History Grade 10

Unit 5

Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1941) and Its Aftermath

Italo-Ethiopian Relations, 1906-35

 Signs of revival of Italian colonial interests in Ethiopia:-

1. Italy’s plan to building a railway connecting her colonies of

Eritrea and Somalia.

2. Italy’s growing interest came following her entry into WWI.

3. In 1922 Fascist seized power in Italy

4. By the 1925 Anglo-Italian agreement the government of Italy

agreed to give a diplomatic support to Britain’s plan of building a

Dam on Lake Tana.

 Italy tried to hide her colonial interest over Ethiopia and showed friendly gestures towards
Ethiopia:-
- Italy’s diplomatic support to Ethiopia’s in the League of Nations in 1923.
- Ras Teferi (1924) official visit to Italy.
- Peace & Friendship treaty was signed in 1928.
 Italy used Eritrea and Somalia as bases of military preparations.

The Walwal Incident and the Reaction of the League of Nations

 By the 1930s Italians had established illegal control over Walwal /Ogaden/Somali region.
 Walwal is a place located inside the Ethiopian territory of Ogaden.
 On 5 December, 1934, Italian troops, who were just waiting for a pretext for aggression,
opened fire on an Anglo-Ethiopian noundary commission passing through the area around
the water wells of Walwal escorted by Ethiopian troops. This led to an armed clash between
the two forces(Italy &Ethiopia).
 The League of Nations imposed sanctions on both Italy & Ethiopia.
 The league was unable to take a military action against the aggressor/Italy.
 Italy invaded Ethiopia, using the Walwal incident as a pretext/false reason.

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The Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935-36

 Italian invasion came from two directions:-

1. from Eritrea (led by Marshal Emilio De Bono later replaced by Badoglio)
2. Italian Somaliland (in south commanded by Grazziani)
 Badoglio led the highly ruthless phase of the war on the northern front.
 Ethiopia’s counter offensive came late because of two reasons:-
1. Ethiopia trusted the League of Nations hoped fair justice.
2. Ethiopia wanted to stretch out Italy’s line of supplies by allowing them to proceed deep
into the interior.
 In the north, the Ethiopian army was put under the overall command of Ras Kasa Hailu.It
fought the Italians in three directions. The forces under the minister of war, Ras Mulugeta
Yigezu, fought on the eastern direction at the battle of Amba Aradom. At the center were the
forces of Ras Kasa and Ras Seyoum Mengesha. Ras Imiru Haile Silase led a force that fought
against Italians in Shire, i.e. western direction. The Ethiopians won some battles in the
western front. However, they were unable to stop the overall Italian advance.
 Ethiopians could not withstand Italian aerial bombardment and poison gas.
 The Italians won victory at the battles of Tembien and Amba Aradom.
 Ras Mulugeta Yegezu fought with Italians at the battle of Amba Aradom(Italians won). Ras
Mulugeta lost his life.
 Ethiopians fought the battle of Maichew on 31 March, 1936. Nonethless, they lost this battle
as well.
 On 2 May, 1936 Haile Selassie, his royal family and some notable officials left Addis Ababa
for Europe via Djibouti.
 On May 5, 1936, Addis Ababa came under the control of the Italian army led by Marshal
Badoglio.
 Harar was occupied by the Italians, some days after the fall of Addis Ababa.
 Factors for the defeat of Ethiopia by Italy:-
- Italy’s military superiority
- The quantity & quality of arms
- Quality of logistics
- Italy had experienced commanders
- Italy had absolute air control
- Poison gas frustrated Ethiopian troops
- Ethiopian war efforts had been further weakened by arms embargo.
- Neighboring colonial powers blocked the import of arms into Ethiopia
- Ethiopian army was predominantly traditional.
- The former provincial rulers sided with Italians.
- Many of Ethiopians trusted Italian propaganda (for different political , economic and
religious reasons)

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Fascist Rule and Patriotic Resistance 1936-41

 Ethiopia was merged with the other Italian colonies.(in 1936, Italy declared the establishment
of Italian East Africa).
 The first fascist governor of Italian East Africa was Badoglio (soon replaced by Grazziani )
 The last Italian viceroy was Amadeo Umberto D’Aosta, whose administration is said to be
relatively liberal.
 The Italian East African Empire had six administrative divisions named:-
- Eritrea & Tigrai
- Amhara
- Shoa
- Oromo & Sidama
- Harar & Diredawa
- Ogaden & Somalia
 The administrative devisions ruled from the towns of Asmara, Gonder, Addis Ababa, Jimma,
Harar and Moqadisho which were made capitals of their respective administrative.
 The Fascist occupation was a military rule, racist, violent and highly centralized.
 Italian effective control, in most cases, was limited to towns due to a nation-wide patriotic
resistance.
 Italian occupation witnessed the establishment of few factories(like food, textile, cement).
 Italians expelled other foreign companies engaged in trade and replaced them by their own.
 The period of Italian occupation saw the expansion of
- hotels and
- prostitution

The Patriotic Resistance Movement

 Italians faced nation-wide opposition(Ethiopians were not willing to surrender the

independence of their country).
 Ras Imiru Haile Silassie was a designated viceroy of the emperor, in exile after 1936.
 There were two stages of patriotic resistance:-
- The first was a continuity of the major war, and it lasted up to early 1937.(led by upper
nobility)
- The second attempt to liberate Addis Aba was carried out in the summer of 1936.
(organized by notable commanders)

Black Lion Organization

- Formed in 1936
- Consisted of graduates of Holota Military Academy and some other civilians.
- Engaged in fighting the Italians around Naqamte, in Wollega.
- Ras Imru was the head of Black Lion organization.

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 Ras Imru led the patriots to liberate Addis Ababa, the forces of Ras Imiru were defeated
 On February 19, 1937, Moges Asgedom and Abraha Deboch made an attempt to assassinate
the Italian Viceroy, Graziani.
 The Italian soldiers carried out a wholesale massacre of Ethiopians in the city.
 These atrocities provoked a new wave of nation-wide opposition to Italian rule.
 The patriots made a series of surprise attacks on enemy forces, camps, vehicles and broke
enemy lines of communications.
 Ethiopian resistance fighters had no organized system of supplies and provinces.
 Yewust arbegnoch(“inner patriots”) were patriots who lived and often worked with Italians in
towns but passed on useful information to the patriots.
Weakness of The Patriots
- There were personal conflicts
- Shortage of arms, food, clothing, and medicine
- The patriots lacked proper coordination ,
- they had no strong uniting political organization
 The final liberation of Ethiopia was achieved by the combined efforts of internal and external
forces which was partly related to the second world war.

The Second World War and the Liberation of Ethiopia

 WWII was fought between two major military blocs.

- The Allied powers, France, Britain and USA, USSR
- Axis powers, Germany, Japan and Italy
 WWII broke out in 1939.
 The major causes of World War II were numerous:-
- the impact of the Treaty of Versailles
- the worldwide economic depression
- failure of appeasement
- the rise of militarism in Germany and Japan,
- the failure of the League of Nations.
 Fascism advocates:-
- national chauvinism
- glorification of violence
- imperialism
 Fascism first emerged in Italy where it seized power in 1922.
 The Nazi party, led by Adolf Hitler controlled power in Germany in 1933. Hitler (1889-
1945)was born in Austria, and lived there.
 Hitler came to Germany, joined the German army and fought in World War I. In 1919 he
joined the Nazi party (National Socialist German Workers’ Party)

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 November, 1923 Hitler attempted a coup d’etatwith his army named “Brown shirts”. The
coup was aborted and Hitler was imprisoned. In prisons Hitler wrote a book entitled Meine
Kampf(My struggle) which presents his philosophy and future plan.
 Benito Mussolini, fascists aspired to build a great Italian empire in Africa.
 Militaristic Japan also planned, to expand the Japanese Empire by means of conquests.
 Britain and France followed the policy of appeasement.
 Appeasement a political idea that peace can be obtained by giving an enemy what he
demands.
 The USA preferred a policy of isolation (not to ally with any power).
 In 1931 Japan had invaded Manchuria.
 Sino-Japanese war 1937-1945 for total subjugation of China.
 Germany reoccupied the Rhineland in March, 1936.
 The Spanish Civil War (1936-39), in which Germany and Italy intervened, was another
indicator of aggressive move of the two powers.
 To demonstrate their fascist solidarity Germany and Italy gave material support to the
Spanish nationalist party, which became victorious.
 In March, 1938 Adolf Hitler of Germany incorporated Austria under the pretext of uniting
Austrian Germans with Germany.
 Hitler annexed parts of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 under the pretext of uniting the
Sudetan Germans with Germany.
 In September 1938, Britain, France and Germany signed the Munich Deal.
 The Munich agreement allowed Germany to take part of Czechoslovakia inhabited by
German speaking Sudetans.
 In August 1939, Germany and the USSR signed the Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression pact.
 Germany invaded Poland on 1 September, 1939. This event marked the beginning of World
War II. On 3 September, 1939, Britain and France declared war on Germany.