At the outbreak of the European war, on 3 September 1939, Mussolini refrained from involving himself in the war. He nevertheless declared that fascist Italy, a close ally of nazi Germany, was in a state of “pre-belligerency”. By that he implied that he was committed to eventually participating in the struggle. By postponing his entry …
Despite Ethiopia’s military collapse in 1935-6, patriotic resistance continued throughout the occupation. Many patriotic Ethiopians were from the outset determined to continue the struggle. The first to do so was Lej Hayla Maryam Mammo, of Dabra Berhan, 130 kilometres north of Addis Ababa, who on 4 May 1936 attacked a group of invading forces on …
We saw last week how Mussolini’s invasion led to the establishment of an Italian fascist empire. Now read on: A.O.I. The Italian occupation led to important political and other changes. Italian-occupied Ethiopia was officially merged with Eritrea and Somalia, into an entirely new territory designated Africa Orientale Italiana (A.O.I.), i.e. Italian East Africa. This for …
We saw last week how the the Italian Fascist army began to advance on Addis Ababa in the early Spring of 1936. Now read on: Badoglio and Graziani’s Manifestly Incorrect Picture of the War In considering official Italian accounts of the war it should be noted that the fascist use of gas is fully substantiated, …
We saw last week how the League of Nations, faced by Mussolini’s invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, branded fascist Italy as the aggressor, but imposed only ineffective sanctions. Now read on: The Hoare-Laval Proposals The British and French foreign ministries, which also had no desire to see the imposition of an oil sanction, strove meanwhile …
We saw last week how Mussolini used the Wal Wal incident of December 1934 to launch his unprovoked invasion of Ethiopia, on 3 October 1935. Now read on: League of Nations Sanctions Confronted with the long-anticipated act of invasion the League of Nations met, on 5 October, and, six days later, ruled that the Italian …
We saw last week how Mussolini and his fascist aide De Bono planned to invade Ethiopia, and how the French Government, preoccupied with the rise of nazi Germany, withdrew its earlier opposition to Italian expansion at Ethiopia’s expence. Now read on: Fascist War Preparations Fascist Italy, aware that there would no longer be any significant …
Ethiopia, the victor of the battle of Adwa in 1896, was by the early twentieth century the only state in Africa to have survived the European Scramble for the continent. The country was, however, dangerously situated between two Italian coastal colonies, Eritrea and Somalia. These territories could scarcely be developed in isolation from the Ethiopian …
We saw last week that after the fall of Lej Iyasu, in 1916, the Ethiopian nobility arranged for Menilek’s daughter Zawditu to ascend the imperial throne, while Dajazmach Tafari Makonnen, son of Menilek’s cousin, Ras Makonnen, was nominated Heir to the Throne. Now read on: Zawditu, and Tafari The political settlement of 1916, which divided …
The last decades of Menilek’s (1889-1913) reign marked the beginning of Ethiopia’s modernisation, which had been delayed, among other reasons by almost a century of internal or external warfare. An unprecedented period of peace after the battle of Adwa, the opening up of foreign contacts in the aftermath of the Italian defeat, and the advent …