Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889
The Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889 was an undeclared war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire occurring during the Italian colonization of Eritrea. The conflict ended with a treaty of friendship, which delimited the border between Ethiopia and Italian Eritrea but contained clauses whose different interpretations led to another Italo-Ethiopian war.
| Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Scramble for Africa | |||||||||
The battle of Dogali by Michele Cammarano | |||||||||
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
| Kingdom of Italy | Ethiopian Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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A. A. di San Marzano Tancredi Saletta Antonio Baldissera Oreste Baratieri |
Yohannes IV Ras Alula Ras Mengesha Ras Mikael | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 1,000+ dead | 400+ dead | ||||||||
As the Mahdist uprising in the Sudan spilled over the frontier, Ethiopia was faced with a two-front war. The Emperor Yohannes IV also had to face internal resistance from his powerful vassals. King Menelik of Shewa even signed a treaty of neutrality with Italy in October 1887.
While there is universal agreement that the war began in January 1887, historians differ about when it ended. Some limit the war to 1887, others extend it down to the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889, and others combine it with the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895–1896 and treat a single conflict as occurring from 1887 until 1896. The naming of the conflict also varies. It may be called the First Italo-Ethiopian War and the war of 1895–1896 as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Otherwise it may be identified solely by date.
Italian historiography tends to group together all the fighting from 1885 until 1896. The original name for the fighting was Guerra d'Africa (African War), a term which indicates the broad perceived scope of early Italian colonial ambitions. As the Italian historian Giuseppe Finaldi puts it, "The war is called the Guerra d'Africa, not the Guerra d'Eritrea or such like."