---
title: Battle of Adwa
author: The Trustees of the British Museum
source: https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14806/battle-of-adwa/
format: machine-readable-alternate
license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
updated: 2025-09-03
---

# Battle of Adwa

_Authored by The Trustees of the British Museum_

## Image File

[![Battle of Adwa](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/14806.jpg)](https://www.worldhistory.org/uploads/images/14806.jpg)

## Image Caption

The [Battle](https://www.worldhistory.org/disambiguation/battle/) of Adwa (1896), oil on canvas painting by an unknown artist in Ethiopia, 1940s.

The British Museum, London.

The battle is hugely important in the history of Ethiopia, cementing national pride (at least among Amhara) and the country's independence from European colonisation. The Italians are depicted in profile while the entirety of the Ethiopian faces are visible, which symbolise evil and good respectively. Menelik II watches the battle from beneath his royal umbrella in the top left corner. His wife, Empress Taitu, rides a horse and fires a revolver in the bottom left. Fitawari Gabayyahu was the commander of the forces and he is depicted on horseback in the centre. The whole scene is overlooked by Saint George, patron saint of both Ethiopia and soldiers.

## Cite This Work

### APA
Museum, T. T. o. t. B. (2021, November 09). Battle of Adwa. *World History Encyclopedia*. <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14806/battle-of-adwa/>
### Chicago
Museum, The Trustees of the British. "Battle of Adwa." *World History Encyclopedia*, November 09, 2021. <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14806/battle-of-adwa/>.
### MLA
Museum, The Trustees of the British. "Battle of Adwa." *World History Encyclopedia*, 09 Nov 2021, <https://www.worldhistory.org/image/14806/battle-of-adwa/>.

## License & Copyright

The British Museum has released this image under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International ([CC BY-NC-SA 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)) license. You can read more about the British Museum and Creative Commons [here](https://www.britishmuseum.org/about_this_site/terms_of_use/copyright_and_permissions.aspx). [Original image](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1974-11-34) by [**The Trustees of the British Museum**](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/E_Af1974-11-34). Submitted by [Isaac Toman Grief](https://www.worldhistory.org/user/isaactomangrief/ "User Page: Isaac Toman Grief"), published on 09 November 2021. The copyright holder has published this content under the following license: [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/deed.en). This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. When republishing on the web a hyperlink back to the original content source URL must be included. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.