Hitler's Germany also adopted a rather special attitude. Although it had a lot in common with fascist Italy ideologically, the head of state still remembered Italy's attitude towards his annexation of Austria, and was worried about a powerful country that had annexed Abyssinia.
Italy would further hinder German operations in Europe, so he authorized his men to provide aid to Abyssinia in order to entangle Italian troops in Africa. While keeping this secret from the Italians, the Germans moved to Abyssinia.
3 aircraft, more than 60 cannons, 10,000 Mauser rifles and 10 million rounds of ammunition. Compared with other governments, Abyssinia received more support from various countries. The Third International invited the Second International for the first time to jointly organize
Working-class Boycott of Italy Almost all unions and labor organizations around the world were hostile to Fascist Italy. In Alexandria and Marseille, in South Africa and California, dockworkers refused to load goods for Italian importers, and sailors refused to sail ships carrying supplies.
Going to Italy, the British Shoe and Boot Workers Union refused to work for the orders of the Italian army. In Harlem, New York, where black people lived, an advertisement was posted "recruiting soldiers to volunteer to go to Abyssinia." Some black people signed up, but Abby
The Sinian Embassy in the United States stated that it was unable to afford their travel expenses. Many African-American intellectuals regarded Italy's actions as a declaration of war against the entire black nation. Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of Ghana, vividly described it in his memoirs
I felt furious about the whole white colonialism when I read the words "Italian Invasion of Abyssinia" in a London newspaper.
Although Abyssinia's losses were not small this time, they captured more supplies, rifles, and ammunition, and distributed some of them to the races they believed were loyal to the emperor.
When Italy suffered major setbacks in its military offensive, it changed its thinking. While conducting military offensives, it also wanted to seek interests and territory through politics.
In order to fight against Germany, Laval decided to take advantage of Italy's heavy losses to take action, try to save French-Italian relations, and preserve Italy as a breakwater on the other side of the Alps to stop the German tide. He threatened British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hall to attack the Italians.
Suffering such a major defeat, Mussolini might not continue the war in East Africa but instead wage war against the British Empire, and hinted that France might let Britain fight alone in this case. After weeks of secret negotiations, the two sides
People came up with a plan called the "Hall-Laval Plan". Hall and Laval agreed that the contents of the plan would be kept secret from the outside world, but before submitting it to the Italian and Abyssinian governments
The plan had been leaked in Paris before. The "Hall-Laval Plan" included two proposals. The first proposal was called a "territorial exchange", which would allow Abyssinia to transfer three territories with a total area of 150,000 square kilometers.
A piece of land was ceded to Italy, and Abyssinia obtained 7,500 square kilometers of land in southern Eritrea, thereby gaining an outlet to the sea; if Mussolini refused to cede, an equal area of land would be ceded from French territory or British Somalia
Article 2 of the Territory proposes to turn the southern half of Abyssinia’s territory south of 8 degrees north latitude and west of 35 degrees east longitude, covering an area of approximately 400,000 square kilometers, into an “area reserved for Italian economic development and residence”; Italy
It will enjoy independent rights to economic development, the right to occupy territory and the right to unrestricted immigration; the area is nominally under the sovereignty of Abyssinia, but the administration is controlled by the Italians under the banner of the League of Nations "Hall-Laval"
Once the "European Plan" was leaked, it immediately aroused strong reactions in Germany, the United States, and all small countries. All countries condemned and cursed the shameless behavior of Britain, France, and Italy, especially Germany. They could not see that the purpose of the three countries' actions was for
To deal with Germany, Germany, under Hitler's instruction, immediately once again supported 10,000 rifles and some artillery as well as a large amount of ammunition for Abyssinia.
With the support of Britain and France, the Italians quickly raised a well-equipped army of 100,000 people and a large number of aircraft. Mussolini's 19-year-old son Vittorio participated in the war as an air force pilot, but
He was later actually shot down by his own anti-aircraft artillery, making Italy a laughing stock once again.
On February 20, 1936, like previous wars, from the beginning Italy and Abyssinia accused each other of violating the international laws of war. Italy accused Abyssinia of using dum bombs, killing corpses, abusing the wounded and
Prisoners of war, misuse of the red cross symbol; Abyssinia accused Italy of using DUM bombs, bombing undefended cities and deliberately attacking field hospitals from the air. Both sides presented testimony from their own governments and foreigners. Both Britain and Sweden were criticized by their own charities.
The hospital dispatched was attacked and strafed from the air, and angrily protested to Rome; the fascist newspaper seriously stated that all these atrocities were committed by Abyssinia, completely ignoring these two basic facts: the hospital was full of Abyssinians.
Bisignia wounded soldiers and civilians, and Westerners witnessed the Italian Air Force insignia on the wings of low-flying aircraft. On February 20, 1936, Italian newspapers published articles condemning the enemy's despicable actions and demanding that the government change its "excessively heroic attitude."
" and some articles adopting the most brutal methods of war, marking the Abyssinian War entering a new stage. Italy in Europe and the Ethiopian occupied areas preached that they were bringing civilization to an empire of barbarians and slave owners. However,
Italy's new means of bringing so-called European civilization to Africa was the "scientific" and widespread use of mustard gas
On February 22, the Italian army of 100,000 troops attacked steadily under the cover of aircraft and artillery, and slowly advanced into Abyssinia. On the 24th, it used chlorine gas, tear gas and 20 kilograms of mustard gas bombs on the northern front. 1936
On February 28, Duke Irum launched a surprise attack on the Italian army, bypassing the holy city of Axum and advancing forward, attacking the Italian logistics base. In order to stop his attack, the Italians dropped a large number of mustard gas bombs. However, these methods did not work.
The gas war was not very successful but could only affect a limited area. Abyssinian soldiers quickly learned to evacuate and be wary of metal vats containing liquid mustard gas. So the Italian staff came up with a better plan.
A large amount of mustard gas is sprayed from the wings of the aircraft. The areas where the poison is sprayed include not only the front lines, but also the vast countryside far away from the front lines. Wells, rivers, pastures, women, children, livestock... all become targets of the gas war.