Second Italian-Ethiopian War

Paper Summary:

The paper explains that Benito Mussolini's war ambitions with Ethiopia primarily stemmed from a two-folded national embarrassment and therefore the Ethiopian "problem" was created and instigated by Mussolini. The paper examines the possible solutions that could have averted an Italian war with Ethiopia and illustrates how the historical account of the event presents many "should have, could have and would haves." The paper explains that these solutions all would have required a collaborative effort on the part of Britain and France in ensuring that Mussolini would have neither had the capability nor desire to go to war with Ethiopia.

From the Paper:

"The second Italo-Ethiopian War of the 1930s exemplifies the pervasiveness of national pride in territorial conquest and state rivalries. The Italians, having suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians during the colonization of Africa in the late 1800s, sought this conflict thirty years later in an effort to revitalize a national sense of superiority. Italian dictator Benito Mussolini wanted to streamline his fascist regime by pre-empting a war with independent Ethiopia in order to remedy the initial embarrassment of being the only European army to lose a war with native Africans during colonization."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Baer, George . The Coming of the Italian-Ethiopian War. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1967.
• Boca, Angelo Del. The Ethiopian War 1935-1941. 1965.
• Goodwin, Clayton. "When Italy invaded Ethiopia... 70 years ago." New Africa, 2005.
• Hardie, Frank . The Abyssinian Crisis. Hamden, Conn.: Archon Books, 1974.
• "Italy Abyssinia (Ethiopia) War 1935-1936." OnWar.com - Wars, Military History,

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