The Second Italo-Ethiopian War (1935-1936)

A clash between Italian and Ethiopian forces at the Wal Wal oasis in the Ogaden, then inside Ethiopian territory, killed dozens of soldiers. Italy demanded compensation and a formal apology; Ethiopia referred the dispute to the League of Nations. The incident became Mussolini's pretext for invasion.

Location: Wal Wal, Ethiopian Ogaden

Italian forces under General Emilio De Bono crossed from Eritrea into Ethiopia from the north, opening a seven-month war without a formal declaration. Ethiopia's forces, led by Emperor Haile Selassie, were vastly outnumbered in armor and aircraft, though they matched Italy in total mobilized manpower.

Location: Ethiopian-Eritrean frontier

The League of Nations declared Italy the aggressor and imposed limited economic sanctions on arms exports, loans, and select imports. Crucially, the sanctions excluded oil, coal, and steel, and Britain left the Suez Canal open to Italian shipping, a gap widely criticized at the time as hollowing out the measures.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

A secret Franco-British proposal, drafted by Foreign Ministers Samuel Hoare and Pierre Laval, would have partitioned Ethiopia and ceded large territories to Italy in exchange for ending the war. Its leak provoked public outrage in both countries, forced the ministers' resignations, and was received in Italy as proof the Western powers would not seriously resist.

Location: London and Paris

Italian forces under Generals Badoglio and Graziani used mustard gas delivered by air against Ethiopian troops and civilians, in violation of the 1925 Geneva Protocol Italy had ratified. Use of chemical weapons continued through the campaign, later documented by Red Cross reports and Ethiopian and international testimony.

Location: Northern Ethiopia

The largest set-piece battle of the war saw the Ethiopian northern army under Ras Mulugeta defeated by Italian forces combining artillery, air power, and gas. Thousands of Ethiopian soldiers died. The battle broke the first of the three main Ethiopian armies.

Location: Amba Aradam, Tigray, Ethiopia

Haile Selassie personally led a counteroffensive that was crushed by superior Italian firepower, destroying the last major Ethiopian field army. Ethiopian casualties, including those from gas attacks, were heavy. The road to the capital lay open.

Location: Maychew, Tigray, Ethiopia

Italian forces entered Addis Ababa after Haile Selassie fled into exile, spending the following years in Britain. On May 9 Mussolini proclaimed the birth of Italian East Africa, merging Ethiopia with Eritrea and Somaliland, and King Victor Emmanuel III assumed the title of Emperor of Ethiopia.

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

In exile, Haile Selassie addressed the League of Nations in person, condemning the invasion, the use of chemical weapons, and the failure of collective security, and warning: "It is us today. It will be you tomorrow." His speech, interrupted by jeering Italian journalists, became a landmark statement of the crisis of the interwar order.

Location: Geneva, Switzerland

The League lifted its weak sanctions in July 1936 without reversing the conquest, and Italy withdrew from the League the following year. The failure over Ethiopia, alongside the earlier Manchuria crisis, demonstrated the impotence of collective security, emboldening further Axis aggression and pushing Ethiopia into alliance with Britain at the outbreak of World War II.

After a failed attempt on the life of Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani, Italian forces and Blackshirt militias carried out three days of reprisal killings in Addis Ababa, with death tolls estimated in the thousands to tens of thousands. The massacre and subsequent Debre Libanos killings became emblematic of the brutality of the occupation.

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

During the East African campaign of World War II, British and Commonwealth forces together with Ethiopian patriots ("Arbegnoch") drove out the Italians. Addis Ababa was liberated in April, and Haile Selassie returned to the capital on May 5, 1941, exactly five years after its fall, restoring Ethiopian independence.

Location: Addis Ababa, Ethiopia