20/02/2026
The belligerent Italians soon mounted the strongest colonial expeditionary
force that Africa had known up to that time. The Governor of Eritrea, General
Oreste Baratieri, had about 30,000 Italian troops and 15,000 native Askaris under
his command (Great Britain would surpass that number a few years later when
250,000 troops would be sent to South Africa during the Boer War). Secure in
his new military strength, Baratieri again went after the Mahdists. On July 12,
1894, his forces drove the Dervishes from Kassala, killing 2,600 while losing only
28 Italian dead — the most one-sided victory won by Europeans over the Mahdists.
The Italians were not doing so well on the diplomatic front, however. In
July 1894, Russia had denounced the Treaty of Wuchalé. An Ethiopian mission
was received in St. Petersburg “with honors more lavish than those accorded any previous foreign visitors in Russian history.” To add injury to diplomatic insult, Tsar Nicholas sent Ethiopia more rifles and ammunition.
In 1895, Baratieri followed up his victory over the Dervishes with another successful offence at Debre Aila against an Ethiopian force larger than his own,
under the command of Ras Mengesha. The Italians drove out the ruler of Tigray and prepared for a permanent occupation of his land. Other minor military actions of the Italians in 1895 fuelled the anger of the Ethiopian masses and
leaders alike, who viewed the invasion as a threat to their nation’s sovereignty. Emperor Menelik’s reforms had transformed the economy and improved the tax base of the country enabling him, as never before, to raise and equip armies.20 In the highlands, Menelik massed his troops and marched north to meet the Italian
aggressors. In December, an Ethiopian army of 30,000 trapped 2,450 Italian troops at Amba Alaghe, the southernmost point of Italian pe*******on. In the ensuing battle, 1,320 Italians were killed or taken prisoner. At the same time,
Ethiopians laid seize to a formidable Italian fort at Mekele
