The Battle of Adwa was the climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Led by Emperor Menelik II, Ethiopian forces defeated an invading Italian force on Sunday 1 March 1896, near the town of Adwa in Tigray. The decisive victory thwarted the Kingdom of Italy’s campaign to expand its colonial empire in the Horn of Africa and secured the Ethiopian Empire’s sovereignty for another forty years. Though not the first African nation to resist European conquest during the scramble for Africa, Ethiopia became a pre-eminent symbol of the pan-African movement and international opposition to colonialism.

By the end of the 19th century, European powers had carved up almost all of Africa after the Berlin Conference. Only Ethiopia, then still commonly known as Abyssinia and the Republic of Liberia still maintained their independence (Liberia being a settler nation supported by the United States). The newly unified Kingdom of Italy was a relative newcomer to the imperialist scramble for Africa. Two of its recently obtained African territories, Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, bordered Ethiopia on the Horn of Africa. Italy sought to improve its position in Africa by conquering Ethiopia and joining it with its two territories. Menelik II successfully pitted Italy against its European rivals while stockpiling advanced weapons to defend his empire against the Italians and British.