Most of the wars that brought the Ethiopian women to the battlefields had so far been mainly internal wars. The second half of the 19th century, however, saw their involvement in successive wars fought in defence of the motherland from foreign aggression. Indeed, Ethiopia faced unprecedented type of foreign threat against the survival of her independence in terms of its multiplicity, diplomatic mischief, subversive activities, etc. In the last quarter of the 19th century alone, Ethiopia was compelled to fight defensive wars against the Egyptians, the Mahdists and the Italians. Despite the intensity of the foreign threat, however, the centuries-old integrity and independence was not broken. Undoubtedly, this was due to the great sacrifice paid by the valiant sons and daughters of Ethiopia.
The mobilization orders were enough by themselves in rousing such a patriotic sentiment, for they often equate dying for the motherland to sacrificing one's self for one's own faith, wife, children, etc. For instance, one of the war decrees issued by Yohannis IV (1872 - 89) in February 1888, calling on his countrymen to rise against the Italian invaders, reads:
All sons of Ethiopia, bear in mind that Ethiopia is primarily your mother, secondly your crown, thirdly your wife, fourthly your child and fifthly you grave. Hence, when you march you must realize that you will be defending your country, which corresponds to the love of a mother, the glory of a crown, the kindness of a wife, the joy of a child [and] the charity of a grave (Zewde 1975, 78).
The campaign of Adwa had enlisted thousands of women camp-followers. At the top of these women, however, comes Empress Taitu, who command her own contingent of about 5000 infantry and 600 cavalry men and accompanied her husband to the Battle of Adwa. Though she was not the first to have accompanied her husband to war, Taitu remained to be the last Ethiopian empress to lead her army to war. Moreover, Taitu fought a war that she had paved the way for from the very begging (Bahru 1991, 117).
Empress Taitu was regarded as an intelligent, astute and self-assured woman by many writers. Count Gleichen wrote "Queen Taitu has the reputation of being a woman of much ability and it is generally understood that the king owes much of his success to her counsels" (1898, 147). Harold Marcus supported this judgement by writing, "she was highly intelligent and politically astute and she often acted as one of Menelik's advisors" (1968, 28). Emperor Menelik is invariably said to have endorsed her views and proposals in administrative, political, military as well as foreign affairs. Tadesse Zewelde claims to have collected oral tradition from old palace servants and officers of Menelik that confirmed her decisive role in many decisions of the Emperor (1988 E.C., 15-16). On the other hand, Wylde considered her ability as a common trait of other women of the upper class, too:
There can be no doubt that the women of the upper classes of the country are more cleverer than the men and therefore capable of a very high state of civilization. They will play a most important part in the politics of the country and that they will make, themselves listened to by the men. (1901, 302-303).
A remarkable instance of women's involvement in administrative functions occurred during the reign of Zere Yaqob (1434 - 68) who established a "virtually women's administration" by appointing his daughters and relatives over key administrative provinces such as Tegre, Angot, Begemidir, Amhara, Damot, Gedem, and Ifat (Pankhurst 1990a, 345-46).
Women of upper classes have also been active participants in the routine power struggle within the royalty and between the royal family and regional lords. Empress Taitu can be considered as one of these women of the upper class.
Empress Taitu founded the city of Addis Ababa at the time that Menelik was engaged in the campaign to subdue sultanate of Harar. Tadesse maintains that Taitu descended from Entoto to cool down the tension that disturbed the people due to the emperor's absence from his capital for a long time (Tadesse 1988 E.C., 18). In fact, Menelik had delegated Ras Gobena and Taitu to keep order in Shoa. This was, of course, the time during which Taitu had demonstrated her administrative skill. Within a month of Menelik's departure to Arsi in November 1886, some of the soldiers of Ras Welde Gebriel who were camped near Harar deserted his camp because "their first approach to Harar had been frightened away by a sudden eruption of rocket fire." Menilik was meanwhile leaving Arsi for Harar (Prouty 1986, 55). Taitu intervened as soon as she heard of this disorder. She sent a message to the local rulers that reads: "If all these soldiers have come to guard me, I congratulate them but if they intend to run away their heads are mine and their belonging will go to those who capture them." Having heard of her message the deserters proceeded to the capital. Meanwhile, Taitu sent another message to the Meslenes (local governors) of nearby districts that reads: "The soldiers who have been with Wolde Gebriel are going to come to you with the pretext that you must feed them. On Tuesday, I intend to chain all the deserters (near me). You on that same day collect the guns of those who have reached you and put them in stocks" (Ibid). This was successfully accomplished and this indicates Taitu's role in military affairs and efficient administration.
The second time that saw Taitu's experience as efficient administrator in the absence of her husband came when Menelik campaigned to subdue the Tigrean chiefs in December 1889. Taitu accompanied him as far as Dessie, where she stayed to keep order, protected by her own troops. At this time a certain Zegeye, rival to her brother Ras Wolle, governor of Yeju, threatened to take over the region in the absence of Wolle, who had accompanied Menelik to Tigre. Taitu is reported to have handled the crisis by sending some soldiers to capture Zegeye while at the same time she sent a message warning the people of Yeju not to help Zegeye. The message reads:
Men of my country, it is to prevent suffering that I have come here. Since the time of Gugsa [Taytu's ancestor from this area] until today we have had no quarrel with you. Take care that no dissension explodes between me and you. As for Zegeye, if I should hear that you permitted him to enter and govern Yeju, or even if I learn you allowed him to drink water in Yeju from his cupped hand, we will become, you and I, mortal enemies" (Ibid, 69).
This was read in Weldya (capital of Yeju province) and having heard it the people of Yeju sent to Zegeye a message in which they warned him that they would fight him if he continued his march. He stopped his march, and as a result some of his allies were captured by the force of Taitu sent from Desse (Ibid; Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C 172; Tadesse 1988 E.C., 21-22). Thus, Taitu averted a challenge to her brother's rule and maintained peace and order in the region.
The above examples clearly show the experience of Taitu in efficient administration and in pacifying rebellions. More than these, Taitu had also been an ardent opponent of Italian colonial ambitions in Ethiopia. To start from the beginning, Count Antoneli, the Italian envoy to the court of Emperor Menelik, reported that Taitu had been very much annoyed at the Italian landing at Massawa on February 5, 1885 (Prouty 1986, 95). She was a supported Emperor Yohannes in his instructing Menelik to expel the Italians from Shoa, following their expansion into the northern highlands. Prouty maintains that Taitu was "more cynical than Menelik about statements made by diplomats in Addis Ababa and certainly did not share her husband's delight in gadgets invented overseas. She asked questions that he did not" (Ibid 219) Oral tradition also corroborates this assertion on the usual suspicion of Taitu regarding the activities of foreigners in Ethiopia (Tsehay 1983, 28; Pankhurst 1996, 29).
However, the degree to which she was aware of Italian colonial expansion was not known until 1889, for her husband had been establishing an amicable relation with the Italians since 1876 and there was no report of Taitu's attempt to stop it. Taitu's involvement in diplomatic affairs with the Italians came mainly after the disclosure of the Italian version of Article XVII of the Wuchale Treaty (signed on 2 May, 1889) that reduced Ethiopia to the status of an Italian colony. Taitu might have been aware of it before Menelik did, since it is said that she was impressed by Aleqa Atme's warning to the emperor about the danger contained in that Article, but she couldn't save the clerk from being detained for it, as a result of the intrigue of the Italian envoy Count Antoneli (Atme 1901 E.C., 112-13; Tadesse 1988 E.C., 19). Once the secret was disclosed, however, she appraised Aleqa Atme and rebuked the Ethiopian translator of the Treaty, Grazmach Yosseph. Moreover, she was very much disappointed with the very compromise of her husband with the Italians that she assailed him: "King John never wanted to cede an inch of territory, he fought against the Italian (and)...the Egyptians for this [principle]: he died for this, and you after such an example, wish to sell your country? Who will [want to] write your history?" (Quoted in Marcus 1975, 126).
Since then Taitu had never reconciled with the Italians. Having already won the support of the emperor for her request to participate in the discussion over major political affairs she challenged the attempts of Antoneli to convince Menelik on the treaty (Tadesse 1988 E.C., 19-20). Bahru wrote of her, "even more than Menelik who was prone to compromise... Taitu was an unrelenting advocate of total rupture with the Italians" (1991, 117). Antoneli himself reported to the Italian government that he faced serious opposition mainly from the empress. Indeed she declared that she preferred war to accepting protectorate status for Ethiopia as provided for in the Italian version of Article XVII. Thus she told Antoneli, "I am a woman and I do not love war, but rather than accepting this [Article XVII] I prefer war" (Quoted in Marcus 1975, 126-27). As a result, Antoneli was forced to modify the article and proposed the signing of an additional agreement abrogating the Wuchale Treaty on condition that Menelik oblige himself not to accept the protection of any other power in place of Italy. He justified his proposal with the fact that notifying great powers about the abrogation of Wuchale would be derogatory to Italian honour. However, this raised a more staunch opposition from the empress who challenged Antoneli with a short response: "we also have our honour to protect"(Ibid, 130; Work 1963, 118). Indeed the abrogation of Wuchale Treaty by Menelik in February 1893 was highly instigated by Taitu (Bahru 1991, 117-18; Jacobs n.d, 224).
This event made war inevitable and Taitu was one of the persistent advocates of the use of force against the Italians. When Menelik made his mobilization order in September 1895, she was ready to follow him to the battlefield at the command of her own contingent. Some higher officials had proposed that she should stay in the capital and keep peace and order (Tadesse 1988 E.C., 94; Prouty 1986, 133). Nevertheless, Taitu did not give up her plan. She had already gathered her weavers and potters whom she kept busy producing clothes and utensils. She also sent messages to her estates ordering them to help her organize provisions and supplies along the main routes of the march. This was duly implemented in Meqele and Mersa, where she collected tributes in sheep, cows, honey and butter (Prouty 1986, 133-34).
Besides her own troops, which she herself equipped with the help of Menelik, the empress was accompanied by thousands of Ethiopian women. These included her dames of honour, royal servants, slaves, wives and concubines of officials and ordinary soldiers, minstrels, etc., of different ages. The palace servants were organized into different service units headed by captains whose palace service also extended to war times. They included women for the Tej bet (mead house), Enjera bet (bakers house), Tella bet (Beer house), Genbogna (Potters), etc. These women performed the various duties attached to each unit of the palace (Ibid, 137; Paulos 1986 E.C., 103; Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 243).
All these women and the non-combatant men were armed with spears, shields and swords to participate in the actual fighting in time of need. Berkeley, the British military historian of the campaign of Adwa, wrote, "It is not an army [but] an invasion, the transplanting of the whole people" (1969,10). However, there is no precise estimate of the number of women camp-followers during the campaign of Adwa. Berkeley estimated the total non-combatant followers to about 30,000 (Ibid, 156-57). Major Salsa, who visited the court of Menelik after the end of the war, reported that the war was fought with about 130,000 combatants and 60 - 70,000 servants (men and women) (Quoted in Tekle Tsadiq 1983 E.C. 266-67). The Italian General, Barateri estimated the camp- followers at about 40,000 (Quoted in Berkley 1969, 157). Given the fact that most often the majority of the camp-followers in military expeditions were women, one can safely assume that on average not less than 20-30,000 women had participated in the campaign of Adwa.
With the exception of the royal women, wives of the dignitaries and the captains as well as their maidservants, the remaining women camp-followers performed various duties from the outset of the march, at camps and at battle fields. The first duty at leaving their homes was carrying various utensils such as pots for making tej, tella, wat (stew), baking pans for making bread, mills for grinding flour, jars of honey, horns for drinks and different other materials that can not be loaded on animals for safety purposes. (Wylde 1901, 105; Gebre Selassie 1959E.C., 229) They also did carry different spices for the preparation of royal feasts. Their role in the transportation of goods was quite tremendous, but it found out to be their most burdensome duty, given the long march of up to more than 800 kms from the capital, inconvenient roads crowded with animals and men, accents and descents of mountains, climates, etc. (Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 255; Pankhurst 1990b, 260; Tekle Tsadiq 1983 E.C., 266-67). Berkeley described the condition of the march as follows:
They were all crowded one on to the other, amidst donkeys, mules and horses on the same track. And when the road was not wide enough or when owing to the arrival of some important chiefs or a ras or the negus they were obliged to make way, they threw themselves indifferently to the right or to the left (1969, 10-11).
Sometimes women were obliged to crawl on their hands and knees with their burden on their shoulder or waist. Human epidemics could also break out because of the many dead on the road. Moreover, the Ethiopian army often travelled 10 -20 miles a day. The Italian prisoners reported after the battle of Adwa that they were unable to keep up with the Ethiopian army, there being no halt during even the longest march until it reached its camping site for the night (Ibid, 48).
All these problems of the march were tolerated by women during the return march, too. Indeed women did follow the army, "singing, laughing and frolicking as if they were at a party," wrote Antoneli (Quoted in Teferi 1971, 142-43; Tekle Tsadiq 1983 E.C., 22-27). They were thus a moral force behind the soldiers during the march.
At the camps, women were responsible for the preparation of food and drinks. Thus as soon as the site was selected and a signal was given for a halt, the women put down their loads and went out for fetching water and foraging for wood to build the fires for cooking. Others helped in the clearing of the camp and arranging the utensils for the cooking, drinking and eating. The different departments of the palace pitched their tents round the royal tents. Then began the preparation of food and drinks for daily consumption and for the next march. Some women baked injera (bread) while others cooked wat, (stew) of different qualities. Drinks such as tej (mead) and tella (beer) were also prepared in different qualities, since all the peace-time distinctions for the upper classes were kept intact during the campaign, too. Besides the preparation of royal feasts, women retainers of soldiers also served their respective husbands or masters in supplying them with food either brought from home or found on their way from looting, or rations (Ibid; Prouty 1986, 138-39; Teshale 1989, 207). At the time of great scarcity, such women prepared food from wild fruits, plants, etc. Still others performed the duties of packing food and drinks for the next day, grinding flour, washing cloths and the feet of their respective masters, etc. (Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 228).
Further reports on the duties of women camp-followers made references to their participation in the clearing of roads, digging trenches and building fortifications. Women also played a significant role in raising the morale of their menfolk during the march and at camps (Ibid; Paulos 1986 E.C., 177).
Obviously the campaign of Adwa, in which the Empress became commander of an army and thousands of women that performed various duties of great significance, revealed the fact that the role of women in war had got due recognition.
As a persistent advocate of the use of force against the Italians, the empress left the capital in October 1895 at the head of her contingent and about 100 women including her step-daughter Zewditu. She had at her disposal about 3000 rifles, 600 horses and 4 guns (Berkley 1969, 269; Prouty 1986, 136-37).
Despite empress Taitu's enthusiasm for war with the Italians, Emperor Menelik and Ras Mekonnen were in favour of peaceful negotiations. This seemed to have alarmed Taitu. Thus when Ras Mekonnen arrested Fitawarari Gebeyehu for having ambushed an Italian contingent at Ambalage on 7 December 1895, Empress Taitu is said to have intervened in favour of the Fitawrari and to have rebuked the Ras. Ras Mekonnen tried to justify his action by accusing Fitawrari Gebeyhu of engaging in a fight without his order, but Taitu assailed him, "were you supplying mud [cement/stone] to an enemy that was building the fortification, when he [Gebeyehu] was fighting them?" (Tadesse 1988 E.C., 22).
Taitu's intervention had two likely aims: firstly avoiding conflict among the war leaders and secondly weakening the enemy at separate engagements before the major war. As per her expectation, the victory of Ambalage boosted the moral of the Ethiopian army, for it caused the death of about 2000 Italians including their commander, Major Tosseli, and thereby encouraged further engagement with the enemy (Bahru 1991, 77; Tekle Tsadiq 1983 E.C., 263).
The battle of Ambalage was followed by the long siege and final surrender of the fortified position of the Italians in Meqele on 21 January 1896. It was, however, not an easy victory; it combined great sacrifice and efficient tactics for harassing the enemy. Contemporary accounts on the Ethiopian side invariably referred to the immense role played by Empress Taitu. She could not conceal her disappointment with the Ethiopian generals for letting the Italians build such a strong fortification (Paulos 1986 E.C., 177; Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 241).
Thus as soon as they camped in Meqele, Menelik and Taitu encouraged their soldiers to attack the Italians at their fortified position. Later on, however, they realised that attacking the well-fortified Italians would bring more disaster and big losses to the Ethiopians. Empress Taitu forwarded an important and rewarding proposal that was to become one of her remarkable contributions to the war effort. Taitu's proposal was to besiege the Italians by controlling their water supply. This was approved by the emperor.
It was very difficult to convince the Ethiopian soldiers that controlling the water source would be more rewarding than attacking the fort. However, before dawn on 9 January, 1896, 900 men from the Empress's contingent crept down into the ravine as per her plan. They built a barricade to protect themselves from the Italian fire, and they stayed there for two weeks courageously fighting and well supplied by the empress with food and drinks (Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 247).
Thanks to the successful implementation of Taitu's plan, the Italians suffered very much from shortage of water and were compelled to accept the unconditional surrender of their fortification and evacuated on 21 January 1896 on the order of Menelik despite the objection of Taitu and some chiefs such as Ras Mengesha (Ibid, 250; Prouty 1986,150). At any rate this was the second most important victory for the Ethiopians before the final showdown at the battle of Adwa.
Since then, Taitu is reported to have strongly opposed any concession of an Ethiopian land to Italy and she remarked to the chiefs, "Yield nothing, what you give away today will be a future ladder against your fortress and tomorrow the Italians will come up it into your domains. If you must loose lands loose them at least with your strong right arms" (Greenfield 1965, 122). As we shall see in the next chapter her precaution proved to be right.
Though battles were obviously fought mainly with men the tens of thousands of women camp-followers who accompanied Empress Taitu were not passive spectators at Adwa. Both Italian and Ethiopian sources have attested to the various activities of the Ethiopian women at Adwa though the chronicler had Empress Taitu at the top of the achievements of women. The Empress was camped at the reserve position with her husband; the bishop Abuna Mathewos and the clergy were on her side and before them were the clergy of Aksum and the trumpeters (Berkley 1969, 280; Prouty 1986, 156). According to the chronicler:
The empress removed her veil and under a black umbrella advanced on foot as did the other royal women, among whom were Woizero Zewditu...Empress Taitu seeing some soldiers hesitating cried to them with all her strength, `courage, victory is ours, strike.' The soldiers could not run away when encouraged by women and returned to the fighting (Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 266; translated by Prouty 1986, 156-57).
At Adwa, women were said to have built up the morale of the fighters through war cries and songs. Apparently it was common to find women to have cried with blood-curdling exhortations such as "kill, kill, the brave man will bring me a trophy" (Prouty 1986, 157). That is why it seems most of the wars fought in the presence of women were reportedly bloody.
Besides the moral support, Empress Taitu mobilized the women to supply water to the fighters and the wounded. An anonymous writer is quoted by Prouty, regarding Taitu's contribution in this respect:
The empress collected her 10-12000 women in the camp and issued water jugs to all of them. This army of another type filled their jugs at the river and were ready to carry water to those who fought whenever in need (1986, 159).
This role of women was also attested to by the Italians whose wounded were given by the Ethiopian women (Gizaw 1956 E.C., 99; Fesehaye 1971, 24-25). The thousand of women under the command of Taitu were also responsible for nursing the wounded fighters whom they carried to camps. They had already prepared traditional medicine for curing wounds. Meanwhile other women were busy redistributing rifles and bullets of the wounded and that of their dead menfolk and captives of war to the combatants. The Ethiopian women were also responsible for facilitating the burial of their dead who had fallen in battle (Gizaw 1956 E.C., 99; Gebre Selassie 1959 E.C., 265; Tadesse 1988 E.C., 95).
Empress Taitu's role as a brave commander was attested to by one witness. In his letter to Mondon Vidailhet, Grazmach Yosef, wrote:
The Ethiopian heroine empress Taitu distinguished herself through her valour... She advanced with her artillery in front of her and the riflemen to the left and right... when the men in front were attacked by cannon fire she assembled her forces in a fortified position and ordered them to return the fire from a distance... To prevent the front line from being weakened she returned those bringing prisoners. She also saw to it that those soldiers who had stayed in the rear would get to the front (Quoted in Fesehaye 1971, 25).
That she organized the defence perimeter using her personal army was also attested to by other writers too (Prouty 1986; 156; Tadesse 1988 E.C., 90). Empress Taitu and her women followers were also engaged in gathering intelligence information from local people and enemy camps. Menelik had the support of the local population whose patriotism had been intensified by the Italians' colonial policy of land expropriation for settlement and racial discrimination. Thus local people were willing to show the best routes and report on enemy movements, while at the same time they used to feed false information and maps to the enemy force. According to Berkley, the Ethiopian spies were composed of both sexes and were "fortunate enough in passing to and from the Italian camp which had been in a state of disorganization for some weeks before Adwa (1969, 253). Wylde stated that "many of the women who had free run of the Italian camp were spies for Menelik. They were greatly made use of to obtain news and they have the chance of getting employment in the officer's household and some of them follow the troops in their marches"(1901, 102-103). Some women were also engaged in actual combat taking away the rifle of the dead soldiers. The women of Adigrat are, for instance, reported to have harassed an Italian army by attacking them, and cutting off telegraph wires by rubbing it between two rocks (Prouty 1986, 153).
Women were also responsible for looking after properties, munitions, captives and animals at the camp and nearby areas along with the men camp-followers. Still others were instrumental in uniting broken contingents climbing to hill tops to monitor troop movements and to signal from a distance to their compatriots.
Tigrean chiefs had unsuccessfully tried to convince Menelik to cross the Mereb and chase the Italians out of Ethiopia. Unfortunately, for reasons beyond the scope of this paper, Menelik could not push his victory to its logical conclusion. He ordered a return to his capital. Consequently, what Taitu had foreseen about the danger of ceding territories to the enemy turned out to be true. The victory of Adwa drove the Italians out of Tigre but left them in their colony of Eritrea from where they launched their invasion of Ethiopia on 3 October 1935.
Therefore, it is not surprising that some journals of Europe published in the months following the victory of Adwa, came out bearing the pictures of Taitu and Menelik in their front pages. Regarding European public opinion about Taitu, Prouty wrote: "The notion of a warrior queen caught the popular fancy and evoked references to Zenobia, Cleopatra, Joan of Arc and Catherine the Great" (Ibid, 158).
