Second Italo-Ethiopian War, 1935–1936

The Second Italo-Ethiopian War began when Fascist Italy invaded Ethiopia from Eritrea and Italian Somaliland in October 1935. Mussolini sought imperial expansion and revenge for Italy’s defeat at Adwa, while Emperor Haile Selassie appealed unsuccessfully for effective collective security.

Italian forces used overwhelming matériel and chemical weapons before occupying Addis Ababa in May 1936. Ethiopia was annexed to Italian East Africa, but resistance continued and the conquest was never accepted by many Ethiopians or fully legitimised internationally.

The war exposed the weakness of the League of Nations and became a major crisis of the interwar period. It ended with British-supported Ethiopian liberation in 1941 and Haile Selassie’s restoration.