When menelik came to power in 1889 he carried out many economic and political changes which fortified his country.This enable his people to be strongly behind him in an effort to defeat the Italians. Due to the support he had in 1895 when the Italians invaded Ethiopias Europeans supported him with all their strength leading to the defeat of the Italians.
The Abyssinia were also monesuperior to the Italians in terms of numerical strength. Menelik had a standing army of about 80000-100000 men who were well armed with five arms. on the other hand the italians numbers lessthan 20000. As a result the Abyssians easily defeated the Italians.
One of the reasons that led to the Italian defeat was the fact that Italy was still poor after her unification in 1870. The process of unification caused Italy much as many wars were fought to expelled.Italy was not yet capable of sponsoring a long resistance like the Abyssinian resistance.
The Italian General Baratieri played a big role in the defeat of Italy. He under estimated the strength of the Abyssinia forces. He was also deceived by Abyssinian souble agent who provoked him with false information that meneliks army had speat and were retricting from the war front. Above all he was unable to maintain the unity of his forces and this encourages Abyssinian defeat of the Italians.
