The Ethiopia under Italian occupation was the period of years in the XX century, when Ethiopia was conquered by the Kingdom of Italy and was inside the Italian Empire in Eastern Africa. Italy started occupying areas of Ethiopia in 1935 and the last city (Gondar) of Ethiopia occupied by Italian troops surrendered to the British Army in December 1941.
For five years between 1936 and 1941, the territory of the Ethiopian Empire was a part of Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana, AOI).[1] During this period, the king of Italy Victor Emmanuel III was called the "Emperor of Ethiopia" but there was no administrative division named "Italian Ethiopia"; instead, the territory of the Ethiopian empire was divided in the Governorates of Amhara, Harar, Galla-Sidamo, and Scioa.[2]
Territory (in red color) under control of the Ethiopian resistance in December 1937. In 1940 all Ethiopia was "pacified", until the Allies attack
Fighting between Ethiopian forces and the Italian military continued until February 1937, and subsequent guerrilla resistance against Italy persisted until late 1939, when the last Ethiopian fighters accepted to start talks about surrender[3].
According to Italian historian Tripodi[4], in January 1940 the last Ethiopian rebel commander (Ras Abebe Aregai) accepted to surrender officially to the Italians, but the English & French convinced him to never go to meet the Italians in March 1940 and surrender his last Arbegnochs (because of the imminent Allied attack on Italian East Africa). That means that from January to summer 1940 all Ethiopia was fully pacified by the Italians and without guerrilla. And was fully integrated as a "pacified colony" in the Italian Empire until August 1940, when some Arbegnoch attacks were again done.
In early 1941, during World War II, Ethiopia was liberated from Italian control by Allied forces in the East African campaign, but an Italian guerrilla war continued until 1943. However the Italians continued to control some Ethiopian territories until the end of WW2. Indeed when General Guglielmo Nasi surrendered with military honours the last troops of the Italian colonial army in East Africa at Gondar in November 1941, many of his personnel decided to start a guerrilla war in the mountains and deserts of Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia. Nearly 7,000 Italian soldiers (according to the historian Alberto Rosselli) participated in the guerrilla campaign in the hope that the German–Italian army would win in Egypt (making the Mediterranean an Italian Mare Nostrum) and recapture the territories.[5]
In summer 1941 Ethiopia was placed under a British military administration, while Emperor Haile Selassie returned and reclaimed the Ethiopian throne. The Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement, signed in 1942, confirmed Ethiopia's status as a sovereign state, although some regions of Ethiopia were temporarily placed under British control. In December 1944, a new agreement led to the restoration of full sovereignty to Ethiopia, although the British continued to control the Ogaden until 1955.[6][7] Under the peace treaty of 1947, Italy recognized the sovereignty and independence of Ethiopia and renounced all claims to special interests or influence in that country.[8] Many Italian settlers remained for decades after receiving full pardon from Emperor Selassie.[9][10].
Some historians (like Epifanio Ajello, professor of the Unisa) wrote that Ethiopia was officially Italian for eleven years, from 1936 (when was proclaimed the "Italian Empire") until 1947 (when Italy -in the Peace Treaty- recognized officially that had lost all the colonies).
Notes
↑Pasquale Villani, L'età contemporanea (Italian), il Mulino, Bologna, 1983, 1993, ISBN88-15-02704-1, p. 446.
Cernuschi, Enrico (1994). "La resistenza sconosciuta. La guerra in A. O. dopo il 1941" [The Unknown Resistance. The war in A. O. after 1941]. Rivista Storica (in Italian). VII (10): 54–61. ISSN0035-7073.
Del Boca, A. (1965). La guerra d'Abissinia: 1935–1941[The Ethiopian War 1935–1941] (in Italian). Milano: Feltrinelli. OCLC799937693.
Di Lalla, Fabrizio (2016). Sotto due bandiere. Lotta di liberazione etiopica e resistenza italiana in Africa Orientale[Under two flags. Ethiopian liberation struggle and Italian resistance in East Africa.] (in Italian). Chieti: Solfanelli Editore. ISBN978-8874979325.
Rosselli, Alberto (2007). Storie Segrete. Operazioni sconosciute o dimenticate della seconda guerra mondiale[Secret Stories. Unbeknownst or forgotten operations of the Second World War.] (in Italian). Pavia: Iuculano Editore. ISBN978-8870727661.
Sbiacchi, Alberto (April 1979). "Hailé Selassié and the Italians, 1941–43". African Studies Review. XXII (1). New Brunswick, NJ: African Studies Association: 25–42. doi:10.2307/523424. ISSN1555-2462. JSTOR523424. S2CID143495345.
Tripodi, Paolo, "The colonial legacy in Somalia" Springer/St Martin Press ed. New York, 1999
The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.
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