Italy’s Fiasco

The Ethiopian war as a Tar baby

Part II

The Cost of the War

Mountains of Ethiopia

In a previous essay I discussed the Italian-Ethiopian war of 1935-1941 and further discussed the question of whether or not the negative reaction of Britain and France drove Mussolini into Hitler’s arms. This is so because many modern commentators state that the economic boycott along with other measures destroyed Mussolini’s willingness to be part of alliance aimed at thwarting Hitler and in fact forced him to be Hitler’s ally. This is quite simply nonsense. Mussolini was not “forced” to be Hitler’s ally by any stretch of reality or imagination. He became Hitler’s ally because of his own ambitions were blocked by France and Britain.1

Here I will discuss the cost of the Ethiopian war for Italy. For the bottom line is that the Ethiopian war cost far more than Mussolini anticipated and played a very large role in preventing Italy from becoming a true great power.

Italy’s Fiasco

The Ethiopian war as a Tar baby

Part I

Why Mussolini drew closer to Hitler and the Ethiopian Crisis

Ethiopia

In 1935 Mussolini, the biggest disaster to hit Italy in the Twentieth century invaded Ethiopia. By May of 1936 his armies had conquered the country and entered the capital Addis Ababa. Mussolini had successfully flouted the League of Nations and its sanctions and had emerged successful from his war.