The National Archives | Leaders & Controversies | Mussolini & Abyssinia | Why invade...

On October 2, 1935, Mussolini's army attacked Abyssinia (Ethiopia). An excerpt from the article:

"When Italian forces launched their invasion of Ethiopia – Abyssinia at the time – on the night of 2-3 October 1935, Il Duce could be fairly confident that he risked little in the way of prevention or reprisals. The “international community” of the time, through its enfeebled League of Nations, condemned the aggression but the sanctions it imposed were futile.

France and the United Kingdom were little inclined to take coercive measures against a European government which, at that time, appeared a possible ally against any bellicose intentions of Germany, then rapidly re-arming. The Suez Canal remained open, allowing Italy ease of access to the region through its existing colony in northern Somaliland.

Italy’s overwhelming military superiority, notably its air power, left little doubt about the outcome. By early May 1936 Italian forces had entered Addis Ababa and Emperor Haile Selassie had been forced to flee.

At the outset of the war, the ICRC’s chief concern was to uphold the provisions of the Geneva Conventions, protecting the wounded and sick and – since 1929 – prisoners of war. It quickly persuaded Ethiopia to sign up to the Convention on sick and wounded – but the Emperor declined to accept the treaty covering prisoners. However, both Ethiopia and Italy were bound by the 1925 Pr otocol banning the use of poison gas.

As it does at the start of every conflict, the ICRC offered its services to both sides. Italy, through its Red Cross society, said it needed nothing; Ethiopia, on the other hand, needed everything. It had no Red Cross, no military medical services – a situation much as the one Europe had faced a century earlier and which led to the creation of the Red Cross."