October 3, 2025, will mark 90 years since Italy invaded Ethiopia. The second Italo-Ethiopian War that followed lasted until May, 1936 and resulted in Ethiopia’s subjection to Italian rule. Benito Mussolini, Italy’s fascist dictator, sought vengeance from Italy’s humiliating defeat in Ethiopia forty years earlier. More importantly, Ethiopia provided Italy a critical link between its other East African territories – Eritrea and Somaliland – and fortified Mussolini’s goal of expanding his nation’s stake on the African continent.
Mussolini strongly desired reclaiming the glorious past of the ancient Roman Empire. His ambitions were condemned by the League of Nations but largely ignored by the other European world powers of the time, except for Great Britain. The League of Nations had been created following World War One to prevent future wars. The organization’s lack of a strong and united response to Italy’s invasion would inevitably deepen the division between Western democracies and fascist regimes, inadvertently creating an environment that would spawn the second world war.
Italian forces enter Abyssinia. In 1936 Mussolini invaded Ethiopia. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Benito Mussolini (1883-1945) from Palazzo Venezia announces the invasion of Ethiopia by Italy. Credit: Fototeca Gilardi/Universal Images Group 
Gen. Rodolfo Graziani, was one of Benito Mussolini’s military commanders in the Italian colonial wars taking place in Libya and Ethiopia before and during World War II. Credit: Fireshot//Universal Images Group 
Haile Selassie (1892-1975), Emperor of Ethiopia, Portrait Strolling Palace Grounds Upon his Return to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after Allied Defeat of Italian Fascist Occupation Forces, 1941. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Eritrean soldiers fighting for Italy in the conquest of Ethiopia 1936. Credit: Photo12/Universal Images Group 
Haile Selassie (1892 – 1975). Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Victor Emmanuel III of Italy. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; the Minister of War of the Negus (emperor) photographed in Addis Adiba. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The mobilization of Italian Fascists. A group of men in the street shouting and raising their bayonets. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; Ethiopian soldiers march in front of the Negus (emperor) in Addis Adiba. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Ethiopian troops marching through Addis Adiba. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; a European instructor teaching an Ethiopian soldier how to put on a gas mask. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; General Emilio de Bono (1866-1944), commander in chief of Italian forces in Ethiopia, consulting a map of the theatre of operations. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; Italian bombers at the Battle of Adoua, waiting to take off. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956), First Duke of Addis Adiba, and victor of the Ethiopian Campaign. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Marshal Pietro Badoglio (1871-1956), First Duke of Addis Adiba, and victor of the Ethiopian Campaign, in Naples after returning from the war in Africa. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Emperor Haile Selassie, ‘His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of Tribe of Judah, and Elect of God’. Credit: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group 
The War in Ethiopia after the Italian invasion of 1935; Exiled Negus (emperor) Haile Selassie I (1892-1975) arrives in England, disembarking at Portsmouth to a joyous reception from the people. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Africa. Ethiopia. 1935. Italian Invasion In Abyssinia. Credit: Giovanni Mereghetti/UCG/Universal Images Group 
Italian colonial troops advance on Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group 
Emperor Haile Selassie’s League of Nations speech in 1936 against the Fascist Italian invasion. Credit: Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group
The Ethiopians courageous defense of their homeland was soon overwhelmed by the more modern Italian armed forces. Led by generals Graziani and Badoglio, the Italians steadily pushed the Ethiopians back. After capturing the capital, Addis Ababa, in April,1936, Ethiopia’s Emperor Halie Selassie would escape into exile, eventually arriving in England. Italy’s King Victor Emmanuel III would be subsequently named Emperor of Ethiopia by Mussolini within a month of Selassie fleeing.
Selassie would return to Addis Ababa in May, 1941 following the liberation of Ethiopia by British and Ethiopian troops in the East Africa campaign of World War Two. The Italian army would soon be driven from East Africa and towards eventual defeat by the Allies three years later.
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Sources
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Italo-Ethiopian War”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 23 Sep. 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/Italo-Ethiopian-War-1935-1936.
The Editors of Foreign Affairs. “Fascist Italy Invades Ethiopia”. Foreign Affairs, August 21, 2022. https://www.foreignaffairs.com/lists/fascist-italy-invades-ethiopia
The Editors of HistorySkills.com. “Why Did Mussolini Invade Ethiopia?”. https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-10/why-mussolini-invaded-ethiopia/?srsltid=AfmBOooAP7QRH9RvkNQRL2UYxqo5SMkaXVf3IfQ2qW_2-iX5XNbsqRLf