Adwa's victory impact on modern Ethiopia
At the last quarter of the 19th century
the advancing of the capitalist economic system in western Europe,
necessitated raw materials for the mushrooming industries and market
for the excessively produced commodities, which were beyond the
consumption capacity of the producing countries. Therefore, colonizing
African countries whose political institutions were primordial and led
by tribal chiefs was an option through the prism of European powers. In
the countries such as Britain, France and Germany's capitalism had a
strong foothold as compared to the other countries. It had already
stepped up to control the coastal part of Africa. Before Italy was
unified by military means in 1860 by Mazzini Garibaldi, it was divided
into north and south.
The unification of Italy and the
annexation of most African territories by European powers inspired Italy
to zoom its eyes towards Africa for territorial aggrandizement as well
as for the exploration of raw material and the search of market.
However, before the intrusion of Italian forces into Africa an Italian
ship company called Rubatini had bought pieces of land in Assab area
from the local chief that went by the name Sultan Ibrahim in 1875.
Though the company's ambition seemed to advance its economic interest,
Cape of Good Hope its hidden agenda was surveillance of the hinterland
or territory of Ethiopia so as to conquer the country through time.
The opening of Suez Canal in 1869 made
the journey from Europe to Asia up to Far East easier. Hence, the route
from Europe through Atlantic Ocean via the Cape of Good Hope in South
Africa to Asia became outdated. Hence, transporting goods from Europe
to Asian market within a short period of time became a common phenomena.
Ships carrying weapons and logistics, helpful to invade poor countries,
also used to shuttle between Europe and destination country via Suez
on a daily bases. However, before Italy got involved in the scramble
for territory in the Horn, the two rivalry supper powers Britain and
France had already controlled the coastal area of the Horn and the
southern part of the Middle East, opposite to the gulf of Aden in 1880s.
In the eastern part of Ethiopia French took root formerly known as Obok
now Djibouti. And northern Somali known as Somaliland was occupied by
Britain forces dispatched from their annexed territory of Yemen. On the
other hand, Anglo Egyptian forces backed by Britain had already annexed
all the territories of Sudan since 1920s. And beginning from 1860s
Egyptians had started making intrusion in the north-western part of
Ethiopia, but they faced fierce resistance and counter attack.
Meanwhile, it is understood that, in the dawn of the 19 century Ottoman
Turks, who were the superpowers in the region since the medieval period
because of the unmanageable vast territory in the coastal part of Red
Sea and the Middle East, gave up port of Massawa. They transferred the
port of Massawa to Egyptian forces freely. Since that time Egyptians
used the place as a launching pad to infiltrate the northern part of
Ethiopia. In 1870s Egyptian forces backed by the British finance and
logistics were striving to realize their dream of controlling the mouth
of the river Nile and the northern most part of the Ethiopian
territory. They made their military campaign but they were repeatedly
repulsed defeated by the Ethiopian army led by Emperor Johannes IV in
the places known as Gura and later in Gundet. Frustrated by inept
Egyptian military skill, the British dumped them and gave the port of
Massawa to the Italian forces in 1885 which had to be delivered to
Ethiopia based on the Hi wot treaty. We have to notice here that 10 years
earlier Italy had already purchased land in Ass-ab. The British action
had two objectives one to deny Emperor Johannes' access to the Red Sea
and the other to counterbalance its colonial rival France which had a
foothold in Djibouti. As mentioned above, though Italy was a late comer
in the scramble of territories in the Horn, it had a long ambition to
annex the hinterland of Ethiopia. The controlling of Massawa created
good opportunities for it to realize its covert motive and began its
infiltration into the plateau of the Ethiopian territory. Later in 1887,
the Ethiopian Army led by Ra's Lula Abnegate rooted out and expelled
500 Italian army from their fortification at Dogali near the port of
Massawa.
However, the Ethiopian Emperor at that
time was confronted not only by the Italian army in the northern most
point of the country but also by the other enemy in the north-west that
is the Dervish forces of Sudan. The Ethic-Dervish conflict also was
systematically posed by the conspiracy of the British forces in the
first years of 1880s. Later in 1890, during fierce fighting between the
Ethiopian army and the Dervish at the battle of Mata ma, the emperor
himself paid sacrifice. He was martyred.
Right after that, taking the emperor's
death as a good opportunity the Italian forces with no countering force
managed to take the plateau of Ethiopia. Making a map for the territory
they named it Eritrea. To fill the power gap the then She wan Emperor
Menelik succeed the deceased emperor and became king of the kings of
Ethiopia. Later on to settle the situation with the Italians, Emperor
Menelik tried to make the Michale treaty in the then Wool province.
However, due to the misconstruing of article 17 of the treaty, the two
parties went to war at the battle of Adwa in 1896 and the Ethiopian Army
led by Emperor Menelik annihilated and wiped out the invading forces.
Following its defeat, Italy was forcefully signed the Addis Abba peace
agreement. The Adwa Victory is not only a showcase of the military
prowess of Ethiopia but also a source of political pride to blacks all
over the world. It inspired all the people who were under the yoke of
colonialism and replicated a patriotic sentiment. The Military victory
had afforded multifaceted benefits to Ethiopia. Recognizing Ethiopia as
an independent and sovereign country the then supper powers Great
Britain, France, Germany including Italy opened their diplomatic
missions in Addis Abba. In the latter decades, other European powers
and the United States opened their consulates here in Addia and the
relationships were upgraded to trade and economic ties. The victory of
Adwa can be taken as one of the psychological make up of the very
Ethiopian Identity.
As patriotic forefathers closed ranks
for freedom and paved the way for us, we their grandchildren too must
join our hearts and minds towards socioeconomic take off thereby
leaving days bright to the coming generation—say curbing shortage of
electricity, much needed in feeding mushrooming industries, harnessing
our water resource. It is heartening to reflect the G is a noble step
towards that end.
BY ABEBE WOLDEGIORGIS
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