Italian East Africa Italian East Africa Existed: 15 January 1935 - 27 November 1941 Status: Italian colony Capital: Mogadiscio (1935-1936); Addis Ababa (1936-1941) Where: Eastern Africa Now: Independent nations of Eritrea, Ethiopa and part of Somalia On 15th January 1935, Italian Somaliland and Italian-controlled Eritrea merged to become Italian East Africa. On 9th May 1936, Ethiopia was annexed by Italy. On 1st June 1936, Italian East Africa was enlarged with the addition of Ethiopia. The capital was moved from Mogadiscio to Addis Ababa. In February 1941, during World War II, Britain gained control of Italian Somaliland On 5th May 1941, Addis Ababa fell to Allied forces. By 27th November 1941 the Allies had gained control of all of Italian East Africa. After a brief period of British control, Eritrea and Ethiopia regained their independence.

On 15th September 1952, Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia. It regained its independence on 24th May 1993. Today, Italian East Africa is divided into the independent nations of Eritrea, Ethiopia, and most of Somalia. Italian East Africa - iSnare Free Encyclopedia Italian East Africa "We are bound by Treaty and by Religion" Anthem Italian East Africa in 1936.

Italian East Africa Capital Addis Ababa Languages Italian , Oromo , Amharic , Somali , Tigre Political structure Colony Emperor • 1936–1941 Victor Emmanuel III Viceroy a • 1936 Pietro Badoglio • 1936–1937 Rodolfo Graziani • 1937–1941 Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta • 1941 Pietro Gazzera • 1941 Guglielmo Nasi Historical era Interwar period / WWII • Established 15 January 1936 • Disestablished 27 November 1941 Area • 1939 [1] 1,725,000 km² (666,026 sq mi) Population • 1939 [1] est. 12,100,000 Density 7 /km² (18.2 /sq mi) Currency Italian East African lira Preceded by Somalia ^a Full title was "Viceroy and Governor-General of Italian East Africa".

[2] Italian East Africa ( Italian : Africa Orientale Italiana) was an Italian colony in the Horn of Africa . It was formed in 1936 through the merger of Italian Somaliland , Italian Eritrea and newly conquered Ethiopia . [3] During the Second World War , Italian East Africa was occupied by a British-led force including colonial and Ethiopian units. [4] After the war, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea came under British administration, while Ethiopia regained full independence. In 1949, Italian Somaliland was reconstituted as the Trust Territory of Somaliland , which was administered by Italy from 1950 until its independence in 1960. Contents 7 External links Territory When established in 1936, Italian East Africa (the other Italian colony in Africa being Italian North Africa ) consisted of the old Italian possessions in the Horn of Africa , Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland , and the recently annexed Empire of Ethiopia . [5] Victor Emmanuel III of Italy consequently adopted the title of " Emperor of Ethiopia ", although having not been recognized by any country other than Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan .

The territory was divided into the six governorates of Italian East Africa : Italian Eritrea and Italian Somaliland , plus four provinces of Ethiopia (Amhara, Galla-Sidamo, Scioa, Harar) each under the authority of an Italian governor, answerable to a viceroy , who in turn represented the Emperor. Italian East Africa was briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered British Somaliland, thereby bringing all Somali territories under Italian administration. However, the enlarged colony was dismembered only a year later, when in the course of the East African Campaign the colony was occupied by British forces. Italian East Africa, in Italian "Africa Orientale Italiana", was acronymed in official documents as "AOI". [5] History The dominion was formed in 1936, after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War that resulted in the annexation of the Ethiopian Empire by Fascist Italy , by merging the pre-existing colonies of Italian Somaliland and Italian Eritrea with the newly conquered territory. The conquest of Ethiopia Historians are still divided about the reasons for the Italian attack on Ethiopia in 1935.

Some Italian historians such as Franco Catalano and Giorgio Rochat argue that the invasion was an act of social imperialism , contending that the Great Depression had badly damaged Mussolini 's prestige, and that he needed a foreign war to distract public opinion. [6] Other historians such as Pietro Pastorelli have argued that the invasion was launched as part of an expansionist program to make Italy the main power in the Red Sea area and the Middle East. [6] A middle way interpretation was offered by the American historian MacGregor Knox , who argued that the war was started for both foreign and domestic reasons, being both a part of Mussolini's long-range expansionist plans and intended to give Mussolini a foreign policy triumph that would allow him to push the Fascist system in a more radical direction at home. [6] Italy's forces were far superior to the Abyssinian forces, especially in air power, and they were soon victorious. Emperor Haile Selassie was forced to flee the country, with Italian forces entering the capital city, Addis Ababa , to proclaim an empire by May 1936, making Ethiopia part of Italian East Africa.

[7] The Italian victory in the war coincided with the zenith of the international popularity of dictator Benito Mussolini 's Fascist regime , during which colonialist leaders praised Mussolini for his actions. [8] Mussolini's international popularity decreased as he endorsed the annexation of Austria by Nazi Germany , beginning a political tilt toward Germany that eventually led to the downfall of Mussolini and the Fascist regime in Italy in World War II. [9] Second World War and dissolution East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941. On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France , which made Italian military forces in Libya a threat to Egypt and those in the Italian East Africa a danger to the British and French territories in the Horn of Africa . Italian belligerence also closed the Mediterranean to Allied merchant ships and endangered British supply routes along the coast of East Africa, the Gulf of Aden , Red Sea and the Suez Canal .

(The Kingdom of Egypt remained neutral during World War II, but the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 allowed the British to occupy Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan .) [10] Egypt, the Suez Canal, French Somaliland and British Somaliland were also vulnerable to invasion, but the Comando Supremo (Italian General Staff) had planned for a war after 1942. In the summer of 1940, Italy was far from ready for a long war or for the occupation of large areas of Africa. [11] Hostilities began on 13 June 1940, with an Italian air raid on the base of 1 Squadron Southern Rhodesian Air Force (237 (Rhodesia) Squadron RAF) at Wajir in the East Africa Protectorate (Kenya). In August 1940, the protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. This occupation lasted around six months. By early 1941, Italian forces had been largely pushed back from Kenya and Sudan.

On 6 April 1941, Addis Ababa was occupied by the 11th (African) Division , which received the surrender of the city. [12] The remnants of the Italian forces in the AOI surrendered after the Battle of Gondar in November 1941, except for groups that fought an Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia against the British until the Armistice of Cassibile (3 September 1943) ended hostilities between Italy and the Allies. In January 1942, with the final official surrender of the Italians, the British, under American pressure, signed an interim Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement with Selassie, acknowledging Ethiopian sovereignty. Makonnen Endelkachew was named as Prime Minister and on 19 December 1944, the final Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed. Eritrea was placed under British military administration for the duration, and in 1950, it became part of Ethiopia. After 1945, Britain controlled both Somalilands, as protectorates .

In November 1949, during the Potsdam Conference , the United Nations granted Italy trusteeship of Italian Somaliland under close supervision, on condition that Somalia achieve independence within ten years. [13] British Somaliland became independent on 26 June 1960 as the State of Somaliland , the Trust Territory of Somalia (ex-Italian Somaliland) became independent on 1 July 1960 and the territories united as the Somali Republic . [14] Colonial administration Italian East African 100 lira banknote. The Italian-era Ethiopian electric power corporation building, Addis Abeba . The colony was administered by a Viceroy of Ethiopia and Governor General of Italian East Africa, appointed by the Italian monarch. The dominion was further divided for administrative purposes into six Governorates and forty Commissionerships. Economic development Fascist colonial policy in Italian East Africa had a divide and conquer characteristic. In order to weaken the Orthodox Christian Amhara people who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Eritrean Tigray-Tigrinyas and Somalis was given to the Eritrea Governorate and Somalia Governorate .

[15] Reconstruction efforts after the war in 1936 were partially focused on benefiting the Muslim peoples in the colony at the expense of the Amhara to strengthen support by Muslims for the Italian colony. [15] Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize Ethiopia by setting up farms and small manufacturing businesses. [15] However, few Italians came to the Ethiopian colony, with most going to Eritrea and Somalia. While Italian Eritrea enjoyed some degree of development, supported by nearly 80,000 Italian colonists , [16] by 1940 only 3,200 farmers had arrived in Ethiopia, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal. [17] Continued insurgency by native Ethiopians, lack of natural resources, rough terrain, and uncertainty of political and military conditions discouraged development and settlement in the countryside. [17] Ethiopia proved to be extremely expensive to maintain, as the budget for the fiscal year 1936-37 had been set at 19.136 billion lira to create the necessary infrastructure for the colony.

[15] At the time, Italy's entire yearly revenue was only 18.581 billion lira. [15] The architechts of the Fascist regime had drafted grandiose urbanistic projects for the enlargement of Addis Ababa, in order to build a state-of-the-art capital of the Africa Orientale Italiana, but these architectural plans -like all the other developments- were stopped by World War II. [18] Demographics Administrative subdivision of Italian East Africa. In 1939, there were 165,267 Italian citizens in the Italian East Africa, the majority of them concentrated around the main urban centres of Asmara, Addis Ababa and Mogadishu. The total population was estimated around 12.1 million, with a density of just over 6.9 inhabitants per square kilometre (18/sq mi). The distribution of population was, however, very uneven.

Eritrea, with an area of 230,000 km2 (90,000 sq mi), had a population estimated in about 1.5 million, with a population density of 6.4/km2 (16.7/sq mi); Ethiopia with an area of 790,000 km2 (305,000 sq mi) and a population of some 9.5 million, had a resulting density of 12/km2 (31/sq mi); sparsely populated Italian Somaliland finally, with an area of 700,000 km2 (271,000 sq mi) and a population of just 1.1 million, had a very low density of 1.5/km2 (4/sq mi). [19] English SOM Atrocities against the natives In February 1937, following an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's Viceroy, Marshal Rodolfo Graziani , Italian soldiers raided the famous Ethiopian monastery Debre Libanos , where the plotters had taken refuge, and executed the monks and nuns.

[15] Afterwards, Italian soldiers destroyed native settlements in Addis Ababa , which resulted in 30,000 Ethiopians being killed and their homes left burned to the ground. [15] [20] The brutal massacre has come to be known as Yekatit 12 . After the massacres, Graziani became known as "the Butcher of Ethiopia". [21] He was subsequently removed by Mussolini and replaced by Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta , who followed a more conciliatory policy towards the natives, obtaining a limited success in pacifying Ethiopia. [22] See also Mockler, Anthony (2003). "4". Haile Selassie's War. New York: Olive Branch. ^ Knox, MacGregor (1986). Mussolini unleashed, 1939-1941 : politics and strategy in fascist Italy's last war (1st pbk. ed.). Cambridge [Cambridgeshire]: Cambridge University Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780521338356 .

Bibliography Antonicelli, Franco (1961) Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945, Saggi series 295, Torino : Einaudi, 387 p. [in Italian] Cannistraro, Philip V. (1982) Historical Dictionary of Fascist Italy, Westport, Conn.; London : Greenwood Press, ISBN 0-313-21317-8 Del Boca, Angelo (1986) Italiani in Africa Orientale: La caduta dell'Impero, Biblioteca universale Laterza 186, Roma : Laterza, ISBN 88-420-2810-X [in Italian] Mockler, Anthony (1984).

Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941, New York : Random House, ISBN 0-394-54222-3 Sarti, Roland (1974) The Ax Within: Italian fascism in action, New York : New Viewpoints, ISBN 0-531-06498-0 Mauri, Arnaldo (1967). Il mercato del credito in Etiopia, Milano, Giuffrè, pp. XVI, 504 [in Italian]. Calchi Novati, Gian Carlo (2011).L'Africa d'Italia, Carrocci, Roma. [in Italian] Tuccimei, Ercole (1999).

La Banca d'Italia in Africa, Presentazione di Arnaldo Mauri, Laterza, Bari, ISBN 88-420-5686-3 [in Italian] External links Ethiopia, Italian Occupation (1935 – 1936) » Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes Dead Country Stamps and Banknotes Prior Regime: Empire of Ethiopia Key Dates: 1935, Oct 3 – Italy invades Ethiopia 1936, May 5 – Italy takes control of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital 1936, May 9 – Italy annexes Ethiopia 1936, Jun 1 – Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somalia are joined to create Italian East Africa 1941, Sep 1–5 – Addis Ababa liberated by Allies.

1942, Jan 14 – Last Italian forces surrender Following Regime: Italian East Africa Scott Catalogue: (Ethiopia) #N1-N8 History Haile Selassie I, Address to the League of Nations, 30 Jun, 1936 Ethiopia (Abyssinia) has a long and proud history as one of the oldest intact nations in Africa. During the “Scramble for Africa” in the late 1800’s, Ethiopia was one of two countries to retain sovereignty as an independent nation by repulsing Italian attempts at colonization in the “First Italo-Ethiopian War” of 1895-6. After Italy’s defeat, the other colonizing nations in the region (Britain and France), were quick to negotiate treaties and borders with newfound respect for this African power. With the rise of Haile Selassie I, who became Emperor in 1930, Ethiopia began to modernize, being the first African nation to become a member state of the League of Nations. As fascism took power in Italy led by Benito Mussolini, Ethiopia became a prime target of expanding the vision of a greater Italian Empire.

In addition to creating a larger presence in East Africa by unifying Italy’s territory in Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, Mussolini longed to avenge the military humiliation decades earlier. A border clash between the two countries in Dec, 1934, known as the “Wal Wal incident”, gave Italy an excuse to expand into Ethiopia. Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations for support, but the organization had no ability to resolve the dispute, and Italy continued to build up forces on the border for an eventual attack. Salassie’s appeal propelled him onto the world stage, winning him world respect, and the honor of being Time’s “Man of the Year” in 1935. Eventually, on 4 Sept, 1935, the League of Nations “exonerated both Italy and Ethiopia of any culpability in the Wal Wal incident”. Rejecting all attempts at arbitration, Mussolini invaded Ethiopia on 3 Oct, 1935, attacking from both Eritrea in the north and Italian Somaliland in the south. Ethiopia again appealed to the League of Nations, which condemned the Italian invasion and voted to impose economic sanctions.

However the sanctions were never really implemented as France and Britain were trying to keep Italy as an alley against Germany in the anticipated upcoming conflict in Europe. The well trained Italian forces slowly overwhelmed the poorly trained Ethiopian army, eventually taking the capital seven months later on 5 May, 1936. Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile, Italy annexed Ethiopia, Italy’s puppet king Victor Emmanuel III was proclaimed emperor of Ethiopia, and Pietro Badoglio, one of the victorious generals, was appointed as “Duke of Addis Ababa”. Less than a month after the annexation, in June of 1936, Italy brought together Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland and created Italian East Africa, a single administrative unit divided into six provinces. On June 30th, Haile Selassie made a powerful speech before the League of Nations in Geneva, setting forth two choices for the Assembly: Act to support a collective security or Fall into international lawlessness. The emperor stirred the conscience of world, but political realities soon overwhelmed any moral arguements. Britain and France soon recognized Italy’s control of Ethiopia, but others such as the United States and the Soviet Union refused to do so.

The existence of Italian East Africa was short lived. With Italy’s entry into World War II as part of the Axis Alliance in Sept 1940, British forces, together with patriot Ethiopian fighters, liberated Ethiopia in the “East African Campaign”. In Jan 1942, with the official surrender of the Italians, an interim Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement was signed with Emperor Haile Selassie I acknowledging Ethiopian sovereignty. Stamps ALBUM On 22 May, 1936, three stamps were issued (25c, 30c and 50c) featuring the image of Emperor Victor Emmanuel III. Later in the year on 5 Dec, four additional stamps were issued (10c, 20c, 75c and 1.25l) also featuring Victor Emmanuel with a backdrop scenes of Ethiopia. All of the stamps were inscribed in Roman, Arabic and Amharic scripts, and included the date: 9 May, 1936 to commemorate the day that Ethiopia was annexed by Italy. The occupation stamps were replaced with Stamps of Italian East Africa on 7 Feb, 1938.

Banknotes No specific banknotes were issued for the military occupation, but after the creation of Italian East Africa, four notes were issued using the Italian East Africa Lira. Links Italian East Africa - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Note: Many of our articles have direct quotes from sources you can cite, within the Wikipedia article! This article doesn't yet, but we're working on it! See more info or our list of citable articles . Related top topics Italian settlers in Libya Did you know ... Ethiopian Abebe Aregai saved his resistance from defeat by repeatedly misleading the Italian occupiers into thinking he was about to join their side?

More interesting facts on Italian East Africa Include this on your site/blog: From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Africa Orientale Italiana → Flag Capital Addis Ababa Political structure Colony Viceroy ¹ - 1936 Pietro Badoglio - 1936-1937 Rodolfo Graziani - 1937-1941 Prince Amedeo - 1941 Pietro Gazzera - 1941 (acting) Guglielmo Nasi History - Established 1936 - Disestablished 1941 ¹ Viceroy and Governor-General Italian East Africa ( Italian : Africa Orientale Italiana, or AOI) was a short-lived (1936-1941) Italian colony in Africa consisting of Ethiopia (recently occupied after the Second Italo-Abyssinian War ) and the established colonies of Italian Somaliland and Eritrea held in the name of Victor Emmanuel III of the Kingdom of Italy . In August 1940, British Somaliland was conquered and annexed to Italian East Africa.

The other Italian colony in Africa was Italian North Africa (Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI). Contents 6 External links Territory In 1936, Italian East Africa covered some of present-day Ethiopia , Eritrea , and the former Italian Somaliland . The colony was divided into six provinces: Amara , Eritrea , Galla-Sidamo , Harar , Scioa and Italian Somaliland, each run by an Italian governor . Each governor was answerable to the Italian viceroy . Italian East Africa briefly enlarged in 1940, as Italian forces conquered British Somaliland , thereby creating a single Somali provincial entity within Italian control, though this and the colony itself would be broken apart one year later as Italian East Africa was occupied by British forces. History The dominion was formed in 1936 during Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini 's government in Italy with the temporary defeat of Haile Selassie 's Ethiopia in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War .

Rule in Italian East Africa (Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland) was harsh for the native peoples, especially towards Ethiopians as Fascist policy sought to destroy their culture. In February 1937, following an assassination attempt on Italian East Africa's Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani , Graziani ordered Italian soldiers to raid the famous Ethiopian monastery Debre Libanos where the would-be assassins had briefly taken refuge and had the monks and nuns in the monastery executed. [1] Afterwards, Italian soldiers pillaged native settlements in Addis Ababa , which resulted in hundreds of Ethiopians being killed and their homes left burned to the ground. [1] [2] Fascist colonial policy in the AOI had a divide and conquer element. In order to weaken the Orthodox Christian Amhara peoples who had run Ethiopia in the past, territory claimed by Tigray-Tigrinyas and Somalis was given to the provinces of Eritrea and Somalia. [1] Reconstruction efforts after the war in 1936, were primarily focused on benefiting the Muslim peoples in the AOI at the expense of the Amhara to strengthen support by Muslims for the Italian colony.

[1] Italy's Fascist regime encouraged Italian peasants to colonize the AOI by creating agriculture there. [1] However few Italians came to the colony. By 1940 only 3200 farmers had arrived, less than ten percent of the Fascist regime's goal. [3] Continued insurgency by native Africans, lack of resources, rough terrain, and uncertainty of political and military conditions discouraged development and settlement. [3] The colony proved to be highly expensive to maintain, the AOI's budget in 1936-37 requested from Italy 19.136 billion lire to create the necessary infrastructure for the colony. [1] At the time Italy's entire revenue that year was only 18.581 billion lire. [1] In June 1940, at the beginning of Italy's involvement in World War II, the AOI potentially constituted a dangerous menace to British interests in Africa. From one perspective, a successful Italian attack from the colony through the Sudan and the establishment of a connection to Italian-held Libya would have isolated vital British positions in Egypt and the Suez Canal .

However, from a different perspective, the colony itself was isolated from Italy and surrounded by British forces in the Sudan, Kenya , and British Somaliland . British forces in Aden could provide critical air and naval support against Italian naval forces operating in the Red Sea . Italian maritime transport was cut off by the British at the Suez Canal. What supplies did arrive in the AOI were generally from the air and in small quantities. At the beginning of the East African Campaign , the Italian troops amounted to 291,000 men including native troops. Training of the native troops was poor, the Italian garrisons were too spread out, due to the extremely poor state of roads, and were essentially reduced to a static role without enough ammunitions and oil reserves (which allowed the Allies to liberate AOI in 1941). East Africa Campaign northern front: Allied advances in 1941 In 1940, the adjacent protectorate of British Somaliland was occupied by Italian forces and absorbed into Italian East Africa. The conquest was the only victory of Italy , without reinforcement from German troops, during WWII against the Allies . This occupation lasted around one year.

On March 27, 1941 the stronghold of Keren was captured by the British troops after a strenuous defence from general Orlando Lorenzini. After the surrender of Massaua (April 8), Eritrea was lost for Italy. The war was lost on May 1941, when the last stand on Amba Alagi under Viceroy Amedeo di Savoia , Duke of Aosta , at Amba Alagi ended honourably in face of overwhelming Allied troops. November 28 of the same year, general Guglielmo Nasi and the last Italian occupants of Gondar surrendered. Many Italians fought a guerrilla war in the "Africa Orientale Italiana", after the surrender at Gondar of the last regular Italian forces in November 1941. From November 1941 to September 1943 there was an Italian guerrilla force made up of 7000 Italians who had not accepted surrender to the Allies .

They were waiting for the possible arrival of the Italo-German army of Rommel from Egypt and the Mediterranean (called in 1942 by Mussolini "the Italian Mare Nostrum "), but after the Battle of El Alamein the momentum of this resistance slowly faded away. Notes Map of Italians of Ethiopia - The Full Wiki The Full Wiki Map showing all locations mentioned on Wikipedia article: Italians of Ethiopia are the colonists from Italy who moved to colonize Ethiopia in the XX century, and their descendants. History The 1880s were marked by the Scramble for Africa in Ethiopia and Eastern Africa, when the Italians began to vie with the British and French for influence in the area. Asseb , a port near the southern entrance of the Red Sea , was bought by in March 1870 from the local Afar sultan, vassal to the Ethiopian Emperor, by an Italian company, which by 1890 led to the Italian colony of Eritrea . Since then the Kingdom of Italy started to try to take control of Ethiopia.

Conflicts between the two countries resulted in the Battle of Adwa in 1896, whereby the Ethiopians defeated Italy and remained independent, under the rule of Menelik II . Italy and Ethiopia signed a provisional treaty of peace on 26 October 1896, but in the next years Italians started to pursue the "avenge of Adua" as a matter of national honor. The avenge indeed came when Benito Mussolini started to expand the African colonial possessions of Italy in the 1930s. In October 1935, Mussolini launched the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and invaded Ethiopia. Emperor Haile Selassie fled the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on 2 May 1936 and the Italians entered the city on 5 May, after bloody battles.

The war was full of cruelty: the Ethiopians used Dum-dum bullets (the Hague Convention of 1899, Declaration III, prohibited the use in international warfare of bullets called "Dum-dum", which easily expand or flatten in the body) against the Italians from the start of the war, and this provoked the retaliation of the Italians, who used gas against the Ethiopians in the last months of the war. Victory was announced on 9 May 1936 and Mussolini declared the creation of the "Italian Empire". The Italians merged Eritrea, Italian Somalia , and newly captured Ethiopia into Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, A.O.I.). The Italian King Victor Emmanuel III added Emperor of Ethiopia to his titles. Mussolini dreamed of sending millions of Italian settlers to Italian East Africa, and Italians had high hopes of turning the area into an economic asset: huge investments were done in the creation of needed infrastructures (roads, airports, hospitals, etc..).

From 1936 to the start of World War II Mussolini controlled much of Ethiopia, but a guerrilla war raged in some areas of Ethiopia still controlled by clans linked to Selassie (who was exiled in Great Britain ). One of the main steps done by Mussolini in order to "pacify" the country and gain the sympathy of the Ethiopians was to decree the abolition of slavery inside Ethiopia in October 1935. In the first months of 1941 the Allies conquered the Italian East Africa Empire and for the Italian Ethiopians started a period of harassment that led to their nearly disappearance after World War II. Italian Ethiopia: 1936-1941 The Italian community in Ethiopia was very small in 1935, before the Italian invasion: only 200 Italians lived in Ethiopia, nearly all of them in the capital Addis Ababa. But in 1940, just five years after Mussolini's conquest of this African country , the Italians residents in Etiopia were nearly 40,000.

The Italo-Ethiopians were concentrated in the capital area, and in some cases were related to military and administrators just arrived from Italy. Ethiopia (divided in the administrative provinces of Scioa, Galla-Sidamo, Harar and Amara) as part of the Italian Empire (1936-1941) To these colonists there was to be added the Italian labourers, who came temporarily to work (usually only for some months) in the construction of the Etiopian infrastructures, calculated in nearly 200,000 in five years. The 40,000 were to be followed -according to the projects of the Fascism of Mussolini - by nearly two millions Italians in the next ten years, who were to be added to the 10 millions of Ethiopians living in the country in 1940. According to official statistics of the Italian government, in October 1939 the Italian Ethiopians were 35.441, of whom 30.232 male (85,3%) and 5209 female (14,7%), most of them living in urban areas.

Only 3,200 Italian farmers moved to colonize farm areas, mainly because of the danger of Ethiopian guerrilla (that in 1940 was still controlling nearly 1/4 of Ethiopia highlands). Ethiopia (divided in the administrative provinces of Scioa, Galla-Sidamo, Harar and Amara) as part of the Italian Empire (1936-1941)The Italians did huge and expensive infrastructures, that drained the Italian economy but reduced in those years the unemployment in the Kingdom of Italy . They did of new roads asphaltated: in 1940 Addis Ababa was connected by state-of-the-art roads to Asmara . Furthermore, of railways were reconstructed or initiated (like the railway between Addis Abeba and Assab ), dams and hydroelectric plants were built, and many public and private companies were established in the underdeveloped country.

The most important were: "Compagnie per il cotone d'Etiopia" ( Cotton industry); "Compagnia etiopica del latte e derivati" (Milk industry); "Cementerie d'Etiopia" (Cement industry); "Compagnia etiopica mineraria" ( Minerals industry); "Imprese elettriche d'Etiopia" (Electricity industry); "Compagnia etiopica degli esplosivi" ( Armament industry); "Industria per la birra dell'AOI" (Beer industry); "Trasporti automobilistici (Citao)" (Mechanic & Transport industry). There was an urbanistic project for the enlargement of Addis Ababa, but these architectural plans -like all the other developments- were stopped by World War II. Italians of Ethiopia under British and Ethiopian rule With the Italian defeat in eastern Africa in spring 1941, the Italians of Ethiopia started to face a period of huge difficulties. Some Italian civilians even partecipated in the Italian guerrilla war in Ethiopia until 1943, like Rosa Dainelli .

This Italian doctor was a woman who became an active member of the Fronte di Resistenza (Front of Resistance), an Italian organization which fought the Allies in a guerrilla war from December 1941 until summer of 1943. In August 1942 she managed to enter inside the main ammunition depot of the British Army in Addis Ababa and blow it up, somehow surviving the huge explosion. This act of sabotage destroyed the ammunition for the new British sten machine gun and delayed the deployment of this "state-of-the-art" weapon for many months. Doctor Dainelli, even if less known than lieutenant Amedeo Guillet , was famous as one of the few Italian woman who participated actively in the Italian guerrilla operations against the British troops after the East African Campaign . She was nominated, after the end of the war, for the Italian medal of honor called "croce di ferro". After World War II the Italian Ethiopians were forced to return to Italy, mainly after the fall of the Negus in 1974. Nearly 22,000 Italo-ethiopians took refuge in Italy during the 1970s.

Their main organization in Italy is the Associazione Italiana Profughi dall'Etiopia ed Eritrea (A.I.P.E.E.). In the 2000s many Italian companies are back to work in Ethiopia and now there it is a community of 1256 Italian technicians and managers with their families living mainly in Addis Ababa . Only 80 original Italian colonists remain alive in 2007. Actually there are nearly 2000 illegitimate descendants of Italian colonists and Ethiopian women. Language and Religion The remaining 80 original Italian Ethiopians colonists speak Italian , but their descendants speak even Amharic . The 1256 recently moved to Ethiopia Italian technicians and managers (with their families living mainly in Addis Ababa) use the Italian and English language (but have some knowledge of Amharic for their work). In religion, nearly all are Roman Catholic Christians. Famous Italians of Ethiopia Franco Antonicelli. Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945 p. 84 Nicola Labanca. Oltremare. Storia dell'espansione coloniale italiana p.129 Antonicelli, Franco.

Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915 - 1945. Mondadori ed. Torino, 1961 Barker, A.J. Rape of Ethiopia, 1936. Ballantine Books. London, 1971. ISBN 978-0345024626 Blitzer, Wolf. Century of War. Friedman/Fairfax Publishers. New York, 2001 ISBN 1-58663-342-2 Del Boca, Angelo. Italiani in Africa Orientale: La conquista dell'Impero, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1985. ISBN 8842027154 Del Boca, Angelo. Italiani in Africa Orientale: La caduta dell'Impero, Laterza, Roma-Bari 1986. ISBN 884202810X Labanca, Nicola. Oltremare. Storia dell'espansione coloniale italiana. Il Mulino. Bologna, 2007.

ISBN 8815120386 Maravigna, Pietro. Come abbiamo perduto la guerra in Africa. Le nostre prime colonie in Africa. Il conflitto mondiale e le operazioni in Africa Orientale e in Libia. Testimonianze e ricordi.Tipografia L'Airone. Roma, 1949 Mockler, Antony. Haile Selassie's War: The Italian-Ethiopian Campaign, 1935-1941. Random House. New York, 1984. ISBN 0394542223 Rosselli, Alberto. Storie Segrete. Operazioni sconosciute o dimenticate della seconda guerra mondiale. Iuculano Editore. Pavia, 2007. Sbiacchi, Alberto. Hailé Selassié and the Italians, 1941-43. African Studies Review, vol.XXII, n.1, April 1979.

External links BBC - WW2 People's War - Timeline Fact File : East African Campaign 19 January to 27 November 1941 Theatre: East Africa Location: Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), Eritrea, Italian and British Somaliland (now Somalia) Players: Allies: Lieutenant General William Platt's 4th and 5th Indian Divisions; Lieutenant General Alan Cunningham's 11th and 12th African Divisions and 1st South African Division; Irregular British/Ethiopian forces led by Major General Orde Wingate; British colonial forces based in Aden (now Yemen). Italy: Italian colonial forces commanded by the Duke of Aosta. Outcome: Defeat of the Italian forces in East Africa. In 1940, Italy controlled Abyssinia, which it had conquered in 1936, as well as the 19th-century conquests of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. In August 1940 the Duke of Aosta invaded neighbouring British Somaliland, whose long borders with Abyssinia and Italian Somaliland made defence impracticable. British forces evacuated to British held Aden (now Yemen) across the Persian Gulf.

Italian East Africa bordered both British-held Kenya and the Sudan, which was jointly controlled by Britain and Egypt; it also threatened the approaches to the Suez Canal. In January 1941, British forces launched a counter offensive. From Sudan in the north, Platt advanced into Eritrea on 19 January. Battling through mountainous territory, his forces reached the heavily garrisoned town of Agordat, 160km (100 miles) from the border. On 28 January it fell after two days of hard fighting. Platt now made for the town of Keren, 80km (50 miles) away and the gateway to Eritrea's central plateau. The route lay through the Dongolaas Gorge, a wild, craggy area where progress was only possible after enemy forces were dislodged from the commanding heights. RAF units based inside Eritrea provided air support. Platt was also assisted by a diversionary manoeuvre in which a body of Indian and Free French troops was sent by sea from Sudan to northern Eritrea. Nevertheless, it was only on 15 March that Platt began the final assault on Keren, which fell 11 days later.

Platt's forces marched to the coast at Massawa, 160km (100 miles) away, and took it on 8 April. Within days, Eritrea was liberated. At the same time, Italian East Africa was also attacked from the south. In Kenya, Cunningham assembled a force of three divisions, one South African and two composed of Nigerian and Ghanaian troops under British officers. On 10 February, Cunningham led part of his force east from Kenya into Italian Somaliland, while the remainder marched north into Abyssinia. The Italian Somali capital of Mogadishu fell on 26 February and by 5 March the enemy was routed. Cunningham's force now divided; he led one group further north while the other advanced north west into Abyssinia, to be reunited with the group that had been sent north from Kenya. The town of Jijiga in north eastern Abyssinia, 1,600km (1,000 miles) from Cunningham's Kenyan starting point, fell on 20 March. On 6 April Cunningham's reunited forces entered the Abyssinian capital Addis Ababa.

The Duke of Aosta surrendered on 16 May, but some isolated Italian forces fought on until 27 November. Two other participants in this extraordinary victory should be mentioned. One was the exiled garrison of British Somaliland: in April, exploiting the general collapse of Italian power, a force embarked from Aden and recaptured British Somaliland. The other was Gideon Force, an irregular group organised by Major General Orde Wingate. Gideon Force was intended to aid Ethiopian rebels and hold down Italian forces in the north west of the country; Wingate interpreted this mandate as including the liberation of Abyssinia and the reinstatement of Emperor Haile Selassie. Gideon Force, with Selassie, crossed the border from Sudan on 20 January and made for Addis Ababa, harassing the Italians and enlisting support from local rebel groups. Their advance was outstripped by Cunningham's, however: Wingate and the Emperor first entered Addis Ababa in a victory march on 5 May, about a month after Cunningham. Gideon Force played a part in the mopping-up operations during May, but was disbanded on 1 June.

The fact files in this timeline were commissioned by the BBC in June 2003 and September 2005. Find out more about the authors who wrote them.

Question: What was the capital of Italian East Africa between 1936 and 1941?
Answer: Addis Ababa