At the beginning of the 20th century, all of Africa was in European hands, except for one country. Despite all the factors against this country, Ethiopia successfully defended itself from the Italians in the Battle of Adwa in 1896. Unfortunately, when the Italians invaded a second time in 1935, the Ethiopians were not as successful. Why were the Ethiopians defeated when not even 50 years earlier they had won? Was technological progress too much for the Ethiopians to fight against or was it the lack of good leadership they once had in the years before the second invasion. I believe the lack of good leadership before and during the second Italian invasion is attributed to Ethiopia's defeat, rather than their technological deficiencies. To first understand the loss in the second war we must first look briefly at their victory in the first war. In this conflict, Ethiopia defeated the Italians because their leaders made all the right choices before and during the war. It all began with Emperor Tewodros II, who “reunited Ethiopia under one emperor.” Before then Ethiopia was in great disorder, with many different kings and warlords ruling different parts of Ethiopia. This was a crucial step in defeating the Italians because without the full cooperation of all Ethiopian warlords, the Italian army would have easily defeated the fragmented Ethiopian states. Another crucial decision made by Tewodros II was to modernize the Ethiopian army with firearms. He learned this lesson hard after a severe defeat by the modern equipped Egyptian army and from this experience he used it to improve his empire. With just these two simple improvements Ethiopia was now in... middle of paper... Italian bullets never could. Even today, the most modern military such as that of the United States is not guaranteed victory against a less advanced enemy such as the Taliban. Ultimately, it all depends on the training of the soldiers and the leadership of their superiors. WORKS CITED Del Boca, Angelo. War of Abyssinia. Translated by Giangiacomo Feltrinelli. The Ethiopian War 1935-1941, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1969. Milkias, Paulos. The Battle of Adwa. Np: Algora Publishing, 2005. Nicolle, David and Raffaele Ruggeri. The Italian invasion of Abyssinia 1935-36. London: Osprey Military, 1997. Wienholt, Arnold. The last stronghold of the Africans. London: John Long, 1938. Gilbert, Erik and Jonathan T. Reynolds. Africa in world history: from prehistory to the present. Boston: Pearson, 2012.