the army, partly with the help of John Bell, a British adventurer. Later, Yohannes IV made use of another British adventurer, John Kirkham whose military abilities were 

praised by Gordon, who described him as "an officer (there being but
  few others) in whom I could place implicit trust."

However, the death of Yohannes IV in March 1889 led to the disintegration of the Ethiopian army, a fact which the Italians took advantage of by occupying large parts of the empire. Menelik II (reigned 1889 - 1913) patiently built up army again, importing large quantities of arms from France and Russia. By February 1893 he had 82,000 rifles and 28 cannon.
The main military threat to Ethiopia came from Italy. This was with the tacit approval of the British whodid not want see their chief rival, France, gain a large foothold in the region. The Italians, though, faced a formidable foe and suffered a decisive defeat at the Battle of Adowa in 1896.

Had Menelik lost the battle of Adowa, Ethiopia would
  undoubtedly have become an Italian colony in
  1896. But...thanks to her military strength which was far superior to that of Italy in Africa, Ethiopia won that battle
  and thereby maintained her independence. Even after the battle of Adowa, Menelik persisted in stockpiling arms, a fact confirmed by a
  British traveller, John Boyes, who noted, early in the twentieth
  century, that 'practically all the Abyssinians' were 'armed with
  rifles', and that 'the Abyssinians are the best armed native race in
 