Italian Invasion of

Ethiopia

my decision

On October 3, 1935, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia on the African continent began. From Eritrea, then part of its colonial empire, the troops of Italian general De Bono attacked Ethiopia, without formalizing a declaration of war. Seven months later, the Ethiopian emperor, Haile Selassie, left the country to go into exile in England, consolidating the victory of the Italians. For the historian Gaetano Salvemini, Ethiopia experienced the first of the aggressions that triggered the Second World War.

Italy's colonizing claims towards Ethiopia date back to the 19th century. Recently unified, the European country belatedly entered the dispute with other powers on the continent for the colonization of Africa and made the Ethiopian Empire, one of the few African territories that had not been dominated by Europeans, one of its targets. In 1887, supported by the British, Italian troops tried to subdue the Ethiopians, but were defeated by about 7,000 men in the so-called Battle of Dogali. In the following years, a succession dispute between the Ethiopians caused Menelik II, in search of recognition as emperor, to sign the Treaty of Wuchale, in which he ceded the coast of the country to the Italians in exchange for arms. Such territory was incorporated into the Italian Empire as Eritrea.