Italian invasion At 5:00 am on 3 October 1935, De Bono crossed the
Mareb River and advanced into Ethiopia from Eritrea without a formal
declaration of war. General De Bono's attack force included the
I Army Corps under General
Ruggero Santini on the left; the
II Army Corps under Lieutenant General
Pietro Maravigna on the right, and the Eritrean Army Corps (Corpo d'Armata Indigeni) under General
Alessandro Pirzio Biroli in the center. On De Bono's flanks, the eastern lowlands included the 13th and 26th Colonial battalions, a Libyan battalion, and three irregular bands in the regions of
Massawa, northern
Danakil, and southern Danakil. The western lowlands included the 27th and 28th Colonial battalions, a unit of irregulars and Libyan volunteers supported by the 17th Colonial Battalion. At this point in the campaign, the lack of roads represented a serious hindrance for the Italians as they crossed into Ethiopia. On the Eritrean side, roads had been constructed right up to the border. On the Ethiopian side, these roads often transitioned into vaguely defined paths, and the Italian army used
aerial photography to plan its advance. De Bono realized that the Italian lines were over-extended and his forces were incapable of holding a 300-mile long front in a region filled with steep mountains and deep gorges. The early rainy season also had washed out several recently built mountain roads, thus impeding their ability to re-supply troops. During the first few days, the Italian troops did not encounter any resistance, except for some sporadic firefights along the main routes and, in just three days, they captured the villages of
Adigrat and
Adwa, left undefended by order of Haile Selassie who had ordered
Ras Seyoum Mangasha and his son-in-law and
Dejazmach Haile Selassie Gugsa to retreat to Gheralta in southern
Tembien and await the southern armies to mobilize. The Ethiopian mobilization, however, proved to be quite slow, especially because the armed columns had to travel hundreds of kilometers on foot to reach Tigray from the various regions of the Empire. A significant offensive could not begin before December; De Bono was aware of this fact and, sticking to his tactics, decided to consolidate the positions while waiting for the enemy offensive which would allow him to destroy all the Ethiopian forces at once. On 11 October, Gugsa surrendered with 1,200 followers at the Italian outpost at
Idaga Hamus. Italian propagandists lavishly publicised the surrender but fewer than a tenth of Gugsa's men defected with him. On 14 October, De Bono proclaimed the end of
slavery in Ethiopia and the military reported the emancipation of 16,000 slaves over the next two weeks, which greatly pleased international opinion. The next day, Maravigna's II Corps occupied the holy city of
Axum, it was here that De Bono halted his advance. Mussolini could not accept a pause in operations and De Bono was bombarded with requests for a new advance. On 3 November, De Bono began his new advance towards
Mekelle with two army corps, Santini's I and Pirzio Biroli's indigenous corps, while Maravigna's II Corps was left as cover 30 kilometres south of Axum; a few light columns advanced towards the
Tekeze River and captured the town of
Shire. The Italian forces encountered minimal resistance, only a couple of clashes with irregulars; Mekelle had already been abandoned on 27 October and on November 8, the Italian advance guard entered Mekelle. The Italian advance had added to the line of supply and De Bono wanted to build a road from Adigrat before continuing. troops In early October 1935,
Rodolfo Graziani began the southern campaign by deploying mobile columns of motorized troops supported by tanks and the
Regia Aeronautica. The Italians faced steady Ethiopian resistance by the troops of
Afawarq Walda Samayat in the valley of River Fafan, at Gorahai. Only after Afawarq was mortally wounded on 7 November, the Italians captured Gorahai. From Gorahai, the Italians deployed 120 miles up the Fafan valley to
Degehabur. Attacks by the troops of
Nasibu Zeamanuel against Graziani’s rear units forced the column to return to Gorahai. Meanwhile, another Italian column under
Pietro Maletti advanced to Degehabur but had to withdraw just north of Gorahai after a deadly ambush. By late 1935, Graziani, disposing over a small number of troops, remained largely on the defensive, also being effectively blocked by the army of Nasibu in
Hararghe and the army of
Desta Damtew in
Sidamo. Heavy rains also contributed to Graziani’s lack of progress. In November 1935, Brigadier General Oreste Mariotti penetrated the
Danakil Desert from Kulul after being assembled at the Eritrean port of Fatima Eri. Securing the left flank of the Italian army, Mariotti and his troops marched across the desert, ascended up the Tigrean plateau, where they repelled an attack of
Dejazmach Kasa Sebhat's troops on 12–13 November at
Atsbi. The force then continued to
Mekelle, where it joined the troops of I Corps. On 11 November De Bono received an order from Mussolini to have Maravigna's II Corps advance beyond the
Tekeze and to push Pirzio Biroli's indigenous corps towards
Amba Alagi. De Bono reacted strongly, his reply to Mussolini was firm and focused on the serious logistical difficulties facing the Italian forces, which were simultaneously reinforcing positions, guarding hundreds of kilometers of territory, and continuing road construction. Although Mussolini initially acknowledged the validity of De Bono's arguments, on 14 November he informed the general of his dismissal and replaced him as commander of the forces in East Africa with Marshal
Pietro Badoglio. On November 17, 20,000 men of
Ras Kassa Haile Darge joined
Ras Seyoum's 15,000
Tigrayans in the Mai Mescic valley south of
Amba Aradam. These forces were discovered on the 18th by the
Regia Aeronautica, which promptly attacked them, though without significant results; the 20 aircraft involved were hindered by
Oerlikon cannons and by the ability of the Ethiopians to disperse rapidly across the terrain, thereby limiting losses. On November 18, Italy was then hit by economic sanctions approved by 50 member states of the
League of Nations, with only Italy voting against and Austria, Hungary and Albania abstaining. These sanctions proved to be weak: the United Kingdom did not block the
Suez Canal to Italian ships, allowing the war to continue and the Italian economy did not suffer, because the sanctions did not concern vitally important materials such as oil, coal and steel, which could be easily circumvented by obtaining supplies from the United States of America who was not a member of the League. The war became wildly popular with the Italian people, who relished Mussolini's defiance of the League as an example of Italian greatness. Kallis wrote, "Especially after the imposition of sanctions in November 1935, the popularity of the Fascist regime reached unprecedented heights". The Italian regime then organized a domestic mobilization known as
Oro alla Patria, a fundraising campaign organized on 18 December in response to the sanctions, during which Italians donated their gold to the state to support the costs of the war in Ethiopia. In
Rome alone, more than 250,000 rings were collected, while about 180,000 were gathered in
Milan, amid other personal gold
jewelry and objects totaling 57,114,395
kilograms of gold and 360,618,470 of
silver. In early December 1935, the
Hoare–Laval Pact was proposed by Britain and France as a final attempt at reconciliation. Italy would gain the best parts of Ogaden and Tigray and economic influence over all the south. Mussolini demanded more concessions while Ethiopia completely rejected it. On 13 December, details of the pact were leaked by a French newspaper and British Foreign Secretary Sir
Samuel Hoare was forced to resign in disgrace. In early December 1935, the Ethiopian army completed its mobilization and prepared to launch the
Christmas Offensive, which was intended to split the Italian forces in the north with the Ethiopian centre and to invade Eritrea with the Ethiopian left. The offensive began on 15 December, when 20,000 soldiers of
Ras Imru Haile Selassie advancing from
Begemder attacked the thin Italian defensive line along the
Tekeze River held by the four battalions of Blackshirts led by General
Filippo Diamanti. In the following days, there were fierce battles at the Dembeguina Pass with heavy losses for both sides. Seeing the Ethiopians break through the Italian lines, Captain
Carlo Emanuele Basile immediately ordered a retreat from
Shire to
Selekleka which was garrisoned by the
24th Infantry Division. From here, the retreat of the Italian forces continued to
Axum where they were reinforced by the
2nd Eritrean Division and the
2nd CC.NN. Division.
Ras Seyoum Mengesha's army attempted an assault in
Tembien, at
Abiy Addi, which Colonel
Ruggero Tracchia's men initially repelled thanks to their superior fire power, but they eventually had to withdraw from Abiy Addi on 27 December. Having spent a decade accumulating poison gas in East Africa, Mussolini gave Badoglio authority to resort to using chemical weapons (OC 23/06, 28 December 1935). The military directive had also called for a ruthless "take no prisoners" policy and the "complete destruction of the Abyssinian armies." From 22 December to 18 January, as the Ethiopian armies recaptured southern
Tembien and were approaching
Mekelle, over 2,000 quintals of gas were dropped on Tigray, in particular in the
Tekeze area: in this way, soldiers and civilians who used those waters to quench their thirst were indiscriminately hit. To justify the use of gas, Italian authorities referred to the brutal killing of Italian airman, Second Lieutenant
Tito Minniti, who was captured, killed, and mutilated after his aircraft had crashed behind enemy lines on 26 December. On 1 January 1936, Colonial Minister
Alessandro Lessona approved the use of chemical weapons on the Ethiopians, writing that they constituted a "highly justified act of reprisal for the infamy committed against our aviator".
Second Italian advance As the progress of the Christmas Offensive slowed, Italian plans to renew the advance on the northern front began as Mussolini had given permission to use
poison gas and Badoglio received the Italian
III Corps under General
Ettore Bastico and the Italian
IV Corps under General
Ezio Babbini. Late in the previous year,
Ras Desta Damtew assembled up his army in the area around
Dolo to invade Italian Somaliland. Between 12 and 16 January 1936, at the
Battle of Genale Doria, after defeating a small counterattack, the Italians under Marshal
Rodolfo Graziani advanced in three columns, with air support using explosives and gas, crushing the Ethiopian forces. By 19 January, Italian vanguards entered
Negele Borana, marking the first major Italian victory in the campaign and the near-total destruction of Desta's army. In mid-January, the armies of
Ras Kassa Haile Darge and
Ras Seyoum Mengesha entered
Tembien aiming to split the Italian forces at
Mekelle, but their plan was too ambitious for poorly supplied troops.
Pietro Badoglio countered by advancing the III and II Corps to block their flanks. During the battle, disaster was narrowly avoided at the Warieu Pass when the forces of
Ras Kassa managed to encircle the
2nd CC.NN. Division, but the Blackshirts held with support from air attacks using mustard gas and broke the encirclement by 24 January. As a result, the
First Battle of Tembien ended inconclusively. On 30 January 1936, Mussolini warned the Italian public that at least another year would be required to complete the conquest of Ethiopia. At the beginning of February, Badoglio launched an offensive against
Ras Mulugeta's forces, concentrated on
Amba Aradam, numbered approximately 80,000 men. On 10 February 1936, General
Ruggero Santini's I Corps and General
Ettore Bastico's III Corps began their encirclement of the Amba Aradam massif under a heavy thunderstorm.
Ras Mulugeta's army did not appear until 12 February, when it engaged the Blackshirts of the
4th CC.NN. Division under General Alessandro Traditi on the left. On the right, the Ethiopians attacked the III Corps, seriously engaging General Francesco Bertini's
27th Infantry Division on the Dansa-Bet Quinet slopes. Between 13 and 14 February, Italian forces consolidated their positions and prepared for the final assault, while Ethiopian forces were barely able to mount a counterattack. Badoglio's forces advanced systematically, and Mulugeta ordered a retreat on 15 February. By the evening, Italian forces rejoined behind Amba Aradam as Ethiopian troops retreated chaotically toward
Amba Alagi and
Shire. On 16 February, Badoglio ordered air attacks on the remnants of Mulugeta's army, which continued until 19 February, concluding with the capture of Amba Aradam and the dissolution of Mulugeta's forces.
Ras Mulugeta and his son were killed on 26 February by a band of
Azebo Oromo brigands that slaughtered Ethiopian stragglers struggling to return home. during the
Battle of Amba Aradam, February 1936 As the attack on
Amba Aradam ended,
Haile Selassie left
Dessie on 20 February to regroup scattered forces and link up with
Ras Kassa Haile Darge and
Ras Seyoum Mengesha retreating from
Tembien to
Amba Alagi. Meanwhile, Badoglio launched a pincer attack on the armies of Kassa and Seyoum. Amid confusion and indecision in the Ethiopian command, Italian forces under
Ettore Bastico and
Alessandro Pirzio Biroli advanced rapidly, capturing key positions such as Amba Alagi in an attempt to surround the armies of
Ras Kassa and
Ras Seyoum near
Abiy Addi. On 29 February, the Ethiopians began a general retreat, but it was too late and about a third of them were surrounded while the remainder was unable to stay united as they withdrew, marking the end of the
Second Battle of Tembien. From 28 February to early March, the Italian II and IV Corps moved against
Ras Imru at the
Battle of Shire, facing strong resistance at
Selekleka and the Af Gagà pass but ultimately forcing a retreat. Badoglio, seeing
Ras Imru's army slip away, immediately ordered the air force to employ all available means to hunt down the enemy forces. On 3 and 4 March, one hundred and twenty fighters and bombers bombarded the Ethiopian forces as they crossed the
Tekezé River, with 63,600 kilograms of explosives, mustard gas, and incendiary bombs, decimating Imru's troops, who suffered between 3,000 and 5,000 casualties among his army. On 3 March, Haile Selassie reached
Korem, trying to muster forces. There, he learned that Mulugeta and his sons were dead, Amba Alagi had fallen to the Italians, the
Azebo Galla revolted, and desertions plagued his troops. After a series of Italian victories in Tigray, the war turned decisively in Italy's favor. While Ethiopian forces retreated in disarray, the I Corps and the Eritrean Corps advanced toward the
Maychew basin to confront
Haile Selassie. The emperor could muster only about 30,000–35,000 men and chose to make a decisive stand, in keeping with Ethiopian tradition that required the monarch to lead in the final battle. He scheduled the attack for 31 March, also influenced by reports that Italian forces at Maychew were still limited in number. On 20 March, Haile Selassie moved from
Korem to Amba Aia, where he met his commanders to plan the offensive. By the time the Ethiopians advanced, about 31,000 troops in three columns faced roughly 40,000 Italian and colonial forces under Generals
Ruggero Santini and
Alessandro Pirzio Biroli, with superior firepower and air support. These delays proved decisive, enabling the Italians to reinforce the front, continue aerial bombardment, and gather intelligence on Ethiopian movements. On 31 March 1936, the final Ethiopian offensive ordered by
Haile Selassie began, marking the beginning of the
Battle of Maychew. Ethiopian troops launched repeated assaults, aiming to break the Italian lines. Despite initial gains, the
Italian 1st Army Corps, supported by artillery and a decisive intervention from the
Regia Aeronautica, halted their advance. By midday, the Italian
Alpini and Eritrean
askari units launched counterattacks, recapturing lost ground after intense fighting. On 1 April, after a final Ethiopian attack was easily repulsed, Haile Selassie ordered his remaining 20,000 demoralized and disorganized men to retreat towards the heights of
Korem. Badoglio, having learned that the Ethiopians were retreating, ordered the
Regia Aeronautica to strike the retreating Ethiopians on the basin of
Lake Ashenge, who were continually harassed by
Azebo Galla irregulars and the artillery of the
1st Eritrean Division under General
Gustavo Pesenti. On 4 April, the Air Bombing Brigade under General
Vincenzo Magliocco dropped 700 quintals of bombs (including mustard gas) on the routing Ethiopians, who were completely exposed and without air cover, resulting in the massacre of thousands of Ethiopian soldiers. The defeat at Maychew and the subsequent massacre at
Lake Ashenge led to the complete dissolution of the Ethiopian army on the northern front as the demoralized troops began to desert in large numbers, which cleared the way for the Italian troops. Taking advantage of the collapse of the Ethiopian armies, the East African Fast Column (Colonna Celere dell'Africa Orientale) of General
Achille Starace, composed of some 3,000 troops on more than 400 vehicles occupied
Gondar on 1 April, and soon took the region around
Lake Tana. Additionally, an Italian column deployed from
Beilul captured
Aussa on the same day, a town that controlled one of the main caravan routes to Addis Ababa. After a lull in the Southern front, on 14 April, Graziani launched an offensive against
Ras Nasibu Emmanual to defeat the last Ethiopian army in the field at the
Battle of the Ogaden. The Ethiopians were drawn up behind a defensive line that was termed the "Hindenburg Wall", designed by
Wehib Pasha, a seasoned ex-Ottoman commander. Despite strong Ethiopian resistance and heavy losses for the Italians, Graziani's forces, supported by air power, broke through the defenses by 25 April and forced an Ethiopian retreat; 2,000 Italian soldiers and 5,000 Ethiopian soldiers were killed or wounded.
Fall of Addis Ababa On April 9, after a three-day stop at
Korem, 30,000 men under the command of
Alessandro Pirzio Biroli set out towards
Dessie. Hindered by bad weather and the high mortality rate among pack animals, they managed to enter Dessie without encountering any resistance on the morning of 15 April, which had been hastily abandoned a few hours earlier by Crown Prince
Asfa Wossen. Selassie, after having eluded the Italians through night marches, managed to escape by entering the holy city of
Lalibela on 13 April where he stopped for two days and then rejoined the remains of the retreating army on the 15th. Having reached Dessie on the 22nd, the emperor learned that the city had already fallen to the Italians a few days earlier. Selassie then ordered a retreat to
Were Ilu, but an Italian cavalry unit had already occupied the town. Realizing that he was now behind enemy lines, Selassie continued his retreat using impervious tracks unknown to the Italians. On 26 April 1936, Badoglio began the "March of the Iron Will" from Dessie to Addis Ababa, an advance with a mechanised column against slight Ethiopian resistance. The march was organised into three columns: one made up of motorized units from the
30th Infantry Division under the command of General
Italo Gariboldi and one composed of Eritrean battalions under Colonel De Meo, which travelled along the imperial road
Dessie-
Debre Berhan for a distance of approximately 400 kilometres. A third column under the command of General
Sebastiano Gallina, comprising four battalions of the 1st Eritrean Division followed the 310 kilometre Dessie-
Were Ilu route. Badoglio did not want to expose himself to any risk, and to prevent Gariboldi's enormous column (12,495 men) from having to face unexpected ambushes, the Eritreans were sent as a
vanguard. The only real obstacle during the march occurred on 29 April near the
Termaber Pass, where the Ethiopians blew up the road near a narrow bend, slowing the enemy's advance. The incident caused a delay of about 36 hours in Badoglio's plans, who, during the forced stop, learned that the Party Secretary
Achille Starace had entered
Debre Tabor on the 28th, while Graziani had reached
Degehabur on the 30th. on his way to exile in Britain. After having travelled 550 km and managing to slip past enemy lines, Selassie reached the capital on 30 April. The following day
Ras Kassa Haile Darge suggested that the Emperor should go to
Geneva to appeal to the League of Nations for assistance before returning to lead resistance against the Italians. The view was subsequently adopted by Selassie and preparations were made for his departure. On 2 May, Selassie boarded a train from
Addis Ababa to
Djibouti, with the gold of the Ethiopian Central Bank. From there he fled to the United Kingdom, with the tacit acquiescence of the Italians who could have bombed his train, into exile. Before he departed, Selassie ordered that the government of Ethiopia be moved to
Gore and
Imru Haile Selassie was appointed
Prince Regent during his absence. After the Emperor left Addis Ababa to go into exile, rioters rampaged throughout the city, looting and setting fire to much of the capital, which killed several hundred people. Concerned for the safety of its citizens, the French government urged Mussolini to occupy the Ethiopian capital as soon as possible in order to re-establish order. General Gallina could have taken the capital by 2 May, but Mussolini ordered that only Italian troops and not
askaris make the official entry, causing a three-day delay. At 4pm on 5 May, Badoglio drove into the city at the head of Gariboldi's motorized column. Patrols of Italian troops were sent to occupy tactically valuable areas in the city and execute anyone suspected of having taken part in the looting. Badoglio then decided to send to Rome a telegram announcing the capture of the capital: "Today, 5 May, at 4pm, at the head of the victorious troops, I entered Addis Ababa." That same day, Mussolini announced in a short speech the end of the war and celebrated the victory as a triumph of Italian power, unity, and imperial ambition. On the evening of 9 May 1936, after sirens had called the population to assemble throughout the country, Mussolini appeared on the balcony of
Palazzo Venezia and delivered the proclamation of the
Italian Empire to a large crowd of 200,000 people. During the speech, Mussolini stated that "the destiny of Ethiopia has been sealed today" and "Italy at last has her empire". On the same day, the
Grand Council of Fascism recognized Mussolini with the title of "Founder of the Empire," which
Achille Starace promptly incorporated into the official formula of the "salute to the Duce." From that moment, and for many months afterward, the press and leading political and cultural figures engaged in continuous glorification of Mussolini's image, to the point that General
Enrico Caviglia observed that Mussolini was drawn into a climate of flattering rhetoric "which dangerously accentuated the already extreme confidence he had in his own political ability." ==Aftermath==