Lesson Aim: To explain how far Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia damaged the League

November 4, 2010

Mustafa Ahmed 10W

1. To the left.

2. Abyssinia had fertile lands and mineral wealth at the time of the invasion, however despite this being one of the reasons why Mussolini wished to invade Abyssinia, the roots of this crisis lay back in 1896. Italy had tried to invade, though before they were defeated by a poorly equipped army of African tribesmen. As a result, Mussolini wanted revenge for this military disaster. However, Mussolini wanted more than anything to restore the glory of the Roman Empire. Not only that, but like other countries in the 1930’s, Italy had economic problems and Mussolini hoped that a war might unite them behind their leader and forget about their domestic problems.

In December of 1934 came the excuse Mussolini wanted. At a place called Wala Wala there was a border encounter regarding Italian and Abyssinian troops- Mussolini claimed the Ethiopian soldiers were on Italian soil (Italian Somalia) DESPITE the fact that Wala Wala was 80km inside Ethiopia. Being Mussolini he demanded an apology and at the same time mobilised his army for the invasion. The Abyssinian

3. Timeline:

Dec 1934- Dispute at Wal-Wal between Italians and Abyssinians.

Oct 1935-100,000 Italian troops enter Abyssinia from the north. Adowa taken after two days of bombing-one Italian casualty.

Nov 1935- Southern Abyssinian leader-Afework- killed.

Dec 1935-Italians use mustard gas in victory at Dolo. Abyssinians counter-attack and Italians retreat 12 miles. Hoare-Laval Plan, giving Mussolini two-thirds of Abyssinia.

Jan 1936-Italians use mustard gas at the battle of Tembien

Feb 1936-Italians use artillery to bring victory at Amba Aradam

Mar 1936-Last major Abyssinian army defeated. Haile Selassie's personal army defeated and survivors trapped by a lake and attacked with gas and bombs.

Apr 1936-Italian tanks and armoured cars take control over more Abyssinian regions without opposition

May 1936-Haile Selassie flees Abyssinia. Italian troops enter Addis Ababa. Victor Emanuel, the King of Italy, declared the new Emperor of Abyssinia

Lesson Aim: To explain how far Mussolini’s invasion of Abyssinia damaged the League

November 4, 2010

Figure 1-Map showing Abyssinian Crisis

5. Cartoon Question

Mustafa Ahmed 10W

I believe the message of this cartoon is that it shows the ineffectiveness and weakness of the League’s sanctions on Italy during the Abyssinian Crisis.

The details on the cartoon which shows this message is firstly, the sarcastic teхt at the bottom of the cartoon. It reads “the awful warning”. By writing this, it shows that Italy reagarded the sanctions(on rubber and metal as well as a number of things) provided by the League as weak and ineffective- the League did seem inconclusive on deciding wheter the invasion was legal or not.

Secondly, it shows the Italian Dictator Mussolini and Britain and France acting almost like a parents and child scene where Britain and France are scolding Italy for this bad thing but Mussolini refuses to listen. This was true when the League did finally give sanctions to Italy (although the investigators tried to keep Italy as an ally) and Mussolini continued his advance into Abyssinia.

Lastly, towards the left of the cartoon is the caption “Britain and France (together?)”. This meant the opinions were divided on wheter to deal witth Italy and how harsh the punishment should. France had to show some disapproval of the invasion because of the fact that they were part of the league, however compared with Britain who saw Italy as threat to their African colonies; France would rather ignore the invasion due to the fact that they would like to keep Italy as an ally because of the fact that they had a border with them and beacuse France did not have many colonies in the area

7a. ABYSSINIA; A DISASTER FOR THE LEAGUE AND THE WORLD

Under a year ago, Italian troops marched into Abyssinia under invasion orders by their facist leader, Mussolini. The Abyssinian Leader Haile Sellasie appealed to the League

4. Similarities with Manchurian Crisis

Differences with Manchurian Crisis

- Italy was a powerful permanent memeber like Japan

- Italy wanted to epand its empire like Japan

- The aggressor’s were both leading powerful members in the L.O.N.

-This dispute was closer to home than the Manchurian Crisis, Italy was a European power with borders with France and Abyssinia had borders with British Colonies of Sudan, British Somalialand, Uganda and Kenya whereas China was futher away from the League. The Leaqgue couldn’t claim this was in an unaccessible part of the world.