The Italo-Ethiopian War of 1887–1889 is an undeclared war between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ethiopian Empire occurring during the Italian colonization of Eritrea.
The conflict ends with a treaty of friendship, which delimitsthe border between Ethiopia and Italian Eritrea but contains clauses whose different interpretations lead to another Italo-Ethiopian war.
As the Mahdist uprising in the Sudan spills over the frontier, Ethiopia is faced with a two-front war.
The Emperor Yohannes IV also has to face internal resistance from his powerful vassals.
King Menelik of Shewa even signs a treaty of neutrality with Italy in October 1887.
While there is universal agreement that the war began in January 1887, historians differ about when it ended.
Some limit the war to 1887, others extend it down to the Treaty of Wuchale in 1889, and others combine it with the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895–96 and treat a single conflict as occurring from 1887 until 1896.
The naming of the conflict also varies.
It may be called the First Italo-Ethiopian War and the war of 1895–96 as the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.
Otherwise it may be identified solely by date.
Italian historiography tends to group together all the fighting from 1885 until 1896.
The original name for the fighting is Guerra d'Africa (African War), at term which indicates the broad perceived scope of early Italian colonial ambitions.
