Menelik II of Ethiopia (1844-1913). Reproduction of an 1898 painting by the French painter Paul Buffet (1864-1941) of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia fighting the Italians at the Battle of Adwa (Adua), on 2nd March 1896. Menelik II was Negus (monarch) of Shewa (an historic region of Ethiopia) from 1866-1889 and then Emperor of Ethiopia from 1889 to his death in 1913. He is credited for restoring the ancient Ethiopian Kingdom to its former glory of the Axumite Empire, one of the four most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world. This climactic battle of the First Italo-Ethiopian War was a decisive defeat for Italy and secured Ethiopian sovereignty.