Holy War
Subtitle: The Untold Story of Catholic Italy's Crusade Against the Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Publisher: Hurst
Published: April 15, 2022
Place of publication: London, United Kingdom
Language: eng
Format: Hardcover
ISBN-13: 9781787384774
Description: In 1935, Fascist Italy invaded the sovereign state of Ethiopia--a war of conquest that triggered a chain of events culminating in the Second World War. In this stunning and highly original tale of two Churches, historian Ian Campbell brings a whole new perspective to the story, revealing that bishops of the Italian Catholic Church facilitated the invasion by sanctifying it as a crusade against the world's second-oldest national Church. Cardinals and archbishops rallied the support of Catholic Italy for Il Duce's invading armies by denouncing Ethiopian Christians as heretics and schismatics and announcing that the onslaught was an assignment from God.

Campbell marshals evidence from three decades of research to expose the martyrdom of thousands of clergy of the venerable Ethiopian Church, the burning and looting of hundreds of Ethiopia's ancient monasteries and churches, and the instigation and arming of a jihad against Ethiopian Christendom, the likes of which had not been seen since the Middle Ages.

Finally, Holy War traces how, after Italy's surrender to the Allies, the horrors of this pogrom were swept under the carpet of history, and the leading culprits put on the road to sainthood.
Table of contents: title: List of Maps; title: List of Tables; title: List of Illustrations; title: List of Abbreviations; title: Notes on Transliteration; title: Glossary and Explanatory Notes; title: Preface; title: Prologue; label: PART ONE
title: PRELUDE; label: 1.
title: A Most Ancient Church; label: 2.
title: Bad Neighbours; label: 3.
title: An Unholy Alliance; label: PART TWO
title: A HOLY WAR; label: 4.
title: Missionaries of the Cross; label: 5.
title: A Happy Triumph; label: 6.
title: Civilising Actions; label: 7.
title: Terror in the Capital; label: 8.
title: A Bungled Mission; label: 9.
title: A Beautiful Conquest; label: PART THREE
title: A STRIKE AT THE HEART; label: 10.
title: Preparing the Killing Fields; label: 11.
title: Encirclement and Captivity; label: 12.
title: Death in the Afternoon; label: 13.
title: Massacre at Borale River; label: 14.
title: Telling the Story; label: PART FOUR
title: ONWARD, CHRISTIAN SOLDIERS; label: 15.
title: Persecution of the House of Tekle Haymanot; label: 16.
title: An Italian Jihad; label: 17.
title: The Holy War Turns Full Circle; label: PART FIVE
title: AN IGNOMINIOUS END; label: 18.
title: A Wind of Change; label: 19.
title: More Clergy to the Sword; label: 20.
title: Kissing the Cross; title: Epilogue; title: Reflections; label: Appendix I:
title: The Final Toll; label: Appendix II:
title: Spoils of War; label: Appendix III:
title: Major Quercia's Report of 14 March 1937 (page 1); label: Appendix IV:
title: Telegram No. 35049, Pietro Maletti to Rodolfo Graziani, 22 May 1937; label: Appendix V:
title: Telegram No. 9325, Rodolfo Graziani to Pietro Maletti, 24 May 1937; label: Appendix VI:
title: Telegram, Graziani to the Residente at Fiche, 27 October 1937; label: Appendix VII:
title: The Italian Inventory of Items Removed from Debre Libanos; title: Acknowledgements; title: Notes; title: Bibliography; title: Index