Chapter I: The Italo-Ethiopian War and the Hoare-Laval Pact, 1934-1935.
This is an improved version of a TL I did a while back. I hope everyone likes it
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In December 1934 a border incident took place at Welwel that killed 150 Ethiopians and two Italians. The League of Nations exonerated both parties and neither France nor Britain took strong steps against Italy, keen to keep it as an ally against a resurgent Germany. Italy was able to launch its invasion without interference primarily due to the United Kingdom and France placing a high priority on retaining Italy as an ally in case hostilities broke out with Germany. To this end, on January 7th 1935, France signed an agreement with Italy, giving them essentially a free hand in Africa to secure Italian co-operation.
Next, in April, Italy was further emboldened by being a member of the Stresa Front. The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on April 14th 1935. Formally called the “Final Declaration of the Stresa Conference”, its aim was to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and to declare that the independence of Austria “would continue to inspire their common policy”. The signatories also agreed to resist any future attempt by the Germans to change the Treaty of Versailles. In June, non-interference was further assured by a political rift that had developed between the United Kingdom and France following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
In October 1935, the Italian invasion finally commenced under the over-all command of General Emilio de Bono, Commander-in-Chief of all Italian armed forces in East Africa. Italian troops were firstly confronted with tough logistics because their roads built up to the border, turned into vague paths on the other side of it. Nonetheless, by October 6th, the Italian II Corps took Adwa, the site of Italy’s ignominious 1896 defeat, without encountering serious opposition. On October 11th, Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa and 1.200 of his followers surrendered to the commander of the Italian outpost at Adagamos. De Bono notified Rome and the Ministry of Information promptly exaggerated the importance of the surrender. Haile Selassie Gugsa was Emperor Haile Selassie’s son-in-law, but less than a tenth of the Dejazmach's army actually defected with him. A few days later, the Italians bloodlessly occupied the ancient holy capital of Axum, but Mussolini nonetheless replaced De Bono because his methodical advance was too slow for the tastes of “Il Duce”.
His replacement was Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Haile Selassie decided to test this new Italian commander with an offensive of his own. What became known as the Ethiopian “Christmas Offensive” had as its objectives the splitting of the Italian forces in the north with the Ethiopian centre, crushing the Italian left with the Ethiopian right and invading Eritrea with the Ethiopian left. The Italians were initially pushed back, but their superiority in modern weapons, such as machine guns, aircraft and artillery, stopped the Ethiopian offensive.
In early December 1935, the Hoare–Laval Pact was proposed by British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare and French Prime Minister Pierre Laval. Under this pact, Italy would gain the best parts of Ogaden and Tigray. Italy would also gain economic influence over the entire southern part of Abyssinia. Abyssinia would have a guaranteed corridor to the sea at the port of Assab, which the exiled Haile Selassie would later call a “corridor for camels”. Mussolini took a few days to contemplate this proposal and then sent a telegram to his ambassador in London, Dino Grandi, that he accepted it.
The agreement was formalized a few days later, after which Italy communicated its provisions as its own peace terms. Sanctimoniously, the Italians expressed their regret that they wouldn’t be able to crush the institution of slavery in all of Ethiopia, which had never been a priority at all. Thereafter, an Italian-French-British bloc presented it to the League of Nations as a compromise to the conflict and the latter showed its weakness by accepting it. The League thereby legitimized the invasion of one sovereign nation by another and also de facto legalized unprovoked military aggression in general (a lesson Japan and Germany both remembered), discrediting the international body to the point of uselessness. Upon the leaking of the Hoare-Laval Pact in 1936, which had been negotiated without the involvement of the League of Nations, Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare was forced to resign because of the resulting scandal. Moreover, Anglo-French public opinion vis-à-vis Italy was very negative, forcing its democratically elected politicians to put relations with Rome on the backburner, much to Mussolini’s dismay.
Given the nigh complete absence of international support, a palace coup deposed Haile Selassie, who wanted to fight on until the end. His 19 year-old son Amha Selassie became the new (puppet) Emperor and was forced to sign over Tigray and Ogaden. The rest of the country became a de facto Italian protectorate as Amha Selassie was forced to sign commercial treaties that gave Italian companies access to Ethiopia’s mineral wealth, while a Consul-General took up residence in Addis Ababa as an “advisor to his Imperial majesty’s government” and as a “protector of Italian minority rights in Ethiopia”. The irony was that the Italian community in Ethiopia would never number more than 2% of the population, while at the same time dominating much of the economy of a nominally sovereign, independent country. Ethiopia’s protectorate status couldn’t be exemplified more by its acceptance of King Victor Emmanuel III’s new title of “Lord Protector of Abyssinia”, a mere few hours after the Italian government had granted it to him. If Mussolini thought that the Stresa Front was a solid anti-German power bloc, however, he was mistaken.
.Stresa Revived
Chapter I: The Italo-Ethiopian War and the Hoare-Laval Pact, 1934-1935.
In 1934, Italian leader Mussolini had set his sights on Abyssinia because he wanted to avenge Italy’s humiliating defeat of 1896. Besides that, he wanted to give Italy its coveted place under the sun, which, he figured, would be achieved by creating an Italian colony that dominated the Horn of Africa. The Italo-Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues or roughly 118 kilometres parallel to the Benadir coast. In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis in the Ogaden and garrisoned it with Somali Ascaris, which were irregular frontier troops commanded by Italian officers. The fort at Welwel was well beyond the twenty-one league limit and the Italians were encroaching on Abyssinian territory. In November 1934, Ethiopian territorial troops, escorting the Anglo-Ethiopian boundary commission, protested against Italy’s incursion. The British members of the commission soon withdrew to avoid embarrassing Italy. Italian and Ethiopian troops remained encamped in close proximity. Chapter I: The Italo-Ethiopian War and the Hoare-Laval Pact, 1934-1935.
In December 1934 a border incident took place at Welwel that killed 150 Ethiopians and two Italians. The League of Nations exonerated both parties and neither France nor Britain took strong steps against Italy, keen to keep it as an ally against a resurgent Germany. Italy was able to launch its invasion without interference primarily due to the United Kingdom and France placing a high priority on retaining Italy as an ally in case hostilities broke out with Germany. To this end, on January 7th 1935, France signed an agreement with Italy, giving them essentially a free hand in Africa to secure Italian co-operation.
Next, in April, Italy was further emboldened by being a member of the Stresa Front. The Stresa Front was an agreement made in Stresa, a town on the banks of Lake Maggiore in Italy, between French Prime Minister Pierre Laval, British Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald, and Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini on April 14th 1935. Formally called the “Final Declaration of the Stresa Conference”, its aim was to reaffirm the Locarno Treaties and to declare that the independence of Austria “would continue to inspire their common policy”. The signatories also agreed to resist any future attempt by the Germans to change the Treaty of Versailles. In June, non-interference was further assured by a political rift that had developed between the United Kingdom and France following the Anglo-German Naval Agreement.
In October 1935, the Italian invasion finally commenced under the over-all command of General Emilio de Bono, Commander-in-Chief of all Italian armed forces in East Africa. Italian troops were firstly confronted with tough logistics because their roads built up to the border, turned into vague paths on the other side of it. Nonetheless, by October 6th, the Italian II Corps took Adwa, the site of Italy’s ignominious 1896 defeat, without encountering serious opposition. On October 11th, Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa and 1.200 of his followers surrendered to the commander of the Italian outpost at Adagamos. De Bono notified Rome and the Ministry of Information promptly exaggerated the importance of the surrender. Haile Selassie Gugsa was Emperor Haile Selassie’s son-in-law, but less than a tenth of the Dejazmach's army actually defected with him. A few days later, the Italians bloodlessly occupied the ancient holy capital of Axum, but Mussolini nonetheless replaced De Bono because his methodical advance was too slow for the tastes of “Il Duce”.
His replacement was Marshal Pietro Badoglio. Haile Selassie decided to test this new Italian commander with an offensive of his own. What became known as the Ethiopian “Christmas Offensive” had as its objectives the splitting of the Italian forces in the north with the Ethiopian centre, crushing the Italian left with the Ethiopian right and invading Eritrea with the Ethiopian left. The Italians were initially pushed back, but their superiority in modern weapons, such as machine guns, aircraft and artillery, stopped the Ethiopian offensive.
In early December 1935, the Hoare–Laval Pact was proposed by British Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare and French Prime Minister Pierre Laval. Under this pact, Italy would gain the best parts of Ogaden and Tigray. Italy would also gain economic influence over the entire southern part of Abyssinia. Abyssinia would have a guaranteed corridor to the sea at the port of Assab, which the exiled Haile Selassie would later call a “corridor for camels”. Mussolini took a few days to contemplate this proposal and then sent a telegram to his ambassador in London, Dino Grandi, that he accepted it.
The agreement was formalized a few days later, after which Italy communicated its provisions as its own peace terms. Sanctimoniously, the Italians expressed their regret that they wouldn’t be able to crush the institution of slavery in all of Ethiopia, which had never been a priority at all. Thereafter, an Italian-French-British bloc presented it to the League of Nations as a compromise to the conflict and the latter showed its weakness by accepting it. The League thereby legitimized the invasion of one sovereign nation by another and also de facto legalized unprovoked military aggression in general (a lesson Japan and Germany both remembered), discrediting the international body to the point of uselessness. Upon the leaking of the Hoare-Laval Pact in 1936, which had been negotiated without the involvement of the League of Nations, Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare was forced to resign because of the resulting scandal. Moreover, Anglo-French public opinion vis-à-vis Italy was very negative, forcing its democratically elected politicians to put relations with Rome on the backburner, much to Mussolini’s dismay.
Given the nigh complete absence of international support, a palace coup deposed Haile Selassie, who wanted to fight on until the end. His 19 year-old son Amha Selassie became the new (puppet) Emperor and was forced to sign over Tigray and Ogaden. The rest of the country became a de facto Italian protectorate as Amha Selassie was forced to sign commercial treaties that gave Italian companies access to Ethiopia’s mineral wealth, while a Consul-General took up residence in Addis Ababa as an “advisor to his Imperial majesty’s government” and as a “protector of Italian minority rights in Ethiopia”. The irony was that the Italian community in Ethiopia would never number more than 2% of the population, while at the same time dominating much of the economy of a nominally sovereign, independent country. Ethiopia’s protectorate status couldn’t be exemplified more by its acceptance of King Victor Emmanuel III’s new title of “Lord Protector of Abyssinia”, a mere few hours after the Italian government had granted it to him. If Mussolini thought that the Stresa Front was a solid anti-German power bloc, however, he was mistaken.
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