Title The Battle of Adwa : African victory in the age of empire / Raymond Jonas

Published Cambridge, Mass. : Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2011

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Description 1 online resource (x, 413 pages) : illustrations, maps Contents pt. 1. The road to Adwa -- Courtly ambitions -- Listing toward Adwa -- Italy in Africa -- The price of liberty -- Black in service of white -- Africa in Italy -- "Something humiliating for my kingdom" -- pt. 2. The battle -- Menelik's march -- Amba Alage -- Stalled at Sauria -- Baratieri chooses -- Armies meet -- The center crumbles -- pt. 3. Aftermaths -- Despair, panic, pursuit -- The harvest -- The long march -- Sons and lovers and accidental anthropologists -- Menelik abroad -- Reckonings -- Rescues -- Passings Summary In 1896 a massive Ethiopian army routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy's conquest of Africa to an end. In defending its independence, Ethiopia cast doubt on the assumption that all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans, and opened a breach that would lead to the continent's painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule In March 1896 a well-disciplined and massive Ethiopian army did the unthinkable--it routed an invading Italian force and brought Italy's war of conquest in Africa to an end. In an age of relentless European expansion, Ethiopia had successfully defended its independence and cast doubt upon an unshakable certainty of the age--that sooner or later all Africans would fall under the rule of Europeans. This event opened a breach that would lead, in the aftermath of world war fifty years later, to the continent's painful struggle for freedom from colonial rule. Raymond Jonas offers the first comprehensive account of this singular episode in modern world history. The narrative is peopled by the ambitious and vain, the creative and the coarse, across Africa, Europe, and the Americas--personalities like Menelik, a biblically inspired provincial monarch who consolidated Ethiopia's throne; Taytu, his quick-witted and aggressive wife; and the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg, the emperor's close advisor. The Ethiopians' brilliant gamesmanship and savvy public relations campaign helped roll back the Europeanization of Africa. Figures throughout the African diaspora immediately grasped the significance of Adwa, Menelik, and an independent Ethiopia. Writing deftly from a transnational perspective, Jonas puts Adwa in the context of manifest destiny and Jim Crow, signaling a challenge to the very concept of white dominance. By reopening seemingly settled questions of race and empire, the Battle of Adwa was thus a harbinger of the global, unsettled century about to unfold Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes In English Print version record Subject Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1844-1913 Taitu, Empress, consort of Menelik II, Negus of Ethiopia, -1918. SUBJECT Menelik II. cct Taitu. cct Menelik II, Emperor of Ethiopia, 1844-1913 fast Taitu, Empress, consort of Menelik II, Negus of Ethiopia, -1918 fast Subject Adwa, Battle of, Adwa, Ethiopia, 1896. Italo-Ethiopian War, 1895-1896. HISTORY -- General. HISTORY -- Europe -- General. Adwa, Battle of, Adwa, Ethiopia, 1896. Italo-Ethiopian War, 1895-1896. Diplomatic relations Schlacht von Adua Schlacht von Adua. Italiensk-etiopiska kriget 1895-1896. SUBJECT Italy -- Foreign relations -- Ethiopia Ethiopia -- Foreign relations -- Italy Subject Ethiopia -- Foreign relations -- Italy. Italy -- Foreign relations -- Ethiopia. Ethiopia Ethiopia -- Adwā Italy Afrika. Äthiopien. Italien -- diplomatiska förbindelser -- Etiopien -- 1896. Etiopien -- diplomatiska förbindeler -- Italien -- 1896. Adua -- Schlacht. Form Electronic book LC no. 2011014346 ISBN 0674062795 9780674062795

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