Adjunct professor publishes first English-language book on Ethiopian-Adal War
Jeffrey Shaw, adjunct professor in the humanities and international relations graduate programs at Salve Regina, has authored the first book published in English that examines the 14-year Ethiopian-Adal War of the 16th century.
Published by Helion and Company, “The Ethiopian-Adal War, 1529-1543: The Conquest of Abyssinia” illuminates the enduring significance of a war that has been historically marginalized – hidden in the shadows behind other events that characterized the 16th century in the Western worldview. The 16th century is considered by many historians and scholars to be the beginning of the modern era, Shaw said.
“The Protestant Reformation consumed Europe, the conquistadors were planting the Spanish flag in Mexico and Peru, and the Ottoman Empire’s mighty army was besieging Vienna,” he said. “As these events unfolded, Ethiopian kings faced an unprecedented challenge along their southeastern periphery. The sultan of Adal courageously led a small yet determined army into the Ethiopian highlands, intent on incorporating Christian Ethiopia into the Dar-al Islam.”
After the initial invasion by the Adal army in 1529, Ethiopian forces were defeated as a result of not having sufficient firearms, Shaw said.
“Reinforcing the Adal army were soldiers from the Ottoman Empire,” he added. “In 1541, the Portuguese entered the conflict on the Ethiopian side, and Portuguese troops employing gunpowder weapons defeated the Adal army, ending the war. The war is portrayed as a religious conflict pitting the Islamic Adal/Ottoman army against the Christian Ethiopians, reinforced by the Portuguese – who were not only Christian, but vehemently anti-Muslim.”
Ethiopia’s history is an important topic because the East African nation is growing in both power and unrest. “Ethiopia is sadly witnessing a burgeoning civil war, one which borders on a large-scale humanitarian crisis,” Shaw said. “Understanding Ethiopia’s long history will help us to navigate the complexity of the many ethnic and religious groups struggling for political and economic supremacy in the Horn of Africa. It is for this reason that I decided to write this book.”
In the book’s forward, noted military historian and professor Jeremy Black, who has written more than 100 books on topics ranging from ancient to modern warfare, praised Shaw’s work as an “informed account that is of value not only to specialists on the region, but also to all those interested in African history, the history of the wars of religion and the sweeping panoply of 16th-century military history.”
Shaw is the author and editor of numerous other books and journal articles on the topics of national security, philosophy of technology and military history. His three-volume collection, “War and Religion: An Encyclopaedia of Faith and Conflict,” was chosen by the American Library Association as an outstanding reference source for 2018.
