• Director: Haile Gerima
  • Release Year: 1999
  • Production Country: United States, Germany, Ethiopia
  • Language: English, Amharic

Adwa: An African Victory

Description

An Italian army, desperately low on morale and supplies, plans one last attack against an Ethiopian force despite being inferior in numbers, leadership, and armament. The decisive victory of Africans over Europeans became a near mythical event in African history and left Ethiopia as the only African country that was not overrun by colonial powers.

Themes

Battle of Adwa "Adowa" (1 March 1896), First Italo-Ethiopian War (1895 – 1896), Race relations, Nationalism, Kingdom of Ethiopia (1899 – 1974), Menelik II (1844 – 1913), Taytu Betul (c. 1851 – 1918), Public memory, Public History, Legends and mythologies, Modern warfare