Ethiopian-Adal War (1576)

Ethiopian-Adal War (1576)
Date 1576 Location Hadiya, Ethiopian Empire Result Ethiopian victory [1]
Belligerents
Ethiopian Empire	Adal Sultanate
Commanders and leaders
Sarsa Dengel Asmadin [2]	Muhammad ibn Nasir   [3] Wabaz Muhammad  [4] Wakar Muhammad  [5] Asmadin (Defected)
Casualties and losses
Unknown	Heavy; entire force annihilated

The Ethiopian-Adal war of 1576 was a brief military conflict between the Adal Sultanate led by Muhammad ibn Nasir, and the Ethiopian Empire, under Emperor Sarsa Dengel. The war began with a call for Jihad by Sultan Muhammad who subsequently invaded the Ethiopian Empire at the head of the Sultanate's army. The resulting Ethiopian victory ended the Sultanate's status as a regional military power and permanently ceased its aggression towards Ethiopia.

The armies of the two states met at the Battle of Webi River where the Ethiopian army emerged victorious after a hard fought battle. The Sultan was captured and executed along with the core of the Sultanate of Adal's nobility. ^{[6] [7]}

Background

With the ongoing Ottoman-Ethiopian War at hand, the Sultan Muhammad ibn Nasir sought to help the Ottoman Empire and its Medri Bahri allies by invading the Ethiopian Empire from the east. ^[8] The Adalite elites also sought to direct the military power of the Sultanate to external wars to stop the continued strife within the state. Sultan Muhammad ibn Nasir thus called for a Jihad against the christians. The call for Jihad was immediately popular. After taking considerable pains to organize the Jihad, the Sultan embarked on an invasion of the Ethiopian Empire. ^[9]

Confrontation

While campaigning in Wej province, Sarsa Dengel learned that Muhammad ibn Nasir had killed all the Muslim leaders that were friendly to the Christian empire in the area. The Emperor then established himself at Sharkha and sent thirty scouts to locate the whereabouts of the Adalite army, the scouts learned that Muhammad's army was established in the Hadiya area along the Weyib River and was also joined by an army led by Asmadin, a chief of Wej. ^[10]

The Emperor then marched into the area and encamped within sight of the enemy. The two armies then fought a series of inconclusive battles were a number of Muhammad's men deflected to the Abyssinians, the fighting grew so fierce that the Emperor erected a defensive rampart around the camp. Muhammad, seeing that it was impossible to advance any further decided to return to Harar, the Emperor then attempted to lure him into a battle by pretending to be afraid and acting like he was about to flee. This strategy was successful and a major engagement was fought between the Muslims and the Abyssinians. Asmadin then decided to defect to Sarsa Dengel with sixty of his horsemen and a large number of other soldiers. ^[10]

Muhammad ibn Nasir, realizing that the battle was lost, finally decided to retreat back to Adal and rode off with fifty horsemen. However along the way the Adalites looted the oxen belonging to some Hadiya peasants, the peasants were outraged and blocked the escape routes. As a result, Muhammad and most of his men were captured by the Abyssinians. While the Emperor Sarsa Dengel was initially reluctant to execute his captured enemies, ^[11] he was pressured to do so by the Ethiopian commanders. Consequently, Muhammad was executed, along with numerous other notable Adalite leaders and three sons of Nur ibn Mujahid. ^[12] Asmadin, who played a decisive rule in the battle, was awarded heavily by the Emperor. ^[13]

Aftermath

This major defeat ended the Sultanate's status as a regional military power and permanently ceased its aggression towards Ethiopia. ^[14] With the battle and the resulting executions of the Adalite nobility, Harar as a military power "was extinguished forever" in the words of historian J. Spencer Trimingham. ^[15] The Christian Ethiopians continued their raids into the Lowland Islamic populations intensely and frequently into the middle of the next century. ^[16]

References

1. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013, p.96
2. Budge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Volume II (Routledge Revivals): Nubia and Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014, p. 365
3. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013, p.96
4. Budge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Volume II (Routledge Revivals): Nubia and Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014, p. 365
5. Budge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Volume II (Routledge Revivals): Nubia and Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014, p. 365
6. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013, p.96
7. Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 249. ISBN   9780932415196.
8. Jones, Arnold Hugh Martin, and Monroe, Elizabeth. A History of Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Clarendon Press, p. 91
9. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013, p.96
10. Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 248. ISBN   9780932415196.
11. Budge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Volume II (Routledge Revivals): Nubia and Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014, p. 365
12. Pankhurst, Richard (1997). The Ethiopian Borderlands Essays in Regional History from Ancient Times to the End of the 18th Century. Red Sea Press. p. 249. ISBN   9780932415196.
13. Budge, E. A. Wallis. A History of Ethiopia: Volume II (Routledge Revivals): Nubia and Abyssinia. United Kingdom, Taylor & Francis, 2014, p. 365
14. Hassen, Mohammed (1983). "The Oromo of Ethiopia 1500-1800" (PDF). doi:10.25501/SOAS.00029226.p.206
15. Trimingham, J. Spencer. Islam in Ethiopia. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2013, p.96
16. Abdi, Mohamed Mohamud (2021). A History of the Ogaden (Western Somali) Struggle for Self-Determination: Part I (1300-2007) (2nd ed.), pp. 13-15