Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889

Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889
Part of the Scramble for Africa
The Siege of Saati, Italians repels the Ethiopian surprise attack.
Date 24 January 1887 – 2 May 1889 Location Mereb Melash, Ethiopian Empire (now Eritrea) Result Italian victory, Treaty of Wuchale Territorial changes Establishment of Italian Eritrea
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy	Ethiopian Empire
Commanders and leaders
A. A. di San Marzano Tancredi Saletta Antonio Baldissera Oreste Baratieri	Yohannes IV Ras Alula Ras Mengesha Ras Mikael
Casualties and losses
1,000+ dead	1,500+ dead

The Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889 was an undeclared war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire occurring during the Italian colonization of Eritrea. 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.

As the Mahdist uprising in the Sudan spilled over the frontier, Ethiopia was faced with a two-front war. The Emperor Yohannes IV also had to face internal resistance from his powerful vassals. King Menelik of Shewa even signed a treaty of neutrality with Italy in October 1887.

While there is universal agreement that the war began in January 1887, historians differ about when it ended.^[1] Some limit the war to 1887,^[2][3] others extend it down to the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889,^[4][5][6] and others combine it with the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895–1896 and treat a single conflict as occurring from 1887 until 1896.^[7] The naming of the conflict also varies. It may be called the First Italo-Ethiopian War^[4][8] and the war of 1895–1896 as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.^[1] Otherwise it may be identified solely by date.^[3][5]

Italian historiography tends to group together all the fighting from 1885 until 1896. The original name for the fighting was Guerra d'Africa (African War),^[9][10][11] a term which indicates the broad perceived scope of early Italian colonial ambitions. As the Italian historian Giuseppe Finaldi puts it, "The war is called the Guerra d'Africa, not the Guerra d'Eritrea or such like."^[12]

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.^[13] The Suez Canal opened two days later. The deal was later finalised for 8,350 thalers and with the Sultan Abd Allah Sahim as a party. On 11 March 1870, Sapeto purchased the Bay of Buya from the same brothers and sultan.^[14] Between 15 April 1870 and December 1879, however, Assab went unused by the company. The company offered it to the Italian government, which on 5 July 1882 passed a law making it Italy's first colony.^[13]

The outbreak of the Mahdist uprising changed the political situation in the Horn of Africa. Egypt was unable to maintain its garrison in Massawa and, with British approval, an Italian Corpo Speciale per l'Africa (Special Corps for Africa), commanded by Colonel Tancredi Saletta, occupied it on 5 February 1885.^[13]

Italian moves into the hinterland of Massawa, territory claimed by Ethiopia, brought her forces into conflict with those of Ethiopia, specifically those of Ras Alula, governor of Mareb Mellash.

On 24^[1] or 25 January 1887, Ethiopian troops of Alula launched a surprise attack against the Italian fort at Saati. In the ensuing skirmish, his troops were beaten back, the Italians kept the fort suffering few casualties, while hundreds of Ethiopians were killed and wounded.^[15] On 26 January, an Ethiopian force of about 15,000 men^[1] ambushed an Italian battalion sent to reinforce Saati and almost annihilated it at Dogali, 10 miles (16 km) west of Massawa. The battle of Dogali turned out to be one of the most important in the history of modern Ethiopia.^[15] Alula did not follow up his victory, preferring to wait for permission from Yohannes to continue. He entered Asmara on 31 January 1887.^[16]

The response to Dogali in Italy was immediate. The Italian parliament voted 5,000,000 lire for troops to reinforce Massawa.^[17] An Italian force was sent to garrison the interior, while Yohannes IV withdrew his forces to avoid confrontation. Disease ravaged the Italian troops and they were pulled out in March 1887, ending the first phase of the war.^[1]

Following his victory, Alula remained in contact with the Italians regarding prisoners. He also subjected Massawa to a landward blockade in an effort to completely cut off its trade with the hinterland. This angered the local Muslim traders, whose sympathies shifted towards the Italians.^[15]

In his attack on Saati, Alula had acted entirely on his own initiative. The Emperor Yohannes was at Makelle during the battle of Dogali. When Alula requested permission to expel the Italians from Massawa, the emperor is said to have castigated him for making war without permission: "Who gave you permission to go and make war there? Those soldiers are not yours but mine; I shall cut off your hand."^[15] In late March, Yohannes summoned Alula to Makelle, where he was more conciliatory. He promised the ras reinforcements against any Italian counterattack but forbade offensive operations.^[15]

On 2 June 1887, the Italian parliament voted a further 200,000,000 lire for troops, ammunition and supplies to be sent to Massawa.^[17] During the summer, an expeditionary force of 20,000 men was assembled in Italy. It landed in Massawa during November.^[15]

With Yohannes weakened, Menelik of Shewa and King Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam entered into an alliance against him. In retaliation, the emperor crossed into Gojjam in early August 1887 and devastated it.^[15] The following month, he ordered Menelik to bar communications with Assab through Aussa.^[4] In response, Menelik sent letters to both the emperor and the Italians offering to mediate, as he had done after Dogali.^[18]

Already in late August 1887, Menelik had received the Italian diplomat Pietro Antonelli in Shewa to negotiate an alliance against Yohannes. Italy requested a small piece of territory in the interior in which to garrison their troops during the summer. Antonelli also gave Menelik Italy's justifications for a punitive expedition to avenge Dogali. On 19 September, Antonelli proposed a treaty of neutrality with Shewa in exchange for munitions. A draft of this treaty survives.^[4][18] 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.^[4]

On 20 October 1887, however, Menelik signed a secret treaty with Antonelli guaranteeing his neutrality in return for arms.^[18] Within six months he was to receive 5,000 Remington rifles. In the treaty, Italy renounced any intention of annexing Ethiopian territory.^[4]

In September 1887, Alula invaded Damot with a Tigrayan army. With their ras away, the Tigrayan chiefs made contact with the Italians. On 11 November 1887, Gerald Portal, the British consul at Cairo, met Alula at Asmara. He then met Yohannes encamped by Lake Ashangi on 7 December. 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.^[15] Yohannes refused to concede anything to the Italians: "If they cannot live there [at Massawa] without Saati, let them go."^[15] 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."^[15]

By January 1888, the Italians had moved two brigades up to Dogali. Yohannes mobilised for war.^[15] In December 1887,^[18] he had ordered Menelik to guard Wollo and Begemder, while Ras Mikael brought up 25,000 Oromo cavalry to Tigray. On 1 February 1888, the Italians reoccupied the Saati fort without encountering resistance from the Ethiopians. In March the troops of Yohannes reached the fort of Saati, facing the Italian expeditionary force but without attacking. Decimated by diseases and having to face a Maadist invasion in the West, the Negus army abandoned Saati in early April, leaving the fort to the Italians.

In early 1889 the Italian General Oreste Baratieri occupied the highlands along the Eritrean coast, without opposition from Ethiopians, and proclaimed the establishment of the new colony of Italian Eritrea.^[19] The annexation was formalized on 2 May 1889 with the signing of the Treaty of Wuchale with the new Ethiopian emperor, Menelik of Shewa. It was a compromise: while Ethiopia had been successful in preventung further Italian expansions, it failed in preventing the Italians from annexing. Italians retained their acquisitions on the Red Sea.^[1] 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.^[19]

Both sides had taken large losses. Sources about the Italian casualties reported 7 killed at Saati, 430 killed at Dogali^[3] and 1,000 overall,^[1] while the Ethiopians suffered probably a higher number,^[1] with hundreds killed and wounded in Saati and between 730 and 1071 at Dogali alone.^[16]