In the 1870s, Italy, which had finally completed its unification again, set its sights on the vast world outside of Europe and wanted to occupy a colony of its own. But italy, like the rising Star Germany, was discovered in 1870, when italy, which was not unified, was found, and although the world was so big, there were not many borderlands. Finally, they set their sights on Ethiopia, in East Africa, of the three remaining independent states on the African continent.
Since Portugal, the African continent, which has been closest to Europe but always in a state of barbarism, has been the target of aggression by European colonists. By the end of the nineteenth century, most of Europe had been swallowed up by the European powers.
Military Network - First Italian-Ethiopian War
Occupying the largest area of land in Africa is France, which swallowed West Africa into its belly; Britain, the world's largest power at the time, occupied the most fertile and fertile land in Africa, and its colonies in Africa ran through the entire African continent; Together with some of the other European powers, they all had a place in Africa to a greater or lesser extent (Spain swallowed the Spanish Sahara, Belgium occupied the Congo, and the belated German occupation of German East Africa).
Therefore, at that time, only three countries in Africa remained independent: Liberia in West Africa, Egypt in North Africa, and Ethiopia in East Africa. And because Egypt's predominant population was Arabs, there were only two independent black countries on the African continent at that time.
Because Egypt belonged to the British sphere of influence and Liberia was not large, the Italian colonial target was Ethiopia. In the beginning, the pace of Italy's aggression was relatively correct. With British support, Italy took advantage of its naval superiority to occupy territory north of Ethiopia.
However, when Italy signed the Treaty of Uzhiale with Ethiopia, it not only paid two million lira for the "purchase of land", but later wanted to merge the northern territory taken from Ethiopia with the Eritrean colony, and the Ethiopian government refused to accept the demand and did not recognize its occupation. Later, the Ethiopian Emperor stated that, from 2 May 1894, they would no longer fulfill all their rights and obligations under the Treaty of Uzsiyali. In this way, the First Italian-Egyptian War broke out.
Italy, which considered itself a European power, did not hesitate to mobilize its army and conquer Ethiopia by force. They mobilized more than 17,000 men from within the country, while their rival Ethiopia amassed an army of 100,000. The numbers seem to be extremely large, but because the European powers are also equipped with advanced weapons and have a modern training model, they often fight more with less when facing indigenous armies. Therefore, Italy also believed that it would not lose, but the outcome of the war was indeed unexpected.
The Ethiopian army has a strong fighting capacity and will to fight, plus a large number of weapons and ammunition that Italy has previously aided Ethiopia. These reasons added up to the italian army's crushing defeat to the Ethiopian armed forces in the First Italian-Egyptian War. Of the 17,000 Italian troops on the expedition, 11,000 were killed or wounded and 4,000 were captured. The Ethiopian army killed between 4,000 and 5,000 casualties and wounded 6,000 to 10,000.
It can be said that Italy was basically completely destroyed in this war. Italy was forced to sign an equality treaty with Ethiopia, the Treaty of Addis Ababa, which recognized Ethiopia's sovereign integrity. Italy also became the laughing stock of all of Europe because of this war.
Italy, however, did not admit its defeat, and in the 1920s, when Mussolini, the first fascist, came to power, he set his sights on Ethiopia, which had once disgraced them. In 1935, Italy launched another military invasion of Ethiopia. Hundreds of thousands of Italian troops, after a difficult battle, eventually succeeded in annexing Ethiopia. However, what Italy did not expect was that after they annexed Ethiopia, not only did they not get much benefit, but the Ethiopians had a strong sense of the state and the nation, and did not stop resisting.
The successive revolts have left Italy, which occupies Ethiopia, in a state of blood loss. In the end, in 1941, Italy was defeated in the face of a joint counterattack by Ethiopia and the Allies, and they had to be forced to withdraw from Ethiopia, and Ethiopia once again gained independence. As a result, Through these two Italian-Egyptian wars, Italy became one of the very few European countries that had been defeated many times on the African continent.