28 Feb 01

Adowa, Ethiopia, Friday, 28 Feb 1896

In 300BC, the famous Roman general, Scipio, swept through northern Africa, conquering all before him and claiming vast tracts of land for the Roman Empire. Included was the Empire of Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia), a sophisticated kingdom that had foreign relationships with many countries. In fact, ancient Israel and Ethiopia had a close relationship as early as 1000BC, and Israelite missionaries traveled to Ethiopia and converted many to the Israelite religion. So important was Ethiopia that, in 400AD, missionaries from Rome would reconvert many there to Christianity. In 900AD, Islamic missionaries would sway many to their religion.

Greeks, Phoenicians, Arabs, Turks, Portuguese, and later Western European countries like France, Britain, and Spain also all clamored after African colonies for centuries. As the Nineteenth Century drew to a close, the scramble for African Colonies began anew among the newly unified countries of Europe, namely Germany, Belgium, and Italy. All distrustful of each other, control of important sea routes around the horn or Africa (as well as the Cape) loomed as a critical advantage to prime ministers and kings alike.

Belgium seized the disease-ridden Congo, simply because no one else wanted it. Germany seized vast tracts in west Africa (present-day Tanzania). However, only the Italians truly saw the importance of controlling the ports of the horn of Africa and thus the Red Sea passages. When the Suez Canal was built years later, the Red Sea passages would take on critical, strategic importance.

Therefore, beginning in 1881, the Italians started their move into Ethiopia. They immediately suffered a humiliating and devastating defeat (actually a massacre) at the hands of swarms of Ethiopians at the Battle of Dogali. Coming only two years after Isandhlwana and five years after Little Big Horn, this event should have been taken as an important warning that "primitive people" were not as "primitive" as everyone thought.

Fifty-year-old General Oreste Baratieri then became Italy's new point man in the Ethiopian campaign. He immediately engineered a series of local victories and was promptly celebrated a hero by a newly emerging nation of Italy, desperate to recall the heady days of Rome, and thirsting after an "empire" once more. He was hailed like a conquering hero, and it went to his head. Like so many generals before and since he was on a roll, and he thought it was all due to some inherent goodness and virtue on his part. Like so many generals before and since, he would soon discover that glory is a fleeting, temperamental thing, as fickle as the weather.

In late 1885, Baratieri started his grand invasion of Ethiopia. Backed by his political commissar in Rome, Crispi, who supplied him with a modern army of 20,000, Baratieri was looking forward to a grand victory which would propel him into such political strength that he could return to Italy and promptly lead another army against the Austrians in order to finally reclaim disputed territory in Northern Italy, something of which he had dreamed his entire life.

His soldiers were equipped with the Vetterli, magazine-fed rifle, as well as excellent artillery, and a few copies of the new Maxim machine gun. They were able to communicate via telegraph and heliograph. They were confident!

Baratieri's opponent was the charismatic Menelik, an experienced and savvy commander who had called for a holy war to repel the invaders. He had an army of over 100,000. Most were surely not equipped with modern weapons, but they were unafraid and would go wherever they were directed and would fight to the last man.

Baratieri's campaign got off to a rocky start. At the battle of Amba Alagi on 7 December 1885, one of his battalions became isolated and was subsequently surrounded and overwhelmed by Menelik's army. They put of a heroic defense but ran out of ammunition. A few broke out, but most were killed. On 6 January 1896, Menelik surrounded another Italian garrison, this one occupying the fortified town of Makalle. Having no interest in a prolonged siege, Menelik offered it's commander, Lt/Col Galliano, safe passage if he would simply leave in peace. His offer was accepted, and Menelik was good to his word. Galliano left in peace with his command.

These were just the kind of set backs that Baratieri didn't need. He started to worry that, when the news filtered back to Rome, Crispi would sack him for another general. Baratieri concluded that he had to do something spectacular in order to regain the confidence of Crispi and of his command, and he had to do it quickly! He decided upon a massive night march and a surprise attack the following morning.

Actually, Menelik's entire army was out of food and was about to disburse on its own. Had Baratieri waited just a day or two, he could have marched into Menelik's territory unopposed. Unfortunately, Baratieri's intelligence network was not thorough enough to provide him with this information. He was winning the war of logistics. He just didn't know it.

On the morning of 28 Feb 1896, after a night of exhaustive marching, Baratieri's units were dangerously separated and out of communication with each other. Seeing his opportunity, Menelik started attacking one Italian unit at a time with his entire command, easily overwhelming them in sequence. In the course of a day and a half, Baratieri's entire army was defeated in detail.

Italian soldiers fought bravely and inflicted substantial casualties, but they were hopelessly outnumbered, and units were not in a position to support each other. Most units elected to fight and die in place rather than surrender. Artillery crews stayed with and defended their pieces until they were all killed.

While all this was going on Baratieri was in a state of paralysis. Dithering about his tent for hours and mumbling incoherent orders, he was clearly not in command. Only when he personally witnessed his own line start to collapse, did Baratieri finally issue a coherent order. It was to retreat. He had lost over half his army and all the territory he had planned to claim for Italy.

Baratieri survived physically, but, along with Crispi, his military and political career ended abruptly. The new Italian government negotiated with Menelik for the release of prisoners in exchange for officially recognizing him and his people as a sovereign nation. It was a festering humiliation that would smolder in Italy until 1935 when Mussolini reinvaded Ethiopia, this time with airplanes, tanks, and poison gas. World War II would follow shortly.

Lessons:

Critical information won't find you. You need to find it. Bravery alone will never adequately make up for blindness.

Even a mediocre decision in the nick of time is better by far than the best possible decision a moment too late.

When fighting for your life, you hold nothing back! You must bring to bear all your force upon the enemy simultaneously, lest you be gobbled up one small chunk at a time. The military term is "defeat in detail."

/John