have to say ’so called Ethiopian Tigrays,’ isn’t it a known fact that Tigreans are Ethiopians?
I said those who support TPLF! It is a fact! They do not recognize Ethiopian history! As far as they are concerned Ethiopia has100 year of history! As far as they are concerned it was only the Jegnas of Tigray region that fought in Adwa!
no that is not true
as far as ethiopia the name was brought 100 years
it was abysinia once upon a time haile selassie changed that
and we believe that it was all of ethiopians together but it was the tigrayans who were leading the war due to us knowing the land and how to get around
aside of that every1 from every tribe had an equal amount in terms of fighting off the italians
no1 in back in the days during the life of tplf ( there is no more tplf if ppl havent known this yet) have ever said we did it on our own but the whole reason why ethiopia became the full country was because of this war
before that abbysinia was comprised of gojjam wollo gondar shewa tigray eritrea and afar
everywhere else was taken over within recent history
tigray has always been the centre of ethiopia/abbysinia but recently had changed
we love ethiopia but we have faced brutal hatred from our brothers in the past by numerous forms of disrespect
even our language was dubbed “bird language” by amhara rulers who forbad us to even speak our language in recent times (mengistu)
nevertheless we are ethiopian
I keep reading “Ethiopian AND Eritrean” brothers fought off the Italian invaders, but I must confess this is the first time where I’ve read it told like that. What I’ve heard is that MANY Eritreans fought with the Italians against the Ethiopians, often helping the Italians navigate the rough foreign terrains, helping them root out the camps and hiding places of the Ethiopian warriors. Please, let us not try to rewrite history in an attempt to appease our Eritrean “brothers and sisters,” or to try to lull yet another generation of young Ethiopians into thinking that Eritreans mean us no harm. That time is not here. That time may never happen.
As for comments I have read here and following the article “Yikirta,” there seems to be a propensity to always blame the Amara for ethnic disrespect towards other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The fact of the matter is that all ethnic groups think that they are superior to the other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. The only reason we are always able to point our fingers at the Amara is because AmariNa is the Lingua Franca in Ethiopia and everyone has become familiar with the derogatory remarks in AmariNa towards other ethnic groups. Still, we seem to ignore that there are some pretty harsh derogatory words assigned to the Amara also, by the other ethnic groups in Ethiopia.
For the record, I am not Amara or Oromo or Tigré or Guragé, or whatever. I’m a pure-blood Ethiopian whose father’s side comes from the South and whose mother’s side comes from the North. I bear no allegiance except to Ethiopia.
I do not hate the Eritreans, but I do believe that a large majority of Eritreans hate Ethiopia and Ethiopians. It is time for Ethiopians to stop being such apologists. Eritrea is a proudly independent country now. Their national affairs are theirs (until it is time for Ethiopia to reclaim M’Siwa) so I do not see any need for a dialogue to bring us back together when the fact of the matter is that we never were together.
To the person who claims that Ethiopia became Ethiopia only 100 years ago – Ethiopia is mentioned by name in the Bible. As in: “Ethiopia will stretch her hands unto God,” or something to that effect. Forgive me, I do not know which chapter or verse, but Ethiopia is mentioned no less than 22 times in the Bible and last I checked, the Bible was a little bit more than 100 years old.
Also, Menghistu was not Amara and his reign in Ethiopia was marked by killings across ALL ethnic lines, not just the Tigré or non-Amara. ATSE Haile Selassie was a mix of Gurageé, Tigré and Amara as are many members of the royal family, and I cannot recollect a single Ethiopian Nigus of Eritrean blood, but difficult to do that since Eritrea is made up of several ethnic groups, many of whom claimed allegiance with Ethiopia. There was no “Amara” King until Minilik – they were all from Tigrai, etc. etc.
So, before we disseminate misinformation in an effort to heal wounds between two countries, wounds that are still gaping wide, please, let us inform and educate ourselves about our own history so that if/when we reach out and someone tries to fight us with misinformation and revisionist history that unfairly puts Ethiopia or certain ethnic groups in Ethiopia in a bad light, we can educate them with the truth.
Yes, I too would like to Kumbaya and give the world a coke and make everyone smile and live happily ever after in Bennetton land, but that’s just childish dreams. Humanity is not built like that. Best thing we can do is focus on Ethiopia and Ethiopians and let the Eritreans focus on Eritrea and Eritreans. When both countries are able to prosper on their own and there is no in-fighting amongst their own ethnic groups, then perhaps we can raise our heads and reach out a friendly hand across the border. But we are far, far, far away from that day.
I appreciate what EAC is trying to do, but I think that there is more than a little bit of naivete in this effort. I would like to see more focus in trying to educate young Ethiopians about Ethiopian history, then and now, and not try to force the “Eritreans are our brothers and sisters” down our still sore throats just yet.
I wrote the previous comment hopefully righting some wrong statements when overcome by irritation, before I went back to finish reading the article.
Then I went back to read the blog and I’m glad I did. Quite inspirational.
I too believe in the dream of the United Nations of Africa, where the global intelligentsia will flock one day to share and borrow brilliant ideas, where Africans will have graduated from subsistence farming and begging for foreign grain to growing food for the global masses, where new ideas are welcomed with open minds, not decapitated at birth.
I still stand by my previous statement that Eritreans did not fight by the side of Ethiopians to vanquish the Italians – most fought with the Italians against the Ethiopians having already been seduced by the promise of a better life and fortune by the colonizing Italians. That’s the history and both sides must acknowledge it and remember it, before we are asked to move past it.
Thank you for the inspirational words and the eloquent reminder of why The Battle of Adwa is such an important part of African history. Perhaps one day, Adwa could be a pan-African celebration.
Let us not forget that that part of ETHIOPIA was already under the Italian occupation when the ADWA war started And It is a fact that people from the occupied were recurited to fight with Italians aginst the Menilik force or for that matter were sent ti Libya also to fight against the libiyans. Even in the five years occupations Italians were able to get Banda Ethiopians to fight against the Patriots.
Those who don’t know their history are like trees with no roots.
Ethiopians were UNITED against the foreign enemy, people from north to south, from east to west, marched side by side & sacrificed their lives. As a result, on March 1 1896, ‘united’ Ethiopia decisively defeated the Italian invaders. October 16, 1896, the Italians agreed to ‘The Peace Treaty of Addis Ababa’, which nullified the Treaty of Wuchale and recognized the absolute independence of Ethiopia.We are all indebted to them, so lets not disgrace their memory, lets honor them!
Menelik deserves credit because he displayed great foresight in developing his military strength, it took strategic planning and preparing for the war, importing large amounts of arms from France and Russia…mobilizing the country… finally expressing his disapproval of the Treaty of ‘Wuchale’ (detected by his wife, Empress Taitu) and Italy’s fallacious claim, he informed the European powers that “Ethiopia has need of no one, she stretches her hand unto God.”
“Enemies have now come upon us to ruin our country and to change our religion. Our enemies have begun the affair by advancing and digging into the country like moles. With the help of God I will not deliver my country to them. Today, you who are strong, give me your strength, and you who are weak, help me by prayer.”
—Menelik II, Mobilization Proclamation
“The Ethiopian and Eritrean forces, led by Emperor Menelik, Empress Taytu, Ras Atikem amongst other leaders, obliterated the Italian forces. The Italian forces, led by General Baratieri, assumed that the Ethiopians would cower before the approaching Italian Army.”
with all due respect, i must disagree with the above statement. it does not mean i hate Eritreans or i don’t want peace between the two countries but its not the truth. i don’t believe the Eritreans fought or helped Menelik during Adwa. If i am wrong please correct me, but its part of history that they fought along side the Italians, they were called ‘Askaris’, the Italians used Eritrean soldiers in Libya & Somalia as well.