The Italian conquest of the Horn of Africa was initiated in 1924 by the fascist government of Italy under Benito Mussolini. The Italian colony of Somalia had been totally pacified by late 1927. In 1935, Mussolini launched an invasion of Ethiopia. By mid-1936, after 2 years of war Italy controlled almost all of Ethiopia, including its capital, Addis Ababa. In 1940, Italian troops invaded British Somaliland, expelling the British. The Italians also occupied the bordering Kenya areas along the Oltregiuba, around the villages of Moyale and Buna.