Battle of Dogali
Battle of Dogali
(painting by Michele Cammarano)
| date | January 25, 1887 to January 26, 1887 |
|---|---|
| place | Dogali , Eritrea |
| output | Victory of the Ethiopians |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| allegedly 7,000 (Italian data) | 562 (512 Italians and 50 Bashi Bosuks) |
| losses | |
|
unknown |
480 (430 Italians and 50 Bashi Bosuks) |
In the battle of Dogali on January 25th and 26th, 1887, an Italian army detachment was defeated by an Ethiopian army under Ras Alula Engida .
background
After the unification of Italy (1861 and 1870), the Italians wanted to acquire colonies in Africa. They began to occupy the coastal part of Eritrea.
Since the Italians seized the formerly Egyptian city of Massaua in 1885 and founded the colony of Eritrea , there had been tensions with Abyssinia, which tried to gain access to the sea with the possession of Massaua . The conflict culminated in an Italian declaration of war in 1886, but the Italian troops suffered several defeats out of inexperience and superficiality.
Ras Alula Engida , a general of Emperor Yohannes IV , attacked the Italian-controlled city of Sa [h] ati. The climax of the war was the resulting battle at Dogali (near Massaua).
The battle
Brockhaus´ Conversations-Lexikon wrote in 1887 in the article "Abyssinia":
“ The Italian commander in chief, Major General Genè, had the city fortified on the land side and occupied it with 3,000 men. A corps of 1,000 men from Baschi-Bosuks was taken over from Turkish service in the Italians and used to occupy the next villages; some advanced posts were also fortified on the present heights to protect the trade routes that flowed into them and occupied with Italian troops. Precautions were taken to protect the troops against the harmful effects of local and climatic conditions, but the garrison suffered greatly from malignant fevers and a lack of drinking water. "
“ In January 1887, Abyssinian troops under General Ras Alula advanced against Massaua, followed by the Negus ( Yohannes IV ) with a larger army at a distance of nine days' march. Ras Alula attacked the Italian troops (512 men and 50 Baschi-Bosuks) retreating from the advanced posts on the heights of Sahati on January 25th and blew them up on January 26th after several hours of fighting, in which the Abyssinians strengthened Suffered loss, but all artillery and many weapons captured, fell apart. Only 82 wounded Italians, including 1 officer, escaped to Massaua. "
or in the article "Italy":
“ The king of Abyssinia, who saw in Massaua the natural harbor of his land, without whose possession it was completely cut off from the sea, sent his general Ras Alula. He attacked the most advanced Italian post at Saati on January 25, 1887 and was repulsed, but attacked a column sent from the stronger Fort Monkulla to the rear on January 26, covering a train of provisions and ammunition, and killed around 500 men. "
Slightly different from this can be found in the same volume in the article "Saati":
“ S [aati] became historically memorable through the attack by the Abyssinians under Ras Alula. who tried to take these fortified heights on January 24, 1887, but were turned away with great losses. The 20,000-strong Abyssinian army, however, apparently without General Gené's knowledge of this, remained standing in the ravine-rich slopes of the heights of Saati and seized one [on] January 26th to reinforce the advanced ones Guard approaching department (around 550 men) of Italian troops surprisingly. Despite heroic resistance, the Italians, after having used all their ammunition and inflicting great losses on the enemy, finally succumbed to superior strength at Dogali; only 1 officer and about 130 men escaped, all wounded, from the scuffle and were able to escape from the battlefield to the fortified post of S [aati] that night. After this defeat some fortified outposts were evacuated by the Italians; but the Abyssinians also withdrew further from Massaua and refrained from further attacks. "
Prince and General Ras Alula Engida (1887), victor of the battle
The Dogali Obelisk in Rome commemorates the fallen Italians
Francesco Crispi was the real winner of the lost war
Effects
General Genè, who had delivered 1000 rifles and several refugees or prisoners to General Ras Alula for the release of an Italian delegation who had been taken prisoner after the battle, was recalled and replaced by General Saletta. Foreign Minister Carlo Felice Nicolis Robilant offered to resign and, based on the outcome of a vote of no confidence requested by Francesco Crispi , was rejected. Nevertheless, as part of a cabinet reshuffle in April 1887, Robilant was replaced as Foreign Minister by Prime Minister Agostino Depretis and Minister of War Cesare Ricotti-Magnani by General Bertole-Viale, and Crispi was accepted into the government as Minister of the Interior. In July Depretis finally fell and Crispi succeeded him.
In the vicinity of Massaua, however, on March 27 and 28, 1887, further small battles had taken place. Peace was only concluded in 1889 after the Ethiopian rulers changed. The Negus Menelik II, who followed Emperor Yohannes IV. , Signed the friendship treaty of Wetschale, which Italy interpreted as a protectorate, which in 1895 led to another Italian-Ethiopian war , which ended in an even more serious Italian defeat in the Battle of Adwa in 1896 .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Heinrich Loth : History of Africa from the beginnings to the present, Part II, Africa under imperialist colonial rule and the formation of the anti-colonial forces 1884–1945, page 24 f. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1976.
- ^ Maria Schlick: Atlas of World History , page 162f. Neuer Kaiser Verlag, Klagenfurt 2007.
- ^ Brockhaus´ Conversations-Lexikon, 13th edition. Supplementary volume, page 2f. Leipzig 1887
- ^ Brockhaus´ Conversations-Lexikon, 13th edition. Supplementary volume, page 448f. Leipzig 1887
- ^ Brockhaus´ Conversations-Lexikon, 13th edition. Supplementary volume, page 637. Leipzig 1887