What amazes me with Etege (Empress) Taitu is not her interaction with the people of Ethiopia but her ability to push herself to the maximum by involving herself in all aspects of governance. Especially during the battle of Adwa. Far from simply arranging for the support of Menelik’s armies during the campaign of Adwa, Etege Taitu actually led her own contingent comprised of at least 5000 infantry and 600 cavalry. She was responsible for a number of both tactical and strategic level decisions in addition to actually leading her army into battle on at least one occasion. One of her most critical contributions to victory over the Italians was in forcing the unconditional surrender of the heavily fortified Italian garrison at Mekele in the run up to Adwa. When the Ethiopians realized that frontal attacks against these fortifications would be useless, Taitu came up with a plan. At the main battle of Adwa, she maintained tactical command of her own army (though held mostly in reserve) in addition to providing logistical support to others through the use of her 10-12,000 strong women in the camp. Her memorable call for the troops to fight on still resonates to this very day, “Courage! Victory is ours. Strike!”. Women can indeed be visionary !
Posted on: Thu, 06 Nov 2014 18:16:53 +0000
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