The heavily equipped Italian army included thousands of Eritrean fighters; Eritrea was then under Italian control. Italy had concluded the Treaty of Wuchale, or Uccialli as the Italians spelled it, with Emperor Menelik in 1889. However, the Italian version of the treaty's article XVII — unlike the one in Amharic that Menelik retained—actually made Ethiopia an Italian protectorate. Menelik was a wise ruler and also had the counsel of his remarkable wife, Empress Taytu Betul. Both Emperor Menelik and his wife, Empress Taytu Betul, led their forces into combat; the empress herself commanded an army of 6,000 men.

Source: Ethiopian News February 27, 2018 17:37 UTC