The day Italy Invaded Ethiopia — and Lost an Entire Army in One Day

In 1889, Ethiopia and Italy signed a treaty. The Amharic text said Ethiopia MAY use Italy for its foreign affairs. The Italian text said Ethiopia CONSENTS TO. On the strength of that one difference, Italy informed the powers of Europe that Ethiopia was now its protectorate — and Europe believed it. Seven years later, on the first of March 1896, an Italian army walked into the mountains near Adwa on bad maps, split into three columns in the dark, and met the assembled army of Emperor Menelik II. It was the only time during the scramble for Africa that a European power tried to take an African state by force and was beaten outright in open, conventional battle. This is the story of how that happened: the boy taken prisoner at eleven who came back to rule, the empress who took a spring instead of a fortress, the mistranslated word, and the decision after the victory that historians still argue about. ⏱ CHAPTERS 0:00 — Adwa 1:11 — The Boy Who Came Back 2:54 — The Patient King 5:54 — Article Seventeen 8:04 — An Indifferent Spectator 10:15 — The Decree 12:20 — First Blood 14:28 — The Maps Were Wrong 16:39 — Adwa 18:35 — What He Did Next 20:30 — The Flag Came After ▶ THE PREVIOUS EPISODE Menelik was taken prisoner as a boy by Emperor Tewodros II — whose own story ends with a British army, a mountain fortress, and a decision he made alone. Watch that one here: [LINK] 🔔 If you want more of these — the ones history glosses over that still shape the world we're in — subscribe. The next episode picks up forty years later, when Italy came back. #Adwa #Ethiopia #MenelikII #AfricanHistory #History #Documentary #Taytu #ScrambleForAfrica