Italian invasion of Abyssinia
| Second Italo-Ethiopian War | |||||||||
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| Part of the Interwar Period | |||||||||
 Italian artillery in Tembien, Ethiopia, in 1936. |
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| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Ethiopia
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| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Benito Mussolini Victor Emmanuel III Emilio De Bono Pietro Badoglio Rodolfo Graziani Hamid Idris Awate Olol Dinle
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Haile Selassie I Imru Haile Selassie Kassa Haile Darge Seyum Mangasha Mulugeta Yeggazu † Desta Damtew Nasibu Emmanual (WIA)
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| Strength | |||||||||
| Approx. 500,000 combatants (Approx. 100,000 mobilized) Approx. 595 aircraft Approx. 795 tanks |
c. 800,000 combatants (c. 330,000 mobilized) 13 aircraft 4 tanks and 7 armored cars |
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| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 10,000 killed1(est. May 1936) 44,000 wounded (est. May 1936) 9,555 killed2(est. 1936–1940) 144,000 sick and wounded (est. 1936–1940) Total: c. 208,000 killed or wounded. |
c. 275,000 combatants killed, c. 500,000 wounded Total: c. 775,000 combatants and civilians killed or wounded (1935-1940). |
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1Official pro-Fascist Italian figures are around 3,000, which Alberto Sbacchi considers deflated. |
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1Official pro-Fascist Italian figures are around 3,000, which Alberto Sbacchi considers deflated.
The Second Italo-Ethiopian War, also referred to as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, was a colonial war that started in October 1935, after a battle on 5 December 1934, and ended in May 1936. The war was fought between the armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy and the armed forces of the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). The war resulted in the military occupation of Ethiopia.
Politically, like the Mukden Incident in 1931 (the Japanese annexation of three Chinese provinces), the Abyssinia Crisis in 1935 is often seen as a clear demonstration of the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations. Italy and Ethiopia were member nations and yet the League was unable to control Italy or to protect Ethiopia when Italy clearly violated Article X of the Covenant of the League of Nations.
The Italian victory in the war coincided with the zenith of the international popularity of dictator Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime, during which colonialist leaders praised Mussolini for his actions. The victory also brought Mussolini unprecedented popularity within Italy. Shortly after the war, Ethiopia was consolidated with Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into Italian East Africa. Mussolini's international popularity decreased as he endorsed the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany in 1938, beginning a political tilt toward Germany that ultimately destroyed Mussolini and the Fascist regime in Italy in World War II.
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Wikipedia