The Battle of Senafe was a battle of the
First Italo-Ethiopian War on January 15 and 16, 1895, Italian colonial troops destroyed the remnants of the
Tigrayan army that had withdrawn after the
Battle of Coatit the day before.
Background
To forestall an Italian invasion of the Ethiopian province of
Tigray led by general
Oreste Baratieri, the ruler of Tigray,
Ras Mengesha Yohannes invaded
Italian Eritrea
Italian Eritrea ( it, Colonia Eritrea, "Colony of Eritrea") was a colony of the Kingdom of Italy in the territory of present-day Eritrea. The first Italian establishment in the area was the purchase of Assab by the Rubattino Shipping Company in ...
. In the
Battle of Coatit, however, he was repulsed by Baratieri on January 13 and 14, 1895 respectively. Ras Mengesha's army had already lost 4,500 dead and wounded of 10,000 men and had used up almost all of the ammunition for the few rifles his army had.
[David Hamilton Shinn: ''Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia'', Seiten 69, 73 und 273, . Scarecrow Press, Lanham 2013][Andrzej Bartnicki, Joanna Mantel-Niećko: ''Geschichte Äthiopiens - Von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart'', Teil 1, Seiten 326 und 330f. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1978][ Enciclopedia Italiana (1933): ]
Italo-Abissina, Guerra
'
The Battle
Ras Mengesha wanted to bring the rest of his army back to Tigray and replenish it with reserves. He didn't get far, however. On the evening of January 15, Baratieri, who was chasing him, caught up with him in
Senafe near Coatit . The artillery battery of Captain Ciccodicola went into position on the Amba Tericà mountain on the northern edge of the Senafe Depression.
[ Enciclopedia Italiana (1932): ]
Coatit
' In the course of the Italian artillery bombardment and the fighting that lasted until the next morning, Ras Mengesha lost another 2,000 men,
including some of his best military commanders. Upon hearing the bombardment of Ras Mengesha managed to escape to Tigray only with difficulty with a few remaining loyal followers.
The Italians, on the other hand, who had been reinforced all night by advancing units, numbered about 4,000 men after the battle.
The entire Ras Mengesha camp fell into their hands.
Aftermath
The almost complete defeat and the defeat of the
Tigrayan army cleared the way for a large-scale and far-reaching invasion of Tigray. Baratieri gathered his troops at Senafe and in January 1895 the Italians occupied
Adwa
Adwa ( ti, ዓድዋ; amh, ዐድዋ; also spelled Aduwa) is a town and separate woreda in Tigray Region, Ethiopia. It is best known as the community closest to the site of the 1896 Battle of Adwa, in which Ethiopian soldiers defeated Italian ...
,
Adigrat and Tigrays capital
Mek'ele . With the beginning of the rainy season in April 1895, they interrupted their advance and at least cleared Adua again. Ras Mengesha camped with his remaining troops at Mek'ele very close to the Italians and raised a new army with Ras Alula, Ras Alula Engida.
References
{{coord missing, Ethiopia
Conflicts in 1896, Senafe
Battles of the First Italo-Ethiopian War, Senafe
1895 in the Italian Empire
1895 in Ethiopia
Battles involving Italy, Senafe
Battles involving Ethiopia, Senafe
History of Ethiopia
January 1895 events