When the United States was in economic crisis and Britain and France had to face the challenge of Germany's strong rise, Italy's great dictator Mussolini finally couldn't bear it anymore and launched a war first.
After Mussolini ascended the throne of Italy's "New Caesar", his imperialist ambitions expanded even more, threatening to rebuild the "New Roman Empire" and turn the Mediterranean into an Italian lake; he coveted the Danube River Basin and the Balkans, and deliberately planned to invade
Africa, Abyssinia (Ethiopia) became his primary hunting target.
Abyssinia is a landlocked country located in the northeastern part of Africa. The country covers an area of more than 1.22 million square kilometers, of which the plateau area accounts for 2/3 of the country's total area. The average height is 2,500 meters to 3,000 meters. It has the "Africa"
Known as the "Roof", the terrain in the west gradually declines, tilting towards the Sudan Plain. There are deserts and semi-deserts in the north, northeast and south, accounting for 28% of the country's total area. There is a large rift valley running through the entire territory from northeast to southwest, with a width of
It is more than 100 kilometers long and more than 2 kilometers deep. It is part of the East African Rift Valley.
Although Abyssinia is located in the tropics, due to its high terrain and mild climate, the average annual temperature ranges from 11 degrees Celsius to 27 degrees Celsius.
degrees Celsius, the annual average temperature in the capital Addis Ababa is 13 degrees Celsius, but the valleys and lowlands are hotter. The dry season is from October to April of the following year, and the rainy season is from May to September. The annual rainfall in the plateau area is about 1,000 degrees Celsius.
—1500 mm. There are many rivers and lakes in the territory. The largest lake is Lake Tana. The main rivers are Awash River, Abe River and Shabelle River. The highest mountain is Ras-Daxiang Mountain.
Abyssinia is an ancient country with a history of 3,000 years. In 975 BC, Menelik I became king. From the 13th to the 16th century AD, the Amhara people established an emerging country-Abyssinia.
Because it is located in the tropics, cash crops are relatively developed and are rich in coffee, cotton and tobacco. Abyssinia is one of the world's major coffee producers and exporters, and its livestock industry is relatively developed. The main livestock include cattle, sheep, horses, camels, etc.
Leather is another important export material in Abyssinia. It is also rich in mineral resources. Platinum, gold, manganese, copper, oil, etc. have been discovered. However, due to its backward economy, it is unable to mine. The people live in extreme poverty.
Therefore, since the 16th century, it has become the target of plunder by European powers.
In 1543, the Portuguese began to invade. In the mid-19th century, the British invaded. At the end of the 19th century, the Italian colonial forces crowded out the British forces and occupied the Red Sea coastal areas. In February 1890, Italy merged this area into Eritrea.
colony, and unilaterally declared Abyssinia to be under its "protection".
From 1895 to 1896, Abyssinia engaged in a war against Italy. The war started on March 1, 1896
In the Battle of Adua, the Italian invading army suffered a disastrous defeat. In this battle, the Italian army suffered 6,500 casualties and 2,500 prisoners, while the Albanian army only lost 3,000 people. In the history of the African people's resistance to aggression, Abiy
Xenia wrote a glorious page.
After Mussolini seized power, he stepped up arms expansion and war preparations, threatening to "strip the shame of Adua." After Mussolini seized power, he stepped up arms expansion and war preparations, threatening to "strip the shame of Adua."
Seize the ancient civilized country of Abyssinia as your own.
Driven by this purpose, Italian fascism used both soft and hard tactics and carried out various activities.
First of all, under the cover of diplomacy, Italian consulates are located all over the country. In fact, there are no Italian causes to protect in those places. Usually those consuls are the only Italians in the local area. They do not engage in ordinary consular work, but work according to the
Mussolini gave their mission to collect intelligence, grasp the trends of the host country, and wait for opportunities to incite and create civil strife. Italy has many spies and spies in Abyssinia. They operate secretly, buy people's hearts, and sow discord between the tribes.
, causing them to leave the emperor and return to Italy. They are almost pervasive and penetrate into all areas. In order to obtain information in a timely manner, each consulate has a radio station, and they can exchange news with the capital Addis Ababa at any time. Therefore, Italy is very interested in this
The ancient country knew everything that happened, more promptly and accurately than the Abyssinian government.
In order to meet the needs of future wars, the Italian Embassy opened a communications school in the country's capital to specially train the consulate's telegraph personnel. After short-term training, they were sent to serve in various intelligence stations.
In order to win people's hearts and cultivate pro-Italian forces, they also set up hospitals, schools and clubs in various places. In schools run by Italy, Abyssinian children are also treated like Italian children!
They dressed the children in beautiful and clean clothes and set up various toys in some large playgrounds. After the students had passed for a few weeks, they saluted in the Fascist way and shouted in their own language: "Mo
Long live Solini!”
What did Italy want in Abyssinia? The world only heard about the Italy-Abyssin dispute on December 5, 1934, when several Italian invading soldiers were killed in a skirmish at Varvar.
In fact, this kind of conflict has a long history and has continued since the Adwa War. In 1906 and 1928, Italy signed treaties with Abyssinia twice, guaranteeing to maintain the original borders. Therefore, in
After the Varvar incident, Mussolini's fanatical aggressive actions suddenly shocked this peace-loving country.
What happened is this: As early as the autumn of 1934, Italy transported aircraft and tanks to its colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, and built airports; on December 5, in Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland,
The neighboring Ogaden province, the Var-Var Oasis, launched a provocation to test the ground for a large-scale armed invasion of Abyssinia. The invasion of the Italian army was counterattacked by the local Abyssinian garrison, thus leading to a deliberate war of aggression.
And thus began an anti-aggression war.
After the war started, both sides successively increased their troops. Italian aircraft, artillery, and tanks carried out unbridled and brutal massacres against the innocent Abyssinian people. However, in this mountainous jungle area, Italian tanks could not display their power.
Power. The Abyssinians rarely used rifles. They drew their sabers and attacked the Italians. In one battle, they completely disabled a tank. The Abyssinian warriors inserted their lances and sabers into
It jumped into the tank's tracks and destroyed its machinery.
The Italian artillery could not destroy anything, and they could not find the real target to attack. The Abyssinians were hiding in the bushes, so the Italians exploded aimlessly. When the two sides fought hand-to-hand, they were afraid
The bombs hit their own people, so the Italian planes were of no help. After a fierce battle, both sides won and lost. When the Abyssinians organized a second counterattack, the Askaras of the Italian army attacked their white men.
The officers rebelled, and an Italian officer was killed by his Somali soldiers before the Italian troops withdrew.
In this firefight, Italy suffered more than 2,300 casualties. According to the situation at the time, the Italian army was in a very bad situation. If the Abyssinians continued to attack, they would be unable to resist.
However, the Abyssinian government, which was worried about the further expansion of the war, put forward a proposal to stop the war and achieve peace. The Italian fascist government not only rejected this reasonable proposal, but also further proposed ceding territory, paying compensation and demanding that the Abyssinians
At the same time, Mussolini mobilized two black shirt divisions of 1911 and 1912 to the warring areas. Obviously, what this fascist leader dreamed of was a big empire. He not only hoped to conquer
Abyssinia, and also hoped to get British Somaliland, dreaming of a huge colony five times the size of his motherland.
Italy's aggressive activities naturally created an instinct for war in Abyssinia. As a result, when Italy made unreasonable demands, they angrily rejected them. Subsequently, the war mobilization on both sides further escalated.
In order to further expand the war of aggression, Mussolini appointed General Debono as the Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Army in East Africa in January 1935, and went to Eritrea to deploy for the war of aggression. Starting from February, a large number of troops were transferred to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland.
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By the autumn of 1935, 300,000 Italian troops were massed on Abyssinia's northern and southeastern borders.
Facing the Italian aggression, Emperor Haile Selassie of Abyssinia issued a war mobilization to the people of the country. He said: "The Italian army's continuous aggression against Abyssinia makes it impossible for us to turn a blind eye any longer.
One eye is closed. It’s time for us to stand up and defend our country,"
Despite this, he still advocated a peaceful solution to the dispute between the two countries. He further said: "What we currently hope is to return to us the areas illegally occupied by Italian troops. Italy's aggression and expansion in Africa have caused real harm to us.
Threat, when the Boundary Treaty of 1906 was concluded, Italy had already expressed an intention to unite its two colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, which naturally destroyed the integrity of the Abyssinian land,
Italy's aggressive actions not only threaten the security of a democratic country, but also trample on the Charter of the League of Nations!"
He asked the League of Nations to impose sanctions on Italy for its aggressive actions, and called on international public opinion to support the Abyssinian people's struggle to safeguard the independence of their motherland.
However, Italy's aggressive activities were not opposed by the League of Nations and Western governments, but were encouraged and supported by them.
After Hitler seized power in Germany in 1933, the fascists frantically expanded their armaments and prepared for war. The contradiction between Germany and Britain and France became increasingly acute. France got closer to Italy in an attempt to establish a united front of Britain, France and Italy to jointly deal with the German threat.
Therefore, it caters to Italy's ambition to invade Abyssinia!