How Not To Invade Ethiopia

The Victory of Adwa on 2nd March, 1896 marked a milestone in the so-called ‘Scramble for Africa’ - because, whilst so much of the continent had been colonised by European nations, Abysinnia successfully defended their country from the invading Italians. Rome had underestimated the Ethiopians’ weaponry, motivation and strategy, and turned up with bad maps, demoralized troops - and orders to march on. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly explain how a tricksy treaty was used to justify the incursion; consider the fates of the Eritreans who fought alongside the Europeans; and question the wisdom of getting your troops to march for nine hours straight before engaging in combat…  Further Reading: ‘First Italo-Ethiopian War: Battle of Adwa’ (ThoughtCo, 2018): https://www.thoughtco.com/italo-ethiopian-war-battle-of-adwa-2360814 ‘The History of The Battle and Victory of Adwa (African History month): https://ahm.africa/the-history-of-the-battle-and-victory-of-adwa-125th/ ‘How did Italy Lose to Ethiopia?’ (Animated History, 2018): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hln0GjuUQk&t=4s ‘Why am I hearing a rerun?’ Every Thursday is 'Throwback Thursday' on Today in History with the Retrospectors: running one repeat per week means we can keep up the quality of our independent podcast. Daily shows like this require a lot of work! But as ever we'll have something new for you tomorrow, so follow us wherever you get your podcasts: podfollow.com/Retrospectors   Love the show? Join  🌴CLUB RETROSPECTORS🌴 to DITCH THE ADS and get an additional full-length episode every SUNDAY! Plus, get weekly bonus bits, unlock over 70 bits of extra content and support our independent podcast. Join now via Apple Podcasts or Patreon.    The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill. Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Emma Corsham. Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2023. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices