Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896, Osprey Men at Arms 471.
Written by Sean McLachlan, and Illustrated by Raffaele
Ruggeri, Copyright 2011, 48 pages.
Scope - big
Completeness – fair
Appeal – high
Accuracy --not able
to judge
The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were the
age of imperialism. It was during this period that many of the more developed,
more powerful, primarily European nations engaged in campaigns of conquest and
control throughout the lesser developed, primarily African and Asian portions
of the world. Few really understand that in Asia, for instance, every nation
except Japan (which modernized quickly and became a colonial power itself) and
Thailand (which managed to maintain independence by playing the French against
the British) were colonized in whole or in part. In Africa, the exceptions were
Liberia (which had a strange history as it became dominated by returning
African-Americans) and Ethiopia which maintained its independence until the
Italian conquest shortly before world war two.
Which begs the question, how did Ethiopia maintain its
independence? The answer lies in this book.
In the late nineteenth century, Italy was a recently united
nation, not terribly respected by many of its neighbors and considered to be
behind its peers in terms of gaining colonies. The Italians sought to gain
colonies in the region of Ethiopia, Eretria, and Somalia as well as portions of
north Africa. In Ethiopia, the Italians began a large campaign of conquest and
colonization. Although it was common for African and Asian people to resist
such colonization efforts, the Ethiopians not only fought back, but they fought
back successfully, defeating and humiliating a large Italian army (composed
largely of African Askaris recruited on the continent) and keeping their nation
independent from Italian control. Many claim that of all the colonial battles
this is the only incident where a European nation was defeated and never
returned to avenge that defeat. (Which,
incidentally, is one reason why the Italians came back and conquered Ethiopia
in the 1930s, partially to reverse the humiliation they’d experienced at the
hands of the Ethiopians. But that’s another story told in a different Osprey
book.)
Like most of the Osprey books on obscure conflicts, this one
begins with a 24 page overview of the conflict. In this brief space it gives a
fairly good description of what happened and why the two nations involved were
fighting.)
The Ethiopian army is covered in 13 pages. Logistics, weapons, and composition of the
army is covered fairly well.
The Italian army is covered in 6 pages. Again, logistics, weapons, and composition
of the army is covered fairly well.
Comments
Post a Comment