At precisely 5:00 am on 3 October 1935, General
Emilio De Bono crossed the
Mareb River and advanced into Ethiopia from Eritrea without a
Declaration of War. In response to the Italian invasion, Ethiopia declared war on Italy. At this point in the campaign, roadways represented a serious drawback for the Italians as they crossed into Ethiopia. On the Italian side, roads had been constructed right up to the border. On the Ethiopian side, these roads often transitioned into vaguely defined paths. was captured by the II Corps. In 1896, Adwa was the site of a humiliating
Italian defeat during the
First Italo–Ethiopian War and now that historic defeat was "
avenged". But, in 1935, the Italian capture of Adwa was accomplished with almost no Ethiopian resistance. Haile Selassie had ordered
Ras Seyum Mangasha, the commander of the Ethiopian
Army of Tigre, to withdraw a day's march away from the
Mareb River. Later, he ordered
Ras Seyum and
Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa, also in the area, to move back fifty-five and thirty-five miles from the border.
Slavery abolished On 14 October, De Bono issued a proclamation ordering the suppression of
slavery. However, he was to write: "I am obliged to say that the proclamation did not have much effect on the owners of slaves and perhaps still less on the liberated slaves themselves. Many of the latter, the instant they were set free, presented themselves to the Italian authorities, asking 'And now who gives me food? In
Gondar, the capital of
Begemder Province,
Ras Kassa Haile Darge of
Shewa Province called a
chitet, the traditional mustering of the
provincial levies in Begemder.
Ras Kassa raised an army of 160,000 men.
Ras Kassa's oldest son,
Dejazmach Wondosson Kassa, was
Shum of Begemder. With one-third of this total number,
Ras Kassa, along with sons
Aberra Kassa,
Asfawossen Kassa, and Wondosson Kassa, moved north to link up with
Ras Seyum in the area around
Abbi Addi. In
Debra Markos, the capital of
Gojjam Province,
Ras Imru Haile Selassie raised an army of 25,000. He moved north into the area around
Shire. In Semien and Wolkait,
Fitawrari Ayalew Birru was already threatening the Eritrean frontier with 10,000 mountaineers.
Mek'ele De Bono's advance continued methodically, deliberately, and, to the consternation of Mussolini, somewhat slowly. On 8 November, the I Corps and the Eritrean Corps captured
Mek'ele, Haile Selassie Gugsa's capital in eastern Tigre. This proved to be the limit of how far the Italian invaders would get under the command of De Bono. Increasing pressure from the rest of the world on Mussolini caused him to need fast glittering victories. He was not prepared to hear of obstacles or delays from De Bono. ==Aftermath==