the casualty rate suffered by italian forces at the battle of adwa was greater than any other major european battle of the 19th century, beyond even the napoleonic era's waterloo and eylau. more italians were killed in one day's fighting at adwa than in all the wars of the risorgimento. crispi announced after adwa that he planned to continue the war against the "barbarians" of ethiopia, and would be sending more troops to the horn of africa, which prompted a public backlash against the unpopular war. after the humiliating defeat of the italian army, riots broke out in several italian cities, and within two weeks, the crispi government collapsed amidst italian disenchantment with "foreign adventures". in rome, people demonstrated under the slogans "death to the king!" and "long live the republic!" as the war had badly damaged the prestige of umberto who had backed crispi so forcefully and strongly. crispi was opposed to making peace with ethiopia, saying he regarded it as humiliating for the italians to make peace with "monkeys" as he called the ethiopians and said he did not care about the lives of 15, 000 italians taken prisoner at adwa who were being held as hostages, saying they were "expendable" compared to the "glorious" national mission of conquering ethiopia.