Il Popolo d'Italia

Fondators: Benito Mussolini

ABYSSINIA ALMOST UNDER ITALY'S

EMPIRE!
By: Vicenzo Rossi
Date: 18 November 1935

One month ago, Mussolini for the greater good of Italy went across the
Abyssinia border. He is seeking revenge on the unfair treaty clauses that were
imposed on Italy. During World War I, Italian soldiers put in blood and sweat and
suffered through extreme conditions. Italy has conferred from the war with
670,000 killed, 480,000 disabled and more than one million wounded Italians.
And what were we awarded with? as quoted by Mussolini, "The crumbs of
colonial booty". A few hours ago, the League of Nations has just inflicted
sanctions upon us. Italians are condemned as an aggressor when expanding our
land to search for scarce resources. Italians are hanged by the throat when trying to
gain equality against other powers. The international response is unfair and highly
biased.

Tension started when Abyssinia soldiers slaughtered five Italian soldiers this
January breaking The Treaty of Friendship signed in 1928. Mussolini demanded
an apology and compensation for the tragic loss of Italian lives. Surprisingly, Hailie Selassie appealed to the League of
Nations for help when it was Italian warriors who were killed. This led to the military weapon sanction for both sides that
were not caused by any aggression from Italy. On October 3rd, Italian soldiers marched over the Abyssinia borders to stop
Italy from being domineered by the League of Nations and other powers. This helped establish Italy's ground and another
leap away from devastating little wages and having to grant foreign powers arbitrary wishes. World War I is a constant
reminder that we can not suffer through foreign powers breaking promises again. The Italian people went into the war
with the promise of the province of Tyrol, the Istrian peninsula, the port of Trieste, Dodecanese islands, the port of Fiume,
Dalmatia and colonies and came out with only 3 of the territories promised while Britain and France have colonies all over
Africa. Now, further sanctions are imposed, close to strangling Italy. For survival, Italy needs to further expand for land
and resources so that economic sanctions would feel like a punch by a flea.
The policy of autarky is an essential step for Italy's future, as mentioned above Italy would need to be self-sufficient. To
achieve this goal, expansion of land would be needed. The war with Abyssinia is the beginning of achieving autarky. Italy
has three colonies in Africa, Eritrea, Libya and part of Somaliland. Abyssinia one of the only African states that are not
under the control of Britain or France is placed in a strategic place between Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. Taking over
Abyssinia would allow Italy to have a substantial joint area of control which will bring forth access to natural resources and
trade markets. At the same time, it is eliminating Abyssinia as a possible threat to Italy's Eritrea and Somaliland. The
people in Abyssinia would also need to be civilized by the Italians to abolish feudalism and the common practice of slavery.
Italy is trying to benefit the Abyssinian people by freeing them from higher class restraints. Fascist ideology does not
promote class-based divisions in society, it promotes collectiveness of the people where the needs of all people are
represented. It further strongly opposes slavery.

The month of war against Abyssinia clearly shows the powerful Italian military strength. We have taken over Adigrat,
Adowa, Axum, Makale and Adagamos with Haile Selassie's son-in-law swiftly surrendering with his 1200 soldiers. Emilio
De Bono, the commander in chief in Abyssinia also managed to free the slaves from their master's cruel command. All of
this progress was made in a period shortly over a month. Soon Abyssinia will be under Italy's empire which aligns with
Italy's future aims. Italy will rapidly expand its empire beyond Abyssinia in the Mediterranean to which Italy has historical
rights and north Africa. By expanding Italy will gain natural resources, spazio vitale (living space) for the growing
population, achieve autarky and become even more significant in international politics. Mussolini also aims to revise the
inequitable post-war treaties to protect the rights of Italians. With Italy benefiting the Abyssinian people and abolishing
slavery whilst strengthening to protect its people, this newspaper have found the lack of support internationally for Italy is
upsetting.

Britain and France the major powers of the League of Nations as agreed and allowed and allowed economic sanctions as of
today. We, as Italians should always remember this day. Abyssinia was the state that declared war, however, Italy is
condemned as an aggressor and imposed economic sanctions. A betrayal of the good relations that Italy has been trying to
build after World War I. The Soviet Union, a communist state has stated to support Abyssinia and imposed an embargo on
all trade with Italy even after signing the Italo-Soviet non-aggression pact. The amount of hostility the Soviet Union has
shown after October is depressing. The USA has also terminated the sales of weapons to Italy. The economic sanctions
push a further emphasis on the need to be self-sufficient. This crisis has given a good warning to Italy on the countries it
can cooperate with in the future such as countries in central Europe.

Under Mussolini's lead, Italy has made great advances in Abyssinia which is commencing the expansion of the Italy
empire. Italy's empire would bring many benefits to the country and people. It is moving the country one step closer to
autarky. International response from Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the USA has been unfair towards Italy and
Italians will forever remember November 18th!
Rationale
I have chosen the option to write an Italian newspaper report because I was interested in researching the Italian view on the
Abyssinia Crisis and what events were used as propaganda. I also felt that personally, the Italian option would be more
challenging as it needs more creative writing skills which I am not good at. It also sounded like an interesting newspaper to
write.

The three specific factors that I focused on were Italy's actions in Abyssinia, how it alines with future aims and the
newspaper's view on the international response to Italy's actions. I have tried to write these aspects all from Italy's
perspective with a tint of propaganda for Mussolini and Fascism. I started with a lead that briefly summarises the content
of the article. I inserted statistics such as "Italy has conferred from the war with 670,000 killed, 480,000 disabled and more
than one million wounded Italians." to evoke anger from the public about the unfair treaty. In the next paragraph, I explain
how the tension began and left out some details to write it from an Italian government perspective. I left out events such as
Mussolini building a fort in Abyssinia. I did this to paint an image where Italy seems like the victim to also evoke strong
negative emotions from nationalists in Italy. I also purposely didn't include any information on Italy's economic situation,
this is because Mussolini intended for the Abyssinia crisis to distract Italians from the domestic economic problems. I also
included Mussolini's aims for Italy such as the policy of autarky and the need for expansion. I included this aim to advertise
Mussolini's ideal for Italy and gain support for fascism as it seems to be trying to improve Italians' life through expansion
and fighting for unequal treatment of Italians. I also emphasised the irritation with the economic sanctions and
international response from Britain, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. I mentioned possible cooperation with
countries in central Europe which is hinting at an alliance with Germany. Additional details I added was the name of the
newspaper "Il Popolo d'Italia" which is a newspaper founded by Mussolini.

I used both primary and secondary sources to gather information for the article. I used primary sources such as Italian
newspapers to have a better understanding of the perspective and information the Italian newspaper was giving during the
time. I also used Mussolini's speech to discover more about the explanations he gave for invading Abyssinia. I used
secondary sources to find information on the overview of the war up until November 18th and international reactions
towards Italy.

To conclude, I found writing the newspaper an enjoyable task and it was really interesting to learn more about the Italian's
perspective and how they were conveying that to the public.
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