---
title: "Resisting Colonial Rule"
description: "Colonised people fought back throughout, and sometimes won: at Adwa an African army defeated a European one and kept its independence. The forms ranged from open war to strikes, boycotts, newspapers a"
canonical: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/resisting-colonial-rule-mt_7Y5kKzxsBv
source: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/resisting-colonial-rule-mt_7Y5kKzxsBv.md
retrieved: 2026-09-12
---

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# Resisting Colonial Rule

Colonised people fought back throughout, and sometimes won: at Adwa an African army defeated a European one and kept its independence. The forms ranged from open war to strikes, boycotts, newspapers and courts.

Subject: History · Area: World History · Ages 16 to 18
Page: https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/resisting-colonial-rule-mt_7Y5kKzxsBv

## Ready when they can

- Name three distinct forms resistance took and give one example of each
- Explain why Ethiopia's victory at Adwa mattered beyond Ethiopia
- Assess why armed resistance usually failed in the nineteenth century and more often succeeded after 1945

## Lesson: Fighting back against colonial rule

Colonial regimes taxed land, seized crops, and forced labor. Colonised people pushed back from the start. Resistance was normal, not rare.

**Example.** At Adwa in 1896, Ethiopia defeated an Italian army. Ethiopia kept its freedom. The win lit hope for later drives across Africa.

In the 1800s open revolt often lost. Empires held better guns and faster links, and split local groups against each other. Fighters stood alone and short of supply.

**Tip.** Other tools cut gains instead of facing guns. Boycotts, strikes, marches, unions, papers, pleas, and court suits drew in whole towns. After 1945 broke split empires met mass groups and fresh world backing, so drives won far more.

**Recap.** Colonised people fought in many forms, and after 1945 timing plus unity turned protest into freedom.

## Practice

8 questions on this page, each with its working shown.

## Needs first

- [Industrialising Outside Europe: Japan and Egypt](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/industrialising-outside-europe-japan-and-egypt-mt_DFhpNwT4Rq)
- [Empire and Its Costs](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/empire-and-its-costs-mt_i3Yw06vg5I)

## Opens up

- [The Non-Aligned World](https://lightmysky.com/learn/history/the-non-aligned-world-mt_aHyHeLXH20)