Adwa: The Day Africa Said No

On the morning of 1 March 1896, in the mountains of northern Ethiopia, a European army marched into battle believing it would win. By noon, it had ceased to exist. At the height of the Scramble for Africa, when Europe was dividing the continent with rulers and maps, Emperor Menelik II, Empress Taytu and the armies of Ethiopia defeated Italy at Adwa. This documentary tells how: a treaty that said "can" in Amharic and "must" in Italian, seven years of preparation, the siege of Mek'ele, a night march that went wrong, and the battle that kept Ethiopia free. CHAPTERS 0:00 The morning of 1 March 1896 1:00 A treaty with two meanings 3:23 The road to war 6:29 The night march 9:21 The battle 12:08 What Adwa changed 14:32 Not a miracle ABOUT THE IMAGES No film of Adwa exists: cinema was three months old. Everything you see is a period photograph or illustration from the 1880s and 1890s, or a map and card made for this video. Most battle illustrations come from Italian and French illustrated papers of 1895-96. They show the war as Europe imagined it; they are labelled on screen. The battle maps are schematic, drawn after General Baratieri's own sketch map of the ground. Positions are approximate. Country maps use modern borders. Ras Mikael of Wollo is shown in a 1915 photograph. Script, research and edit by World in Parallel. Narration voice: ElevenLabs. IMAGE SOURCES (all public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) Le Petit Journal, Supplément illustré: Ras Makonnen at Amba Alagi (29 Dec 1895); Empress Taytu (29 Mar 1896); freed Italian prisoners (29 Nov 1896) La Tribuna Illustrata: Baratieri, "victor of Coatit" (1895); the death of Major Toselli (1895); inside the fort at Mek'ele and the garrison leaving (1896) L'Illustrazione Italiana and Il Secolo Illustrato (1895-96): the Italian advance into Tigray, Eritrean askari, Shewan scouts at Mek'ele, "handing out water" The Graphic (11 Apr 1896): "The last rally of General Dabormida" O. Baratieri, Memorie d'Africa: sketch map of the ground between Sauria and Adwa; A. Pellenc, Les Italiens en Afrique (1897): map of the Arimondi and Ellena brigades E. Ximenes, Sul campo di Adua (1897): the graves of Arimondi and Dabormida Le Tour du Monde (1896): Menelik II and his court Portraits of Menelik II, Empress Taytu, Ras Makonnen, Ras Alula, Negus Tekle Haymanot, Ras Mikael, Oreste Baratieri, Pietro Antonelli (BnF), Francesco Crispi, Generals Albertone, Arimondi and Dabormida; Crispi caricature (Library of Congress); Massawa and Mek'ele (1890s) MUSIC (Freesound) "Ambient Documentary Build Up #02" by tyops, https://freesound.org/people/tyops/so... , licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Emotional Original Soundtrack - HOME" by Magmi.Soundtracks, https://freesound.org/people/Magmi.So... , licensed CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...) "Into Desert Glow" by younoise, "Echoes of Distant Memories - Heartbeat Drone" by bassimat, "Uplifting Dramatic Soundtrack - War Around Us" by MusicByMisterbates: all CC0 FACT SOURCES Raymond Jonas, The Battle of Adwa: African Victory in the Age of Empire (Harvard University Press, 2011) Harold G. Marcus, The Life and Times of Menelik II: Ethiopia 1844-1913 (1995) Chris Prouty, Empress Taytu and Menilek II (1986) Sven Rubenson, "The Protectorate Paragraph of the Wichale Treaty", Journal of African History 5:2 (1964) Paulos Milkias and Getachew Metaferia (eds), The Battle of Adwa: Reflections on Ethiopia's Historic Victory Against European Colonialism (2005) David Levering Lewis, The Race to Fashoda (1987) Martin Plaut, "The battle of Adwa - revisited" (2022); African Arguments, "Adwa's shadows: Eritrea's forgotten war veterans" (2024) Wikipedia: Battle of Adwa; Treaty of Wuchale; Treaty of Addis Ababa; Siege of Mekelle; Pan-African colours; Adwa Victory Day Numbers differ between sources; where they do, the film gives ranges. Spotted an error? Tell us in the comments. We correct and pin. History doesn't happen in one place. Next: 1896, Four Continents: Adwa, the first modern Olympics in Athens, the Philippine Revolution and Plessy v. Ferguson, all in the same year. If you learned something today, share it with someone who should know this story too, and subscribe so you don't miss it. #Adwa #Ethiopia #AfricanHistory