Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889

The conflict ended with a treaty of friendship, which delimited the border between Ethiopia and Italian Eritrea but contained clauses whose different interpretations led to another Italo-Ethiopian war.The original name for the fighting was Guerra d'Africa (African War),[10][11][12] a term which indicates the broad perceived scope of early Italian colonial ambitions."[13] The first Italian colony in what was to become the colony of Eritrea was Assab Bay, purchased by Giuseppe Sapeto on behalf of the Società di Navigazione Rubattino (Rubattino Shipping Company) on 15 November 1869 from the brothers Ibrahim and Hassan Ben Ahmed for 6,000 Maria Theresa thalers.The company offered it to the Italian government, which on 5 July 1882 passed a law making it Italy's first colony.[16] On 26 January, an Ethiopian force of about 15,000 men[2] ambushed an Italian battalion sent to reinforce Saati and almost annihilated it at Dogali, 10 miles (16 km) west of Massawa.[19] Already in late August 1887, Menelik had received the Italian diplomat Pietro Antonelli in Shewa to negotiate an alliance against Yohannes.[5][19] Nevertheless, in early October 1887, Yohannes wrote to Matewos, bishop of Shewa, who was with the Shewan court at Mount Entoto, that he was determined to go to war against Italy.He conveyed to the emperor his government's opinion that the attack on Saati had been "unjust" and urged that Alula be removed as governor of Mareb Mellash."[16] He also defended Ras Alula, saying that "[he] did no wrong; the Italians came into the province under his governorship and he fought them, just as you [the British] would fight the Abyssinians [Ethiopians] if they came to England.[16] In December 1887,[19] he had ordered Menelik to guard Wollo and Begemder, while Ras Mikael brought up 25,000 Oromo cavalry to Tigray.The Italian then supplied the promised arms to Menelik in case the emperor followed through on his threat to invade Shewa.In the vacuum that followed the death of Yohannes IV in the Battle of Gallabat against the Mahdists on 10/11 March 1889, General Antonio Baldissera occupied the highlands along the Eritrean coast and Italy proclaimed the establishment of the new colony of Italian Eritrea.[2] Menelik recognized the Italian occupation of his rivals' lands of Bogos, Hamasien, Akkele Guzay and Serae in exchange for guarantees of financial assistance and continuing access to European arms and ammunition.
Illustration of the Siege of Saati
Italo-Ethiopian war (disambiguation)Scramble for AfricaMichele CammaranoMereb MelashEthiopian EmpireEritreaTreaty of WuchaleItalian EritreaKingdom of ItalyA. A. di San MarzanoTancredi SalettaAntonio BaldisseraOreste BaratieriYohannes IVRas AlulaRas MengeshaRas MikaelDogaliSegheneytiSouth Africa (1879)South Africa (1880)Tunisia (1881)Sudan (1881)Egypt (1882)Wassoulou (1883)Madagascar (1883)Equatoria (1886–89)Somalia (1888–1924)Congo (1895)Dahomey (1890)Mashonaland (1890)Katanga (1891−92)Dahomey (1892)Matabeleland (1893)Morocco (1893–94)Wassoulou (1894)Ashanti (1895) South Africa (1895)Ethiopia (1896)Matabeleland (1896)Zanzibar (1896)Benin (1897)Wassoulou (1898)Chad (1898)Fashoda (1898)South Africa (1899)Somaliland (1900)Aro (1901)Angola (1902)Namibia (1904)Tanganyika (1905)Morocco (1905–06)South Africa (1906)Morocco (1907–34)Mufilo (1907)Morocco (1909)Ouaddai (1909)Morocco (1911)Libya (1911–12)South Africa (1914)Darfur (1916)undeclared warItalian colonization of Eritreaanother Italo-Ethiopian warMahdist uprisingMenelik of ShewaItalo-Ethiopian War of 1895–1896Assab BayGiuseppe SapetoSocietà di Navigazione RubattinoMaria Theresa thalersSuez CanalMassawaSiege of SaatiBattle of DogaliMareb MellashAsmaraMakelleTekle Haymanot of GojjamGojjamMatewosMount EntotoRemington riflesTigrayanGerald PortalLake AshangiBegemderPaul HenzeGondarAkele GuzayBattle of GallabatHamasienAkkele GuzayChisholm, HughEncyclopædia BritannicaErlich, HaggaiHenze, Paul B.Pakenham, ThomasSinger, J. DavidSmall, MelvinItalian EmpireMahdist War in SudanItalo-Ethiopian War of 1895–96Banadir ResistanceSomaliland campaignItalo-Ethiopian War of 1935–36World War II CampaignItalo-Turkish WarSenussi campaignSecond Italo-Senussi WarItalian Blockade of VenezuelaBoxer RebellionItalian Invasion of AnatoliaSiberian interventionItalian Intervention in Northern RussiaOccupation of Constantinople