The Treaty of Addis Ababa, signed on 23 October 1896, formally ended the First Italo-Ethiopian War on terms mostly favourable to Ethiopia.
This treaty superseded a secret agreement between Ethiopia and Italy negotiated days after the decisive Battle of Adwa in March of the same year, in which Ethiopian forces commanded by Menelik II defeated the Italians.
Learning of this divergence from the Amharic text, Emperor Menelik believed he had been deceived by the Italians; this had led to the war between the two countries.
[2] It was not until 23 August that the Italians finally agreed to the unconditional abrogation of the Treaty of Wuchale, and recognition of the sovereign independence of Ethiopia.
Most surprisingly, the Italians would retain most, if not all, of the territories beyond the Mareb-Belessa and May/Muni rivers they had taken; according to Abyssinian Monarchists' Menelik gave away a sizable portion of Tigray which had been treated as part of the Ethiopian empire since time immemorial.