Facts about Adwa: The Italians suffered about 7,000 killed and 1,500 wounded in the battle and subsequent retreat back into Eritrea, with 3,000 taken prisoner; Ethiopian losses have been estimated around 4,000–5,000 killed and 8,000 wounded. In their flight to Eritrea, the Italians left behind all of their artillery and 11,000 rifles, as well as most of their transport. As Paul B. Henze notes, Baratieris army had been completely annihilated while Meneliks was intact as a fighting force and gained thousands of rifles and a great deal of equipment from the fleeing Italians. The 3,000 Italian prisoners, who included General Albertone, appear to have been treated as well as could be expected under difficult circumstances, though about 200 died of their wounds in captivity. When news of the calamity reached Italy there were street demonstrations in most major cities. Crispi resigned; funeral masses were intoned for the known and unknown dead. Families began sending to the newspapers letters they had received before Adwa in which their menfolk described their poor living conditions and their fears at the size of the army they were going to face. King Umberto declared his birthday (14 March) a day of mourning. Italian communities in St. Petersburg, London, New York, Chicago, Buenos Aires and Jerusalem collected money for the families of the dead and for the Italian Red Cross. (Wikipedia)
Posted on: Sat, 01 Mar 2014 17:16:29 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015