Moresh Wegenie: የአኖሌ ሐውልት ጉዳይ ክፍል ፫

Adowa was a rare moment in history that created collective effervescence among the polyethnic Ethiopian polity. The effervescence or collective exaltation affects deeply the structure of a given society. It provided a renewed opportunity for cementing the collective conscious of Ethiopians which was Ethiopianism or Ethiopian nationalism. March 1, 1996 marks the centennial of Adowa. Rallying for the defense of the mother land was not new to Ethiopian polity. But what makes Adowa different from previous wars was the deep scar it created on the European pride of racial superiority and its repercussion on Ethiopian politics. Despite its victory, Ethiopia continued to suffer from the victory of Adowa syndrome. A syndrome that obsessed Europeans to retaliate their humiliation at Adowa. European obsession for revenge manifested by their secret diplomatic protocols that undermined the interest of the Ethiopian state. Some of these policies included treaties such as the 1906 Tripartite agreement that partitioned Ethiopia among the three powers. The Italian invasion of 1935 was thus a distortion of facts that portrayed Ethiopia as a black colonialist that need to be broken into tiny ethnic states. Such a break up of the nation would have made it easier for colonial power to control the country.