The historical events of great Adwa
There are three reasons why we commonly refer to some happening as
a historic event: it occurs for the first time; it has significant
consequences; or it is symbolically important. As a first time event, Emperor
Menelik's cession of the Bogos highlands to Italy in 1889 has been described as
historic, as the first time that an Ethiopian ruler ever voluntarily ceded
territory to a foreign power. In the same vein, Abebe Bikila's victory in the
marathon race in the 1960 Olympics at Rome was historic, as the first time that
an Ethiopian won a gold medal. We also designate events as historic when their
consequences significantly alter the shape of subsequent history. The
conversion of King Ezanas to Christianity in the middle of the fourth century
was historic in this sense because it redirected Ethiopia's entire cultural
development. Similarly, the protection given to disciples of the Prophet
Mohammed by the Ethiopian king in the seventh century was a historic event. It
led Mohammed to advise his followers to spare Ethiopia from the jihad of
Islamic expansion that took place soon after. Likewise, the killing of Emperor
Yohannes IV by Sudanese Mahdists in 1889 was historic because it opened the way
to the ascendancy of an emperor from Shoa. Even when events have no significant
direct consequences, we tend to call them historic when they symbolize important
national or universal human ideals. The suicide of Emperor Tewodros II had
little political consequencehis rule was over, whether or not he was captured
alive by the Britishbut it came to symbolize a sentiment of preferring death
over demeaning captivity. The speech of Emperor Haile Selassie to the
League of Nations in 1937 is often called a historic address, even though it
did nothing to change the course of history, because it came to symbolize the
moral weakness of Western democracies in the face of fascist expansionism and
the need for a stronger world organization empowered to provide collective
security. The Battle of Adwa in 1896 qualifies as an historic event in
all three senses of the term. As a historic "first," it represented
the first time since the beginning of European imperial expansion that a
non-white nation had defeated a European power.
The Battle of Adwa in 1896 also had two fateful consequencesthe
preservation of Ethiopia's independence from Italian colonization, and the
confirmation of Italy's control over the part of the country Italy had named
Eritrea in 1890. Both consequences had repercussions throughout the
twentieth century. Italy experienced her defeat at Adwa as intensely
humiliating, and that humiliation became a national trauma which demagogic
leaders strove to avenge. It also played no little part in motivating Italy's
revanchist adventure in 1935. On the other hand, Italy's continued occupation
of Eritrea gave her a convenient springboard from which to launch that
invasion. A generation later, tensions stemming from the protracted division of
historic Ethiopia into two partsone under European governance, one under the
Ethiopian Crownculminated in a long civil war, and the eventual secession of
Eritrea as an independent state in 1993. In addition to these actual historic
consequences, the Battle of Adwa was historic because it acquired symbolic
significance of many kinds. In some instances this symbolism itself came to
exert a certain influence on the course of events.
Adwa's Symbolism in
Other Countries
In Europe, the short-term symbolic significance of the Ethiopian
defeat of Italy in 1896 was that it served to initiate a process of rethinking
the Europeans' image of Africa and Africans. During the nineteenth century
Africa had come to be viewed in increasingly pejorative terms, as a continent
of people so primitive they were fit only for European rule. Ethiopia did not
escape such swipes. British officers called Ethiopia a nation of savages
and Italian officials described it as "a nation of primitive tribesmen led
by a barbarian." The British Foreign Office supported the provocative move
of ceding Zula to Italy, expecting that Yohannes would protest by attacking
them and then easily be punished for imagining that Ethiopians were equal to
white men. Kaiser Wilhelm responded to Emperor Menelik's announcement of
his accession to the throne with insulting language. The stunning victory at
Adwa required Europeans to take Ethiopia and Africa more seriously. It
not only initiated a decade of negotiations with European powers in which nine
border treaties were signed, it made Europeans begin to reconsider their
prejudices against Africans. It came to symbolize a rising awareness among
Europeans of African political resources and yearnings and an increasing recognition
of indigenous African cultural accomplishments.
In Japan, Ethiopia became appreciated as the first non-Caucasian
power to defeat Europeans, an achievement the Japanese were to duplicate in
warfare against Russia in 1904. This appreciation led to a sense of affinity
that bore fruit for decades thereafter. Ethiopian intellectuals looked to Japan
as a model for modernizing their ancient monarchy; the Meiji Constitution
served as a model for the Ethiopian Constitution of 1931. When Italy invaded
Ethiopia again in the mid-thirties, many Japanese citizens (if not the regime
formally) expressed solidarity with Ethiopians, sending shipments of many
thousands of swords to help Ethiopians in their plight. In Africa, the Battle
of Adwa inspired other kinds of symbolism. For a number of colonized
Africans, the Ethiopian victory at Adwa symbolized the possibility of future
emancipation. Black South Africans of the Ethiopian Church came to identify
with the Christian kingdom in the Horn, a connection that led South African
leader James Dwane to write Menelik for help in caring for the Christian
communities of Egypt and Sudan. The victory at Adwa made Ethiopia visible as a
beacon of African independence, a position that inspired figures like Nnamdi
Azikiwe in Nigeria, Kwame Nkrumah in Ghana, and Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya in the
early years of the African independence movement, as well as leaders in the
West Indies like George Padmore and Marcus Garvey from Jamaica.
Adwa as a Symbol of
Ethiopia's Tradition of Independence
Within Ethiopia itself, Adwa symbolized many things, some of which
had positive consequences for her development while others did not. Internally,
as abroad, it symbolized Ethiopia's proud commitment to freedom from foreign
domination. Of the many emblems of Ethiopia's historic independence, Adwa is
perhaps the most visible and the most dramatic. The spirit of Ethiopians'
defiant protection of their land from outsiders manifests itself in many forms.
There is the apocryphal story of Emperor Tewodros, who is said to have ordered
the boots of some visitors washed before they embarked on a ship back to
Europe, saying: "Far more precious than jewels is a single drop of
Ethiopian soil." There was the refrain I used to hear young braves
chant at festive times, jabbing dula (stick) up and down as they danced and
sang:
Min alle, Teqel min
alle? Ageren le sew, ageren le sew, alsetim alle!
(What did Teqel [Haile
Selassie's horse name] say? I won't give my country to foreigners, he
said.)
With respect to Menelik's reputation, it partly overcame the
resentments he had stirred up by ceding Bogos to Italy in exchange for help
against his competitors in Tigray. As a historic assertion of Ethiopia's
independence, Adwa also reverberated with memories of Ethiopia's experience as
a long-lived independent polity. Its symbolism thereby encompassed a layer of
meaning that alluded to the historic depth of the Ethiopian nation. It revived
memories of earlier achievements and yearnings. At the same time, Adwa may have
served to give Ethiopians a false sense of confidence about their position in
the modern world. In showing themselves and the world that they could defeat a
European invader with their own resources, the 1896 campaign may have led them
to think that their traditional resources could be adequate in an era in which
war would be waged with tanks and airplanes. It 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 Westresistances with which both
Menelik and Ras Teferi/Haile Selassie would have to contend.
Adwa as a Symbol of
Multi-ethnic Cooperation
The symbolism of multi-ethnic collaboration evoked by the Battle
of Adwa has been less visible than its role in symbolizing Ethiopia's tradition
of independence. Yet in some ways the former was the most remarkable and
meaningful aspect of the entire episode.
Although members of different ethnic, religious, and regional
groups had been interacting regularly in Ethiopia for more than 2,000
yearsthrough trading, intermarriage, common ritual observances, pilgrimages,
and political competitionfrom the perspective of Ethiopian history, Adwa offers
the most dramatic instance of multi-ethnic collaboration before the 20th
century. This is because it gave expression to a great outpouring of national
patriotism, foreshadowing the great patriotic struggles of 1935-41.
Even from the perspective of modern world history, Adwa
represented a relatively rare struggle for national independence waged by a
coalition of diverse ethnic groups. Twenty-five years earlier, Adwa had
been the scene of a protracted battle between Dejazmatch Kasa, who would become
Emperor Yohannes IV, and the reigning emperor, Tekle Giorgis II, formerly Wag
Shum Gobeze. What the 1871 Battle of Adwa symbolized was the age-old struggle
among different regional and ethnic groups for dominance. Yohannes, like
Tewodros II before him, came to the throne determined to reunify the empire,
which had been fragmented following the invasion of Ahmed Gragn and subsequent
divisive developments. Although Yohannes did not live to see it, the 1896
Battle of Adwa was a tribute to his vision and to the thoughtfulness and
determination with which he sought to unify Ethiopia while respecting the local
jurisdiction of regional kings and lords so long as they remained faithful to
the national crown. Those who would deny Ethiopia's long existence as a
multi-ethnic society must be embarrassed by the facts of the Adwa experience.
If the empire consisted of nothing but a congeries of separate tribal and
regional groups, how then account for the courageous collaboration of 100,000
troops from dozens of ethnic groups from all parts of the country? How then
explain the spirited national patriotism of such diverse leaders as Ras Alula,
Ras Mengesha, and Ras Sibhat of Tigray, Dejazmatch Bahta of Akale Guzae, Wag
Shum Guangul of Lasta, Ras Mikael of Wollo, Negus Tekle-Haymanot of Gojjam, Ras
Gobena and Dejazmatch Balcha of the Mecha Oromo, Ras Wole of the Yejju Oromo,
Fitawrari Tekle of Wollega, Ras Mekonnen of Harer, as well as Ras Gebeyehu (who
died fighting at Adwa) and Ras Abate of Shoa? Of course, deeply rooted
antagonisms and persistent rivalries among different factions beset Ethiopia
throughout the 19th century. And yet, as historian Sven Rubenson has written,
"at the crucial moment, Menelik commanded the loyalty of every important
chief in the country." The Battle of Adwa became and remains the most
outstanding symbols of what, a half-century later, a British colonel would
describe as the "mysterious magnetism" that holds Ethiopia
together.
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