Regional Influences on the Italo-Ethiopian Crisis, 1934-1938

Abstract

The Italo-Ethiopian Crisis (c. 1934-1938) is both a common case study for the failure of the League of Nations; and as a major event leading up to the Second World War. Much of this existing research focuses on international diplomacy, but far less on people in East Africa. Regional actors, be it colonial officers, soldiers, or civilians, had a major impact on the conduct of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. The main conflict that led to the outbreak of war, the December 1934 Welwel Incident, was not a conspiracy, but rather a culmination of several decades of tensions that escalated into an international affair. The British colonial officers in East Africa, fearing provocation of Italy, adopted a strict neutrality during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War itself. Non-Governmental Organizations, like the Red Cross and Women’s Suffrage groups, took sides during the war and during Italy’s early colonization of Ethiopia. Religious affiliation largely indicated who Ethiopian civilians supported during the war with Ethiopian Catholics and Muslims supporting the Italians, and Orthodox Ethiopians and Protestant missionaries in opposition.