While Ethiopia managed to be the only African nation to retains independence
European attempts to conquer the nation had been attempted the italians attempted in
1895 but failed and ever since that failure had want to exact revenge
However tensions back at home prevented action against the state for decades to come
But in 1935 40 years after their first war
Italy would once again invade the Ethiopian nation with the Gulf annexing it into the Italian colonial empire
This was the second etho Italian war
The victory of the black Ethiopians over the white Italians in
1895 caused a so-called deep national trauma in Italy as they supposedly inferior Theo pians
reviewed as incapable of defeating the Italians and
Italy was the only European nation to lose a major war with an african country during the Scramble for Africa in
1906 a secret anglo-italian
French agreement had signed Ethiopia to the Italian sphere of influence and the Italian military
had prepped invasion plans starting in 1908
World War one and the immediate aftermath
Kind of got him away
Even with the fascist regime under Mussolini coming into power in the 20s
the nation liked the ability to project enough power towards an
Ethiopian invasion as they are still facing major problems in Libya and
Suppressing native unrest the issue that drove the two nations to war
Once again was a question about the border the two nations had signed a treaty in
1928 that detailed the line between Italian East Africa and Ethiopia
however, a foreign outside of wawa was still occupied by Italians years later on November the 23rd of
1934 an Anglo Ethiopian border Commission for grazing lands in the area
Requested to be able to camp around the fort which the Italians refused
Following this both sides with the bridge leaving began to gather reinforcements with the Ethiopians numbering around
1500 against 500 Italians within two weeks on December
The 5th shots rang out. The Italians were supported by an armored car and bomber aircraft
The bombs missed a machine gun fired from the car caused around 110 Ethiopian casualties
30 to 50 Italians were also killed
This incident led to the so-called
Abyssinian crisis at the League of Nations on
September the 4th the League of Nations exonerated both parties for the incident on
October the 3rd, the Italians invaded
With around half a million men the Ethiopians in a response managed to raise around
750,000 men but only a quarter of them were properly trained and equipped with some mune still armed with bows and Spears
while many more were equipped with pre 1900 firearms the nation's air force was essentially non-existent and
outside of four World War one tanks and a few anti-tank rifles
It had no way to combat the nearly 200 Italian tanks earmarked for the invasion
Britain and France put a large amount of pressure both politically and economically
Against Italy to halt the invasion unlike League sanctions against Germany, which simply wouldn't have worked
Italy's economy was rather alliant on heavy trade with the Western powers a
Pact was reached with the heads of state that would give Italy the eastern quarter of Abyssinia Willa grant in
Ethiopia a rather poor corridor to the Red Sea
Mussolini stalled the best he could trying to give his army enough time to fully occupy the ination
But the events was pretty slow and Ethiopia is a rather
rather large nation the advance had a number of issues
However, the Christmas counter-offensive launched by the Ethiopians managed to push the Italians back several miles
with the important cities of Demba guina and TECA C being
retaken an entire wing of the Italian Army heavily damaged
However, this wish start lived at the turn of the Year reinforced with two full cores and the authorization to use chemical weapons
the Italians resumed the advance inflicting heavy losses all along the line and
effectively near the Ethiopian northern army at the Battle of Antietam
in mid-february
bales, attending Shire and maica all resulted in Italian victories and the Ethiopian army
Restorative guerrilla warfare in the north to beat the materially and often numerically superior
Italian army all while fighting continued on in the south of the nation even with this. However
The capital addis ababa was viewed as no longer suitable to protect
And the Emperor fled to Britain with the nation's gold reserve
While Prince Regent Emer Holly Sally a cousin of the Emperor continued to fight with a new capital and gore
Major palace in occur following this as the Ethiopian army
Merely States guerrilla warfare against the occupying Italians even up until World War two
The nation wasn't occupied and it was a significant drain on the Italian military
Economy and political power as a whole all of which would be a loss
1941 with the East African campaign
But that is a story for another time
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