During the Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia’s survival depended above all on the strength of its army. The decisive moment came at Adowa in 1896, when Ethiopian forces defeated Italy. This victory prevented the establishment of an Italian colony and preserved Ethiopia’s independence at a time when European powers were rapidly extending their control across the continent.

Menelik continued to stockpile arms after Adowa. A British traveller, John Boyes, described the Abyssinians as exceptionally well armed and difficult for any foreign power to subjugate. At a military parade in Addis Ababa in 1902, approximately 60,000 Ethiopian troops were present, including about 9,000 soldiers of the imperial standing army; rifles, machine guns, and cannon equipped the forces.

Modern artillery and rapid-fire weapons were concentrated at Addis Ababa, increasing the emperor’s power relative to provincial governors. This military organization also supported Menelik’s extension of Ethiopia’s frontiers during the late 1880s and throughout the 1890s. Ethiopia’s military capacity sharply contrasted with Liberia’s poorly equipped forces and helped explain the different outcomes experienced by the two independent African states.

Britain, France, and Italy were unwilling to allow any one of them to obtain sole control of Ethiopia. In 1906, when Menelik’s failing health appeared likely to produce the disintegration of his empire, the three imperial powers secretly signed a convention dividing Ethiopia among themselves. Menelik discovered and exposed the arrangement before his death.