Italians Occupy Addis Ababa

May 5, 1936 - Italian troops (below right) under General Pietro Badoglio enter the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, ending the active phase of the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The conflict had begun in October 1935, at the behest of Benito Mussolini who had a desire to create an Italian Empire and to give the Italian people "a place in the sun." To meet the threat, Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie mobilized 500,000 men, but unfortunately he lacked to the weapons to effectively equip them. Advancing from their colonies in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, the Italians slowly pushed the Ethiopian defenders back until Selassie fled and the capital fell.

Following the conquest of the country, the Italians instituted a brutal regime aimed at subjugating the country and extinguishing any resistance. Mussolini issued orders that all captured rebels were to be executed, as well as called for the mass use of mustard gas on rebel bases and sympathetic civilian populations. A year after fleeing to exile, Halie Selassie gave a stirring speech to the League of Nations calling for help to free his country. This was not forthcoming, and the episode exposed the League's weakness as an international body. Finally, in 1940, the British came to Selassie's aid following Italy's alliance with Nazi Germany. The country was liberated the following year and Selassie returned to power.

Photograph Courtesy of common.wikimedia.org