MISINTERPRETATION OF THE TREATY OF UCCALLI

There was the struggle for power in Abyssinia between Menelik and Mangsha in 1889 after the dead of the emperor John II. The struggle gave Italy the opportunity to attack Abyssinia in 1895 hopping that a disunited Ehiopia would not be powerful enough to resist the French.

            Military preparedness on both sides also provoked the resistance for e.g in 1893 Abyssinia imported arms such as Canons and rifles from European colonies of Somaliland and Eritrea which were sharing a common border with Abyssinia. This military preparedness made war unavoidable.