Battle of Shimbra Kure

Battle of Shimbra Kure
Part of the Abyssinian–Adal war
Date March, 1529 Location Shimbra Kure, Ethiopia, 130 km (80 mi) southeast of Addis Ababa Result Decisive Adal victory
Belligerents
Adal Sultanate	Ethiopian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Imam Ahmad Gragn	Dawit II
Strength
200 men with matchlocks, several thousand infantry, cavalry	200 man of infantry and cavalry

The Battle of Shimbra Kure ("chickpea swamp") was fought in March of 1529 between the forces of Adal led by Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi, and the Ethiopian army, under Dawit II (Lebna Dengel). The army of Imam Ahmad prevailed, and were in control of the field at the end of the battle. Both sides suffered heavy casualties.^[1] Despite this success, and his desire to capture and hold the Emperor's palace at Badeqe, Imam Ahmad, in part to appease his restive men, withdrew from the highlands and did not return to directly engage the Ethiopian army for two years.^[2]

Some authorities, such as Richard Pankhurst, attribute Imam Ahmad's success to the presence amongst his followers of an elite company of matchlockmen. If this is the case, then this battle was the first time Ethiopian forces had to fight against a force armed with firearms.^[3]

References

1. Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Borderlands (Lawrenceville: Red Sea Press, 1997), p. 172
2. Sihab ad-Din Ahmad bin 'Abd al-Qader, Futuh al-Habasa: The conquest of Ethiopia, translated by Paul Lester Stenhouse with annotations by Richard Pankhurst (Hollywood: Tsehai, 2003),p. 86
3. Pankhurst, Borderlands, p. 168