The day an African army beat a European empire and kept its country free
Across the 1880s and 1890s, Europe carved up almost the whole of Africa into colonies. One country broke the pattern. On 1 March 1896, in the mountains near the town of Adwa, the army of Emperor Menelik II met an invading Italian force and destroyed it in a single day. Italy had expected to turn Ethiopia into a protectorate. Instead it was driven back from the highlands, signed a treaty recognizing Ethiopian independence, and kept only its coastal colony of Eritrea. Adwa is the great exception of the age: the decisive case where an African state met a European colonial invasion in the field, won, and converted that victory into recognized sovereignty.