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97-569: Most of the Italians moved to Ethiopia after the Italian conquest of Abyssinia in 1936. Italian Ethiopia was made of Harrar, Galla-Sidamo, Amhara and Scioa Governorates in summer 1936 and became a part of the Italian colony Italian East Africa , with capital Addis Ababa . and with Victor Emmanuel III proclaiming himself Emperor of Ethiopia . The 1880s were marked by the so-called "Scramble for Africa" and

194-455: A bayonet charge and half escaped. Italian casualties were 31 Italians and 370 Askari killed and five Italians taken prisoner; Ethiopian casualties were estimated by the Italians to be 500, which was probably greatly exaggerated. The news from the "northern front" was generally bad for Italy. However, foreign correspondents in Addis Ababa publicly took up knitting to mock their lack of access to

291-490: A flight connecting Addis Ababa to Rome . The line was opened after the Italian conquest of Ethiopia and was followed by the first air links with the Italian colonies in Italian East Africa , which began in a pioneering way since 1934. The route was enlarged to 6,379 km and initially joined Rome with Addis Ababa via Syracuse , Benghazi , Cairo , Wadi Halfa , Khartoum , Kassala , Asmara , Dire Dawa . There

388-656: A long war in Ethiopia, that would probably lead to Britain pushing the League of Nations to impose sanctions on Italy, which the French would almost certainly not veto out of fear of destroying relations with Britain; that would cause a crisis in Anglo-Italian relations and allow Germany to offer its "good services" to Italy. In that way, Hitler hoped to win Mussolini as an ally and to destroy

485-579: A member of the League of Nations . As fascist rule in Italy continued to radicalise, its colonial governors in the Horn of Africa began pushing outward the margins of their imperial foothold. The governor of Italian Eritrea, Jacopo Gasparini , focused on the exploitation of Teseney and an attempt to win over the leaders of the Tigre people against Ethiopia. The governor of Italian Somaliland, Cesare Maria de Vecchi , began

582-746: A modest request for the Japanese government for an official statement of its support for Ethiopia during the coming conflict was denied. With war appearing inevitable, the Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie ordered a general mobilisation of the Army of the Ethiopian Empire : All men and boys able to carry a spear go to Addis Ababa . Every married man will bring his wife to cook and wash for him. Every unmarried man will bring any unmarried woman he can find to cook and wash for him. Women with babies,

679-453: A policy of repression that led to the occupation of the fertile Jubaland , and the cessation in 1928 of collaboration between the settlers and the traditional Somali chiefs. The Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was 21 leagues parallel to the Benadir coast (approximately 118.3 kilometres [73.5 miles]). In 1930, Italy built a fort at

776-639: A population of 9,450,000 inhabitants, resulting in a density of 12 inhabitants per square kilometre (31/sq mi) Only 3,200 Italian farmers moved to colonize rural areas, mainly because of the threat of violence from the Arbegnoch , who controlled as much as one quarter of the Ethiopian Highlands in 1940. There was substantial investment in Ethiopian infrastructure development, with the budget for AOI from 1936 to 1937 requiring 19,136 billion lire when

873-691: A provisional treaty of peace on 26 October 1896. Conflicts between the two countries resulted in the Battle of Adwa in 1896, whereby the Ethiopians defeated Italy and remained independent, under the rule of Menelik II . At the time, Italy had only been unified fon to expand the African colonial possessions of Italy in the 1930s. In October 1935, Mussolini launched the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and invaded Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie went exile to avert

970-477: A push towards Warieu Pass. Ras Mulugeta Yeggazu , the Minister of War, advanced from Dessie with approximately 80,000 men to take positions on and around Amba Aradam to the right of Ras Seyoum. Amba Aradam was a steep sided, flat topped mountain directly in the way of an Italian advance on Addis Ababa. The four commanders had approximately 190,000 men facing the Italians. Ras Imru and his Army of Shire were on

1067-478: A pyramid). The Italian King Victor Emmanuel III added Emperor of Ethiopia to his titles, a title not welcomed by the many nations that were part of the society of the nations. From 1936 to the start of World War II Mussolini controlled much of Ethiopia, but a guerrilla war raged in areas of Ethiopia still controlled by Ethiopian resistance fighters linked to Haile Selassie (who was exiled in Great Britain) and

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1164-492: A secondary theatre, whose primary need was to defend itself, but it could aid the main front with offensive thrusts if the enemy forces were not too large there. Most foreigners accompanied the Ethiopians, but Herbert Matthews , a reporter and historian who wrote Eyewitness in Abyssinia: With Marshal Bodoglio's forces to Addis Ababa (1937), and Pedro del Valle , an observer for US Marine Corps , accompanied

1261-680: Is often referred to simply as the Italian Invasion ( Amharic : ጣልያን ወረራ , romanized :  Ṭalyan warära ; Oromo : Weerara Xaaliyaanii), and in Italy as the Ethiopian War ( Italian : Guerra d'Etiopia ). It is seen as an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Axis powers and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations before the outbreak of the Second World War . On 3 October 1935, two hundred thousand soldiers of

1358-601: The Abyssinia Crisis at the League of Nations. On 4 September 1935, the League of Nations exonerated both parties for the incident. Britain and France, preferring Italy as an ally against Germany, did not take strong steps to discourage an Italian military buildup on the borders of Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland . Because of the German Question , Mussolini needed to deter Hitler from annexing Austria while much of

1455-774: The Berlin Conference of 1884–85. When the Italians began to vie with the British and French for influence in the area. Asseb , a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea , was bought by in March 1870 from the local Afar sultan, vassal to the Ethiopian Emperor, by an Italian company, which by 1890 led to the Italian colony of Eritrea being established. From then on, the Kingdom of Italy had traded and set up large tracts of farm land up to

1552-652: The Red Cross were reported. By all estimates, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian civilians died as a result of the Italian invasion, which have been described by some historians as constituting genocide . Crimes by Ethiopian troops included the use of dumdum bullets (in violation of the Hague Conventions ), the killing of civilian workmen (including during the Gondrand massacre ) and the mutilation of captured Eritrean Ascari and Italians (often with castration), beginning in

1649-877: The Royal Italian Army ( Regio Esercito ) and the Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force) in East Africa ( Africa Orientale ) accelerated. Eight regular, mountain and blackshirt militia infantry divisions arrived in Eritrea, and four regular infantry divisions arrived in Italian Somaliland, about 685,000 soldiers and a great number of logistical and support units; the Italians included 200 journalists. The Italians had 6,000 machine guns, 2,000 pieces of artillery, 599 tanks and 390 aircraft. The Regia Marina (Royal Navy) carried tons of ammunition, food and other supplies, with

1746-719: The Stresa Front . A final possible foreign ally of Ethiopia was Japan , which had served as a model to some Ethiopian intellectuals. After the Welwel incident, several right-wing Japanese groups, including the Great Asianism Association and the Black Dragon Society , attempted to raise money for the Ethiopian cause. The Japanese ambassador to Italy, Dr. Sugimura Yotaro, on 16 July assured Mussolini that Japan held no political interests in Ethiopia and would stay neutral in

1843-498: The Treaty of Versailles . The first draft of the communique at Stresa Summit spoke of upholding stability all over the world, but British Foreign Secretary, Sir John Simon , insisted for the final draft to declare that Britain, France and Italy were committed to upholding stability "in Europe", which Mussolini took for British acceptance of an invasion of Ethiopia. In June, non-interference

1940-649: The Welwel oasis (also Walwal , Italian: Ual-Ual ) in the Ogaden and garrisoned it with Somali dubats (irregular frontier troops commanded by Italian officers). The fort at Welwel was well beyond the 21-league limit and inside Ethiopian territory. On 23 November 1934, an Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission studying grazing grounds to find a definitive border between British Somaliland and Ethiopia arrived at Welwel. The party contained Ethiopian and British technicians and an escort of around 600 Ethiopian soldiers. Both sides knew that

2037-466: The "Falcon Feathers" ( Penne di Falco ) was one prestigious and colourful Eritrean cavalry unit. Other RCTC units during the invasion of Ethiopia were irregular Somali frontier troops ( dubats ), regular Arab-Somali infantry and artillery and infantry from Libya. The Italians had a variety of local semi-independent "allies" in the north, and the Azebu Galla were among several groups induced to fight for

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2134-478: The British, but the escort remained. For ten days both sides exchanged menaces, sometimes no more than 2 m apart. Reinforcements increased the Ethiopian contingent to about 1,500 men and the Italians to about 500, and on 5 December 1934, shots were fired. The Italians were supported by an armoured car and bomber aircraft. The bombs missed, but machine gunfire from the car caused about 110 Ethiopian casualties. 30 to 50 Italians and Somalis were killed. The incident led to

2231-608: The Czechoslovak writer Adolf Parlesak. Several Austrian Nazis, a team of Belgian fascists, and the Cuban mercenary Alejandro del Valle also fought for Haile Selassie. Many of the individuals were military advisers, pilots, doctors or supporters of the Ethiopian cause; 50 mercenaries fought in the Ethiopian army and another 50 people were active in the Ethiopian Red Cross or nonmilitary activities. The Italians later attributed most of

2328-757: The Emperor Haile Selassie in the Ethiopian Civil War in 1974; nearly 22,000 Italo-Ethiopians took refuge in Italy during the 1970s. Their main organization in Italy is the Associazione Italiana Profughi dall'Etiopia ed Eritrea (A.I.P.E.E.). In the mid-1990s despite a previous arrangement with the Dergue regime under Menghistu in the 1970s to cede the Obelisk of Axum to Italy in exchange for medical facilities and forgiving an accumulated debt to

2425-408: The Ethiopian centre, crushing the Italian left with the Ethiopian right and to invade Eritrea with the Ethiopian left. Ras Seyum Mangasha held the area around Abiy Addi with about 30,000 men. Selassie with about 40,000 men advanced from Gojjam toward Mai Timket to the left of Ras Seyoum. Ras Kassa Haile Darge with around 40,000 men advanced from Dessie to support Ras Seyoum in the centre in

2522-616: The Ethiopian left. Ras Seyoum and his Army of Tigre and Ras Kassa and his Army of Beghemder were the Ethiopian centre. Ras Mulugeta and his "Army of the Center" ( Mahel Sefari ) were on the Ethiopian right. A force of 1,000 Ethiopians crossed the Tekeze river and advanced toward the Dembeguina Pass (Inda Aba Guna or Indabaguna pass). The Italian commander, Major Criniti, commanded a force of 1,000 Eritrean infantry supported by L3 tanks . When

2619-407: The Ethiopians attacked, the Italian force fell back to the pass, only to discover that 2,000 Ethiopian soldiers were already there and Criniti's force was encircled. In the first Ethiopian attack, two Italian officers were killed and Criniti was wounded. The Italians tried to break out using their L3 tanks but the rough terrain immobilised the vehicles. The Ethiopians killed the infantry, then rushed

2716-422: The Ethiopians from taking advantage of their initial successes. The Ethiopians in general were very poorly armed, with few machine guns, their troops mainly armed with swords and spears. Having spent a decade accumulating poison gas in East Africa, Mussolini gave Badoglio authority to resort to Schrecklichkeit (frightfulness), which included destroying villages and using gas (OC 23/06, 28 December 1935). Mussolini

2813-421: The Ethiopians from taking advantage of their initial successes. The Italians resumed the offensive in early March. On 29 March 1936, Graziani bombed the city of Harar and two days later the Italians won a decisive victory in the Battle of Maychew , which nullified any possible organized resistance of the Ethiopians. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to escape into exile on 2 May, and Badoglio's forces arrived in

2910-506: The Ethiopians had wiped out an entire legion of the 2nd CC.NN. Division "28 Ottobre" and that the Italians had lost at least 3,000 men. Rome denied these figures. The ambitious Ethiopian plan called for Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum to split the Italian army in two and isolate the Italian I Corps and III Corps in Mekele. Ras Mulugeta would then descend from Amba Aradam and crush both corps. According to this plan, after Ras Imru retook Adwa, he

3007-494: The Ethiopians lost 6,000 killed and 12,000 wounded. From 27 to 29 February, the armies of Ras Kassa and Ras Seyoum were destroyed at the Second Battle of Tembien . Ethiopians again argued that poison gas played a role in the destruction of the withdrawing armies. In early March, the army of Ras Imru was attacked, bombed and defeated in what was known as the Battle of Shire . In the battles of Amba Aradam, Tembien and Shire,

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3104-597: The German annexation of Austria , Germany sent three aeroplanes, 10,000 Mauser rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition to the Ethiopians. The serviceable portion of the Ethiopian Air Force was commanded by a Frenchman, André Maillet, and included three obsolete Potez 25 biplanes. A few transport aircraft had been acquired between 1934 and 1935 for ambulance work, but the Air Force had 13 aircraft and four pilots at

3201-674: The Italian III Corps and the Italian IV Corps in Eritrea during early 1936. On 20 January, the Italians resumed their northern offensive at the First Battle of Tembien (20 to 24 January) in the broken terrain between the Warieu Pass and Makale. The forces of Ras Kassa were defeated, the Italians using phosgene gas and suffering 1,082 casualties against 8,000 Ethiopian casualties according to an Ethiopian wireless message intercepted by

3298-624: The Italian Army commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono attacked from Eritrea (then an Italian colonial possession) without prior declaration of war. At the same time a minor force under General Rodolfo Graziani attacked from Italian Somalia . On 6 October, Adwa was conquered, a symbolic place for the Italian army because of the defeat at the Battle of Adwa by the Ethiopian army during the First Italo-Ethiopian War . On 15 October, Italian troops seized Aksum , and an obelisk adorning

3395-561: The Italian Army was being deployed to the Horn of Africa , which led him to draw closer to France to provide the necessary deterrent. King Victor Emmanuel III shared the traditional Italian respect for British sea power and insisted to Mussolini that Italy must not antagonise Britain before he assented to the war. In that regard, British diplomacy in the first half of 1935 greatly assisted Mussolini's efforts to win Victor Emmanuel's support for

3492-769: The Italian I Corps took Adigrat , and by 6 October, Adwa (Adowa) was captured by the Italian II Corps. Haile Selassie had ordered Duke ( Ras ) Seyoum Mangasha , the Commander of the Ethiopian Army of Tigre , to withdraw a day's march away from the Mareb River. Later, the Emperor ordered his son-in-law and Commander of the Gate ( Dejazmach ) Haile Selassie Gugsa , also in the area, to move back 89 and 56 km (55 and 35 mi) from

3589-503: The Italian commander, Captain Roberto Cimmaruta, rebuffed the request. Fitorari Shiferra, the commander of the Ethiopian escort, took no notice of the 150 Italian and Somali troops and made camp. To avoid being caught in an Italian–Ethiopian incident, Clifford withdrew the British contingent to Ado, about 20 mi (32 km) to the north-east, and Italian aircraft began to fly over Welwel. The Ethiopian commissioners retired with

3686-525: The Italian forces. At 5:00 am on 3 October 1935, De Bono crossed the Mareb River and advanced into Ethiopia from Eritrea without a declaration of war . Aircraft of the Regia Aeronautica scattered leaflets asking the population to rebel against Haile Selassie and support the "true Emperor Iyasu V ". Forty-year-old Iyasu had been deposed many years earlier but was still in custody. In response to

3783-488: The Italian government, a populist movement made up of Italians and Ethiopians (both in country and expatriates around the world) began to petition the then current Italian government to return the obelisk, an event which eventually culminated in its repatriation in 2005 to Axum, the city of its creation. In the 2000s, some Italian companies have returned to operate in Ethiopia, and a large number of Italian technicians and managers arrived with their families, residing mainly in

3880-510: The Italian invasion, Ethiopia declared war on Italy. At this point in the campaign, the lack of roads represented a serious hindrance for the Italians as they crossed into Ethiopia. On the Eritrean side, roads had been constructed right up to the border. On the Ethiopian side, these roads often transitioned into vaguely defined paths, and the Italian army used aerial photography to plan its advance, as well as mustard gas attacks. On 5 October

3977-639: The Italians and planned to spend £5000 on the Viceroy and the rest on three Gloster Gladiator fighters. There were 50 foreign mercenaries who joined the Ethiopian forces, including French pilots like Pierre Corriger, American pilot John Robinson (aviator) , the Trinidadian pilot Hubert Julian , an official Swedish military mission under Captain Viking Tamm , the White Russian Feodor Konovalov and

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4074-414: The Italians captured Amba Aradam and destroyed Ras Mulugeta's army in the Battle of Amba Aradam (Battle of Enderta). The Ethiopians suffered massive losses and poison gas destroyed a small part of Ras Mulugeta's army, according to the Ethiopians. During the slaughter following the attempted withdrawal of his army, both Ras Mulugeta and his son were killed. The Italians lost 800 killed and wounded while

4171-452: The Italians had installed a military post at Welwel and were not surprised to see an Italian flag at the wells. The Ethiopian government had notified the Italian authorities in Italian Somaliland that the commission was active in the Ogaden and requested the Italians to co-operate. When the British commissioner Lieutenant-Colonel Esmond Clifford , asked the Italians for permission to camp nearby,

4268-448: The Italians suffered about 2,600 casualties and the Ethiopians about 15,000; Italian casualties at the Battle of Shire being 969 men. The Italian victories stripped the Ethiopian defences on the northern front, Tigré province had fallen most of the Ethiopian survivors returned home or took refuge in the countryside and only the army guarding Addis Ababa stood between the Italians and the rest of

4365-514: The Italians, initiating a trend of resistance that would transform into the Patriot / Arbegnoch movement. They were joined by local residents who operated independently near their own homes. Early activities included capturing war materials, rolling boulders off cliffs at passing convoys, kidnapping messengers, cutting telephone lines, setting fire to administrative offices and fuel and ammunition dumps , and killing collaborators. As disruption increased,

4462-430: The Italians. [It]...was at the time when the operations for the encircling of Makale were taking place that the Italian command, fearing a rout, followed the procedure which it is now my duty to denounce to the world. Special sprayers were installed on board aircraft so that they could vaporize, over vast areas of territory, a fine, death-dealing rain. Groups of nine, fifteen, eighteen aircraft followed one another so that

4559-499: The Italians. In the south, the Somali sultan Olol Dinle commanded a personal army, which advanced into the northern Ogaden with the forces of Colonel Luigi Frusci . The sultan was motivated by his desire to take back lands that the Ethiopians had taken from him. The Italian colonial forces even included men from Yemen , across the Gulf of Aden . The Italians were reinforced by volunteers from

4656-440: The National government in Britain, led by Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin , won a general election on a platform of upholding collective security and support for the League of Nations, which at least implied that Britain would support Ethiopia. However, the British service chiefs, led by the First Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Earle Chatfield, all advised against going to war with Italy for the sake of Ethiopia, which carried much weight with

4753-431: The advance was methodical and on 8 November, the I Corps and the Eritrean Corps captured Makale . The Italian advance had added 56 mi (90 km) to the line of supply and De Bono wanted to build a road from Adigrat before continuing. On 16 November, De Bono was promoted to the rank of Marshal of Italy ( Maresciallo d'Italia ) and in December was replaced by Badoglio to speed up the invasion. On 14 November 1935,

4850-414: The annual revenue of Italy was only 18,581 billion lire. This infrastructure development was part of a plan to bring half a million Italians to colonize the Ethiopian plateaus. The Italians created the "imperial road" between Addis Ababa and Massaua , the Addis Ababa – Mogadishu and the Addis Ababa – Assab . Italians also created new airports and in 1936 started the worldwide famous Imperial Line ,

4947-422: The area and limited itself to administering the small possessions that it retained in the area: the colony of Italian Eritrea and the protectorate (later colony) of Italian Somaliland . For the next few decades, Italian-Ethiopian economic and diplomatic relations remained relatively stable. On 14 December 1925, Italy's fascist government signed a secret pact with Britain aimed at reinforcing Italian dominance in

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5044-400: The belligerents by France and Britain disproportionately affected Ethiopia, which lacked the manufacturing industry to produce its own weapons. The Ethiopian army had some 300 trucks , seven Ford A -based armoured cars and four World War I era Fiat 3000 tanks. The best Ethiopian units were the emperor's " Kebur Zabagna " (Imperial Guard), which were well-trained and better equipped than

5141-400: The blind, and those too aged and infirm to carry a spear are excused. Anyone found at home after receiving this order will be hanged. Selassie's army consisted of around 500,000 men, some of whom were armed with spears and bows. Other soldiers carried more modern weapons including rifles, but many of them were equipment from before 1900 and so were obsolete. According to Italian estimates, on

5238-415: The border. On 11 October, Gugsa surrendered with 1,200 followers at the Italian outpost at Adagamos. Italian propagandists lavishly publicised the surrender but fewer than a tenth of Gugsa's men defected with him. On 14 October, De Bono proclaimed the end of slavery in Ethiopia but this liberated the former slave owners from the obligation to feed their former slaves, in the unsettled conditions caused by

5335-402: The borders with Ethiopia. As the Italian colonists moved further inland from the agreed upon borders of Eritrea which had been agreed upon in the Treaty of Wuchale, Emperor Menelik II saw this as an invasion less than a few decades, and support for the war was minimal, especially among Southern Italians who were forcibly conscripted. Anti-war riots and demonstrations broke out across Italy and in

5432-413: The cabinet decided upon a plan to give most of Ethiopia to Italy, with the rest in the Italian sphere of influence , as the best way of ending the war. In early December 1935, the Hoare–Laval Pact was proposed by Britain and France. Italy would gain the best parts of Ogaden and Tigray and economic influence over all the south. Abyssinia would have a guaranteed corridor to the sea at the port of Assab ;

5529-440: The cabinet. During the 1935 election, Baldwin and the rest of the cabinet had repeatedly promised that Britain was committed to upholding collective security in the belief of that being the best way to neutralise the Labour Party, which also ran on a platform emphasising collective security and support for the League of Nations. To square the circle caused by its election promises and its desire to avoid offending Mussolini too much,

5626-449: The capital Addis Ababa on 5 May. Italy announced the annexation of the territory of Ethiopia on 7 May and Italian King Victor Emmanuel III was proclaimed emperor on 9 May. The provinces of Eritrea, Italian Somaliland and Abyssinia (Ethiopia) were united to form the Italian province of East Africa . Fighting between Italian and Ethiopian troops persisted until 19 February 1937. On the same day, an attempted assassination of Graziani led to

5723-408: The city of Pavia the population came out to blockade the railroad to prevent Italian troops from leaving for Ethiopia. Many Italian prisoners of war were treated very well, and many given over to noble families for work on their estates, while others with specialized skills were used in the construction of the newly formed capital of Addis Ababa, such as St George's Cathedral . Italy and Ethiopia signed

5820-443: The city was torn from its site and sent to Rome to be placed symbolically in front of the building of the Ministry of Colonies . Exasperated by De Bono's slow and cautious progress, Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini replaced him with General Pietro Badoglio . Ethiopian forces attacked the newly arrived invading army and launched a counterattack in December 1935, but their poorly armed forces could not resist for long against

5917-426: The coming war. His comments stirred up a furor inside Japan , where there had been popular affinity for the fellow nonwhite empire in Africa, which was reciprocated with similar anger in Italy towards Japan combined with praise for Mussolini and his firm stance against the "gialli di Tokyo" ("Tokyo Yellows"). Despite popular opinion, when the Ethiopians approached Japan for help on 2 August, they were refused, and even

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6014-403: The corridor was a poor one and known as a "corridor for camels". Mussolini was ready to play along with considering the Hoare-Laval Pact, rather than rejecting it outright, to avoid a complete break with Britain and France, but he kept demanding changes to the plan before he would accept it as a way to stall for more time to allow his army to conquer Ethiopia. Mussolini was not prepared to abandon

6111-414: The country. On 31 March 1936 at the Battle of Maychew , the Italians defeated an Ethiopian counter-offensive by the main Ethiopian army commanded by Selassie. The Ethiopians launched near non-stop attacks on the Italian and Eritrean defenders but could not overcome the well-prepared Italian defences. When the exhausted Ethiopians withdrew, the Italians counter-attacked. The Regia Aeronautica attacked

6208-405: The creation of the "Italian Empire". The Italians merged Eritrea, Italian Somalia, and newly occupation Ethiopia into Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, A.O.I.). Among the war crimes committed under the orders of Mussolini was the robbing of one of the so-called Axum Obelisks (properly termed a 'stele' or, in the local Afro-Asiatic languages, hawelt/hawelti as its form is not topped by

6305-716: The eve of hostilities, the Ethiopians had an army of 350,000–760,000 men. Only about 25% of the army had any military training, and the men were armed with a motley collection of 400,000 rifles of every type and in every condition. The Ethiopian Army had about 234 antiquated pieces of artillery mounted on rigid gun carriages as well as a dozen 3.7 cm PaK 35/36 anti-tank guns. The army had about 800 light Colt and Hotchkiss machine-guns and 250 heavy Vickers and Hotchkiss machine guns, about 100 .303-inch Vickers guns on AA mounts, 48 20 mm Oerlikon S anti-aircraft guns and some recently purchased Canon de 75 CA modèle 1917 Schneider 75 mm field guns. The arms embargo imposed on

6402-432: The first weeks of war. The Kingdom of Italy began its attempts to establish colonies in the Horn of Africa in the 1880s. The first phase of the colonial expansion concluded with the disastrous First Italo-Ethiopian War and the defeat of the Italian forces in the Battle of Adwa , on 1 March 1896, inflicted by the Ethiopian Army of Negus Menelik II . In the following years, Italy abandoned its expansionist plans in

6499-430: The fog issuing from them formed a continuous sheet. It was thus that, as from the end of January 1936, soldiers, women, children, cattle, rivers, lakes, and pastures were drenched continually with this deadly rain. To systematically kill all living creatures, to more surely poison waters and pastures, the Italian command made its aircraft pass over and over again. That was its chief method of warfare. From 10 to 19 February,

6596-460: The forces invading from Eritrea on the northern front. De Bono commanded nine divisions in the Italian I Corps, the Italian II Corps and the Eritrean Corps. General Rodolfo Graziani was commander-in-chief of forces invading from Italian Somaliland on the southern front. Initially, he had two divisions and a variety of smaller units under his command: a mixture of Italians, Somalis, Eritreans, Libyans and others. De Bono regarded Italian Somaliland as

6693-420: The front. There was no way for them to verify reports that 4,700 Italians had been captured. The correspondents were told by the Ethiopians that Italian tanks had been stranded and abandoned and that Italian native troops were mutinying. Later, a report was issued that Ethiopian warriors had captured eighteen tanks, thirty-three field guns, 175 machine guns, and 2,605 rifles. In addition, this report indicated that

6790-407: The genocide in the hands of Italians in war and appeal to the society of the nations the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on 2 May 1936 and the Fascists entered the city on 5 May, after several bloody battles which included the Fascist army's use of mustard gas in battle against the Geneva Protocol of 1929 (of which Italy was a signatory). Victory was announced on 9 May 1936 and Mussolini declared

6887-439: The goal of conquering Ethiopia, but the imposition of League of Nations sanctions on Italy caused much alarm in Rome. The war was wildly popular with the Italian people, who relished Mussolini's defiance of the League as an example of Italian greatness. Even if Mussolini had been willing to stop the war, the move would have been very unpopular in Italy. Kallis wrote, "Especially after the imposition of sanctions in November 1935,

6984-540: The invasion. On 7 January 1935, a Franco-Italian Agreement was made that gave Italy essentially a free hand in Africa in return for Italian co-operation in Europe . Pierre Laval told Mussolini that he wanted a Franco-Italian alliance against Nazi Germany and that Italy had a "free hand" in Ethiopia. In April, Italy was further emboldened by participation in the Stresa Front , an agreement to curb further German violations of

7081-516: The message that Britain opposed an invasion and had a compromise plan for Italy to be given a corridor in Ethiopia to link the two Italian colonies in the Horn of Africa , which Mussolini rejected outright. As the Italians had broken the British naval codes, Mussolini knew of the problems in the British Mediterranean Fleet, which led him to believe that the British opposition to the invasion, which had come as an unwelcome surprise to him,

7178-531: The metropolitan area of the capital. In 2010, there were over 2,000 Ethiopians of Italian descent, while there were around 1,400 Italian citizens. Ethiopia has the largest concentration of Italian schools and cultural institutes in Africa (such as the Scuola Statale Italiana of Addis Abeba), which foster and promote Italian and Ethiopian culture and are free to the public. The Italian firm Salini Costruttori

7275-442: The modern weapons of the Italians. Even the communications service of the Ethiopian forces depended on foot messengers, as they did not have radio. It was enough for the Italians to impose a narrow fence on Ethiopian detachments to leave them unaware of the movements of their own army. Nazi Germany sent arms and munitions to Ethiopia because it was frustrated over Italian objections to its attempts to integrate Austria. This prolonged

7372-486: The motor vehicles to move them, but the Ethiopians had only horse-drawn carts. The Italians placed considerable reliance on their Corps of Colonial Troops ( Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali , RCTC) of indigenous regiments recruited from the Italian colonies of Eritrea, Somalia and Libya . The most effective of the Italian commanded units were the Eritrean native infantry ( Ascari ), which was often used as advanced troops. The Eritreans also provided cavalry and artillery units;

7469-563: The other Ethiopian troops. The Imperial Guard wore a distinctive greenish-khaki uniform of the Belgian Army , which stood out from the white cotton cloak ( shamma ), which was worn by most Ethiopian fighters and proved to be an excellent target. The skills of the Rases , the Ethiopian generals armies, were reported to rate from relatively good to incompetent. After Italian objections to the Anschluss ,

7566-516: The outbreak of the war. Airspeed in England had a surplus Viceroy racing plane, and its director, Neville Shute , was delighted with a good offer for the " white elephant " in August 1935. The agent said that it was to fly cinema films around Europe. When the client wanted bomb racks to carry the (flammable) films, Shute agreed to fit lugs under the wings to which they could attach "anything they liked". He

7663-462: The popularity of the Fascist regime reached unprecedented heights". On 13 December, details of the pact were leaked by a French newspaper and denounced as a sellout of the Ethiopians. The British government disassociated itself from the pact and British Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare was forced to resign in disgrace. The Christmas Offensive was intended to split the Italian forces in the north with

7760-409: The region. London recognised that the area was of Italian interest and agreed to the Italian request to build a railway connecting Somalia and Eritrea. Although the signatories had wished to maintain the secrecy of the agreement, the plan soon leaked and caused indignation by the French and Ethiopian governments. The latter denounced it as a betrayal of a country that had been for all intents and purposes

7857-483: The relative success achieved by the Ethiopians to foreigners, or ferenghi . (The Italian propaganda machine magnified the number to thousands to explain away the Ethiopian Christmas Offensive in late 1935.) There were 400,000 Italian soldiers in Eritrea and 285,000 in Italian Somaliland with 3,300 machine guns, 275 artillery pieces, 200 tankettes and 205 aircraft. In April 1935, the reinforcement of

7954-535: The reprisal Yekatit 12 massacre in Addis Ababa, in which between 1,400 and 30,000 civilians were killed. Italian forces continued to suppress rebel activity until 1939. Italian troops used mustard gas in aerial bombardments (in violation of the Geneva Protocol and Geneva Conventions ) against combatants and civilians in an attempt to discourage the Ethiopian people from supporting the resistance. Deliberate Italian attacks against ambulances and hospitals of

8051-535: The royal family remaining in Ethiopia, including the efforts of Ras Imru Haile Selassie who was captured on December 19, 1936 and taken to prison on the Island of Ponza until freed after the Armistice of Cassibile Since 1 June 1936 Italian Ethiopia was part of the newly created Italian East Africa , and was administratively composed of four governorates: Amhara , Harar , Galla-Sidamo and Scioa . The Scioa Governorate

8148-460: The so-called Italiani all'estero , members of the Italian diaspora from Argentina , Uruguay and Brazil ; they formed the 221st Legion in the Divisione Tevere , which a special Legione Parini fought under Frusci near Dire Dawa. On 28 March 1935, General Emilio De Bono was named the commander-in-chief of all Italian armed forces in East Africa. De Bono was also the commander-in-chief of

8245-472: The survivors at Lake Ashangi with mustard gas. The Italian troops had 400 casualties, the Eritreans 874 and the Ethiopians suffered 8,900 casualties from 31,000 men present according to an Italian estimate. On 4 April, Selassie looked with despair upon the horrific sight of the dead bodies of his army ringing the poisoned lake. Following the battle, Ethiopian soldiers began to employ guerrilla tactics against

8342-464: The tanks and killed their two-man crews. Italian forces organised a relief column made up of tanks and infantry to relieve Critini but it was ambushed en route. Ethiopians on the high ground rolled boulders in front of and behind several of the tanks, to immobilise them, picked off the Eritrean infantry and swarmed the tanks. The other tanks were immobilised by the terrain, unable to advance further and two were set on fire. Critini managed to break-out in

8439-494: The top 5 trading partners with Ethiopia and a major investor in the Ethiopian economy. Main colonial governors: Agenore Frangipani ; Guglielmo Nasi ; Enrico Cerulli ; Pietro Gazzera ; Luigi Frusci ; Alessandro Pirzio Biroli Italian conquest of Abyssinia The Second Italo-Ethiopian War , also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War , was a war of aggression waged by Italy against Ethiopia , which lasted from October 1935 to February 1937. In Ethiopia it

8536-428: The war and sapped Italian resources. It would soon lead to Italy's greater economic dependence on Germany and less interventionist policy on Austria, clearing the path for Adolf Hitler 's Anschluss . The Ethiopian counteroffensive managed to stop the Italian advance for a few weeks, but the superiority of the Italians' weapons (particularly heavy artillery and airstrikes with bombs and chemical weapons ) prevented

8633-410: The war. Much of the livestock in the area had been moved to the south to feed the Ethiopian army and many of the emancipated people had no choice but to appeal to the Italian authorities for food. By 15 October, De Bono's forces had advanced from Adwa and occupied the holy capital of Axum . De Bono entered the city riding on a white horse and then looted the Obelisk of Axum . To Mussolini's dismay,

8730-501: Was a change of aircraft in Benghazi (or sometimes in Tripoli ). The route was carried out in three and a half days of daytime flight and the frequency was four flights per week in both directions. Later from Addis Ababa there were three flights a week that continued to Mogadishu , capital of Italian Somalia . After WWII, some Italian Ethiopians remained in the country, until the overthrow of

8827-547: Was chosen by the Ethiopian government to design and build the Millennium or Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile river which when completed will be the largest dam and hydroelectric plant in Africa. As the Italian engineers had helped to build the first railway from Addis Ababa to Djibouti in the past, the Ethiopian government has contracted them again to expand the railroad network. For the last 20 years Italy has continued to be among

8924-534: Was even prepared to resort to bacteriological warfare as long as these methods could be kept quiet. Some Italians objected when they found out but the practices were kept secret, the government issuing denials or spurious stories blaming the Ethiopians. As the progress of the Christmas Offensive slowed, Italian plans to renew the advance on the northern front began as Mussolini had given permission to use poison gas (but not mustard gas ) and Badoglio received

9021-580: Was further assured by a political rift, which had developed between the United Kingdom and France, because of the Anglo-German Naval Agreement . As 300,000 Italian soldiers were transferred to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland over the spring and the summer of 1935, the world's media was abuzz with speculation that Italy would soon be invading Ethiopia. In June 1935, Anthony Eden arrived in Rome with

9118-459: Was not serious and that Britain would never go to war over Ethiopia. The prospect that an Italian invasion of Ethiopia would cause a crisis in Anglo-Italian relations was seen as an opportunity in Berlin . Although Hitler did not want to see Haile Selassie win, Germany provided some weapons to Ethiopia out of fear of quick victory for Italy. The German perspective was that if Italy was bogged down in

9215-594: Was originally known as the Addis Abeba Governorate , but enlarged in November 1938 with parts of the neighboring governorates of Harar, Galla-Sidamo, and Amhara. Each Governorate was under the authority of an Italian governor, answerable to the Italian viceroy , who represented the Emperor Victor Emmanuel III . Italian Ethiopia had an area of 790,000 square kilometres (305,000 sq mi) and

9312-505: Was to invade Eritrea. In November, the League of Nations condemned Italy's aggression and imposed economic sanctions. This excluded oil, however, an indispensable raw material for the conduct of any modern military campaign, and this favoured Italy. The Ethiopian counteroffensive managed to stop the Italian advance for a few weeks, but the superiority of the Italian's weaponry (artillery and machine guns) as well as aerial bombardment with chemical weapons , at first with mustard gas prevented

9409-535: Was told that the plane was to be used to bomb the Italian oil storage tanks at Massawa, and when the CID enquired about the alien (ex-German) pilot practices in it Shute got the impression that the Foreign Office did not object. However, fuel, bombs and bomb racks from Finland could not reach Ethiopia in time, and the paid-for Viceroy stayed at its works. The emperor of Ethiopia had £16,000 to spend on modern aircraft to resist

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