A Prelude to Total War? The Abyssinian War (1935–36) in the Eyes of Foreign Military Observers (original) (raw)
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Leiden Journal of International Law, 2011
The ‘Abyssinia Crisis’ of 1935-36 – in which one League of Nations member (imperial Ethiopia) was annexed by another (Fascist Italy) – presents one of the clearest twentieth-century illustrations of international law’s ‘progress narrative’. International lawyers are encouraged to draw a salutary lesson from the crisis: namely that Ethiopia’s sovereignty – and, indeed, the peace of the entire world – might have survived the 1930s if only international law had been properly enforced. Yet, the assumption upon which this lesson depends – to the effect that Ethiopia’s only discursive contribution to the crisis was passively to regurgitate the relevant clauses of the Covenant – is profoundly ideological. For this assumption effects a double suppression: erasing Ethiopia’s strategic construction of a hybrid, partially Abyssinian international law from the discipline’s memory; and concealing from scholarly view the possibility that Ethiopia’s annexation might have resulted from actions that were in accordance with, rather than in violation of, interwar international legal norms regarding sovereignty and the use of force.
Spirit vs. War-machine: A Patriotic Resistance to Italian Occupation of Ethiopia (1936-1941)
2015
For the second time in forty years, a European power, Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935. Until this time, Ethiopia was a traditional polity with a predominantly feudal socio-political system, while Italy was an industrialized nation under the Fascist regime of Benito Mussolini. The invasion was conducted with the most advanced military organization and hardware vast killing machine against a spirited people of an old nation. In defiance of the occupation that ensued, the Ethiopians were engaged for five years in a multi-dimensional ‘patriotic resistance’ to drive the invaders out of their country, while the Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selassie was engaged in an outmatched diplomatic struggle from exile. It was a resistance against many odds, including indifference from the League of Nations and the Western countries.
In the Shadow of El Alamein: War Violence During the North African Campaign
taly’s Decade of War: 1935-45 in International Perspective Details Date: 6-7 September 2016 Location: University of Strathclyde From the invasion of Abyssinia to the end of World War II, Italy experienced a decade of war. This conference aims to re-evaluate the history of the Italian experience during this ten-year period with a unifying perspective that places the Italian Fascist regime and its foreign and military enterprises in an entirely internationalised framework of analysis. It will bring an international focus upon the Italian role in the break-down of the international system and appeasement, and will analyse the consequences of Italian militarism on a global scale. It will explore comparative and transnational histories of the Italian occupations of France, the Balkans, Greece, and Albania, as well as the Allied occupation of Italy following the defeat. The conference will seek to place particular emphasis upon the significance of the Mediterranean region in the wider history of the Second World War, exploring the broader implications of Italy’s actions in Africa and the Middle East. It will also look at Italian diplomatic, military and economic relations with Britain, the United States, and Nazi Germany, as well as those with other states such as Vichy France and Spain.
The Abyssinian War and the League of Nations: Debates in the Council
RJHIS, vol. III, no. 2, Semne, 2016, pp. 91-111.
The study will analyze how the Council of the League of Nations acted as a forum for discussions during the Abyssinian war (1935-1936). Most studies focused on the war underline the powerless of the League and of its Council. Moreover, the Council's role as a forum for discussions during the dispute is generally overlooked. However, the Council offered the parties involved or with interest in the conflict the opportunity to express their position and test the world opinion. The paper will study this issue by examining the minutes of the Council's meetings, published in the League of Nations Official Journal. Other sources used are the Italian media, and memoires and journals of Italian, French and British representatives.