Italian Atrocities in Ethiopia: An Enquiry into the Violence of Fascism's First Military Invasion and Occupation

Abstract

The invasion of Ethiopia launched in October 1935 by the Fascist government of Benito Mussolini was marked by atrocities that continued in one form or another throughout the subsequent military occupation, until the occupying army was overcome by a combination of British Commonwealth forces and Ethiopian partisans (known as Patriots) in 1941. However, while the Fascist and Nazi expansionist invasions conducted in Europe from 1939 onwards are well known, Fascism’s first foreign invasion was less well documented, and is not so widely known. Yet there is much to be learned from a study of the methods of violent conquest and counter-insurgency that Fascist Italy employed in Ethiopia, for they inspired, and served as blueprints for, much of what was to follow. Not only was Ethiopia the crucible for the techniques of “total war” and civilian repression employed – often by the same military commanders – in Yugoslavia; but the methods of conquest pioneered by the Italians and their attempts to create a racist state also inspired Hitler, who, holding Il Duce in high esteem, had modelled his Nazi movement largely on Italy’s Fascism. Based on research conducted by the author in Ethiopia over a period of three decades, supplemented by primary and secondary sources, this paper discusses the objectives of the invasion, identifies the principal types of gratuitous violence perpetrated by the forces of invasion and occupation against both combatants and non-combatants, and proposes explanations for the remarkable nature and scale of atrocities committed.