According to this battlefield diagram, Ras Mengesha Yohannes’s forces are positioned at the forward/northern sector of Emperor Menelik II’s army, facing the expected Italian advance.
This type of diagram (often reproduced from Ethiopian chronicles and later military histories) reflects the Ethiopian deployment at Adwa, where Ras Mengesha Yohannes, ruler of Tigray, was positioned closest to the Italian lines.
That placement was intentional, strategic, and symbolic. It took considerations of:
1. Geography & local knowledge
- Ras Mengesha was the ruler of Tigray, the region where Adwa is located.
- His forces knew the terrain intimately: mountains, passes, ravines, water sources.
- This made them ideal for first contact, maneuver warfare, and absorbing or disrupting the initial Italian advance.
In Ethiopian warfare tradition, local commanders defended their own land first.
2. Experience against Italians
- Ras Mengesha’s forces had years of direct confrontation with Italian colonial troops in the north.
- They had fought Italians repeatedly in Eritrea and northern Tigray.(the famous Ras Alula)
- This experience meant they understood:
- Italian formations
- Artillery deployment
- March discipline and weaknesses
Menelik deliberately placed battle-hardened northern forces at the front.
3. Political reconciliation & unity
- Ras Mengesha was the son of Emperor Yohannes IV, Menelik II’s predecessor.
- After Yohannes’s death (1889), there had been tension and rivalry between the Shoan and Tigrayan power blocs.
- By giving Ras Mengesha a frontline, honourable role, Menelik:
- Affirmed national unity
- Demonstrated trust
- Bound former rivals into a single national cause
Adwa was as much political unification as a military battle.
4. Absorbing the first shock
- Ethiopian strategy relied on:
- Letting Italians advance too far
- Stretching their lines
- Then crushing them from multiple directions
- Frontline forces like Ras Mengesha’s were meant to:
- Engage first
- Fix Italian units in place
- Prevent orderly retreat
Once this happened, other commanders (Ras Alula, Ras Makonnen, Negus Tekle Haymanot, etc.) could collapse the flanks and centre.
5. Symbolic legitimacy
- Placing Ras Mengesha at the forefront sent a message:
The heirs of Yohannes IV stand at the front in defence of Ethiopia.
- This strengthened morale across the army and reinforced that Adwa was a national, not regional, war.
Bottom line
According to this diagram and historical consensus:
- Ras Mengesha Yohannes’s army was positioned at the forefront
- Because of terrain knowledge, combat experience, political unity, and strategic necessity
- His role was to engage early, hold ground, and enable the decisive encirclement that followed
Adwa was won not by one commander, but by carefully coordinated placement of Ethiopia’s best leaders—and Ras Mengesha’s forward position was a critical part of that design.