Ethiopia celebrates victory of Adwa
By Tesfa-alem Tekle
March 2, 2009 (ADDIS ABABA) — Ethiopia on Monday has celebrated the 113th anniversary of the victory of the defeat of the Italian invasion.
Top government officials compatriots and Hundreds of city residents came together at the Menilik square in the capital.
During the occasion Speaker of the House of People’s Representatives, Ambassador Teshome Toga put wreath under the Mineilik II monument.
Teshome addressing the crowd said that this generation has a lot to learn from patriots who achieved victory over foreign colonial powers.
He called on the youth to demonstrate the courage they inherited from their heroic forefathers in fighting poverty thereby realize the renaissance of Ethiopia.
As the twentieth century approached, Africa had been carved up between the various European powers, with the exception of Ethiopia and tiny republic of Liberia.
But after the defeat of the Italian colonial power, Ethiopia acquired a special importance in the eyes of Africans as the only surviving African State.
After the victory of Adwa, Ethiopia became emblematic of resistance, the bastion of prestige and hope to thousands of Africans who were experiencing the full shock of European conquest and were beginning to search for an answer to the myth of African inferiority.
Estimates for the Ethiopian forces under the then Ethiopian ruler, Menelik range from a low of 80,000 to a high of 150,000, outnumbering the Italians by an estimated five or six times but their military weapons were very traditional compared to the Italians which came up with very modern weapons money can buy then.
The Ethiopian armies were composed of riflemen followed by a similar number of traditional peasant followers who supplied the army, as had been done for centuries.
The Aftermath left about 7,000 Italians killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000 taken prisoner; Ethiopian losses have been estimated around 4,000–5,000, but with 8,000 wounded.
The victory over Italy in 1896, Italy’s defeat at Adwa foreshadowed its military hardships and failures that plagued Italy through both World Wars.
(ST)