The victory of Adwa can be taken as an important milestone in the modernization of the country especially in the process of introduction of modern infrastructure. The then king Emperor Menelik II had actually started taking such measures in the couple of years before the battle. For example, he started the introduction of telecommunication, postal service, electricity, typewriting etc before.
But after the successful completion of the war, he resumed his modernization efforts with better speed and endeavor. Accordingly historical records show that Emperor Menelik II introduced the first motor car in Ethiopia. In Addition, he pioneered the operation of hotel business in the country as he opened the first Hotel in the country.
Cinema was also introduced during the emperor’s reign. By doing so the emperor directly involved not only in introducing these services to the country but also in alleviating the attitudinal problems related to the people’s awareness in using these modern facilities. For example, it was the Emperor himself who receive d the first driving license in the country.
When many people feared even to ride a car, Emperor Menelik II dared to set an example by claiming the first drivinglicense. As a result, the Emperor was widely acclaimed both locally and abroad as the founder of modern Ethiopia. The country’s ability to stand as an independent state in the middleof European colonial powers has enabled it to form strong diplomatic relations with them.
Even though Ethiopia had relations with various European countries even before the coming to power. Lecturer of History with Addis Ababa University of Dr. Samuel Negash stated that, the official diplomatic relation started after the Victory of Adwa and the victory was so decisive that Italy soon recognized Ethiopian independence in the Treaty of Addis Ababa. Officially diplomatic relation started with the signing of the treaty of Adwa.
In order to speed up the penetration of the country’s economy the colonial powers were enticed to establish consulates in different parts of the country that are closer to their respective colonies. For example, Italy established consular offices at Gondar, Dessie and Adwa, while Britain set its consular offices in Harrar, among others. One of the areas of economic activity that got momentum with the countries growing relation was trade.
“Another feature of twentieth century Ethiopian trade arose directly from the after math of the Battle of Adwa. The juxtaposition of the independent Ethiopia with European colonies spurred the adjacent powers to start a policy of commercial penetration of their respective ‘hinterlands’.” According to Bahru Zewde’s ‘Modern History of Ethiopia.” When Italy and Britain were striving to exploit opportunities in Ethiopia by established consular offices in various corners, France which was stationed in Djiboutisought to establish ties through stretching the Ethio- Djibouti railway to Addis Ababa, the center of the nation.
This was an important step in the introduction of modern economic infrastructure in the country. But, other European countries that did not have colonial presentation near Ethiopia resorted to establish their presence in the center of the country. These countries are United States, Germany, Turkey and Russia. Because of diplomatic relation the Russian support for Ethiopia led to the advent of a Russian Red Cross mission. The Russian mission was a military mission conceived as a medical support for the Ethiopian troops. Education also became an important sector in introducing modernization in Ethiopia.
According to Bahru, the intensive relations that grew up with European countries in the post Adwa period opened more convenient situations to spread modern education. In order to meet the growing needs for educated people to properly run the state Emperor Menelik II introduced government-sponsored secular education. The first public school to provide a western style education was the Ecole Imperiale Menelik II, which was opened in October 1908 under the guidance of Hanna Salib and a number of Copt teachers.
Herald March 2/2019
BY HAILE DEMEKE
