Unit 7: Imperialism

STEP 1: Go to GOOGLE DRIVE--> 3rd Quarter-->UNIT 7--> CREATE a DOCUMENT name it Ethiopia

YOU MAY WORK WITH A PERSON or PERSON(S) WITHIN YOUR GROUP on the FOLLOWING:

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STEP 2: Open this POWER POINT and use it to do the following

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STEP 3: Keep the following in mind (include in your notes if not already there).

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SLIDE 1- This is a painting of the Battle of Adwa, which was painted by an unknown Ethiopian artist.  The exact date of the painting is also unknown.  The battle was fought between Ethiopia and Italy on March 1, 1896.  It lasted one day, and was a decisive victory for Ethiopia.

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SLIDE 2-The battle was significant because it marked the biggest African victory over a European army in the 19th century.  The battle helped keep Ethiopia, or Abyssinia, one of the only parts of Africa to remain independent during the"scramble for Africa" in the second half of the 19th century- a time when European powers established colonies across most of the African continent.

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SLIDE 3- Our question is: How was Ethiopia able to defeat the Italian army at the Battle of Adwa and stay independent?

To address this question,you are going to look at 3 different textbook accounts, 2 American and 1 Ethiopian.

One of your primary objectives for this activity is to compare and contrast--or CORROBORATE- information across these different textbooks.  Part of your job is to identify what these accounts have in common and how they are different.

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SLIDE-4- (EXAMPLE) Ok, so checking the source information here, this excerpt comes from an American, World History Textbook published in 2006.  It will probably provide a pretty simple explanation, or overview of the Battle, given the amount of text here.  It really is a short passage.  That seems very typical of many textbook accounts of historical events. It's hard to "cover everything."

So, read this with the purpose of trying to figure out how Ethiopia defeated Italy at the Battle of Adwa. "Only the African nation of Ethiopia was able to retain its independence by matching European firepower." Well there you go. It sounds like the Ethiopians in this case had a strong military.

Let's see what else it says. "In 1889 the emperor of Ethiopia, Menelik II, undertook a program of modernization that included a modern Army." Ok. A modern army, and perhaps a strong leader too - this person Menelik II the emperor. "In 1895, Italian forces invaded Ethiopia over a treaty dispute. Within a year, however, Menelik's forces -more numerous and better armed than the Italians -defeated the Italians at the Battle of Adwa."   Well that does not tell you much. This is probably to be expected in such a short excerpt.   According to the textbook Ethiopia won this battle because it had a bigger and better armed army.

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