Siege of Mekelle | |||||||
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Part of the First Italo-Ethiopian War | |||||||
Ethiopian troops attacking the besieged Italians | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Italy | Ethiopia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Giuseppe Galliano | Menelik II | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
1,306[1] (1,114 Askari & 192 Italians) 2 mountain guns | 27,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
35 killed 78 wounded [1] | ~600 killed[1] |
The siege of Mekelle, sometimes known as the battle of Mekelle, took place in January 1896 during the First Italo-Ethiopian War. Italian forces surrendered a partially completed fort at Mekelle, a city in the northern Tigray Region of Ethiopia which they had occupied since 1895, to Ethiopian forces.