Ethiopia's Treaty of Wuchale Trap

In 1889, Ethiopia's Emperor Menelik II signed the Treaty of Wuchale with Italy, only to discover the two versions of the agreement said very different things. In Amharic, the treaty allowed Ethiopia to choose whether to engage with Italy in its foreign dealings, while the Italian version stated that Ethiopia was obligated to do so. These words effectively reduced the empire to an Italian protectorate. When Menelik realized the deception, he denounced the treaty and prepared for war. The mistranslation set off the First Italo-Ethiopian War, culminating in Ethiopia's stunning victory at the Battle of Adwa in 1896, which secured its independence and humiliated Italy on the world stage.

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