1935 Invasion of Ethiopia
In 1934, Ethiopia (then Abyssinia) was one of the few independent states remaining on the African continent. Most of the continent had been parceled up into European colonies, and, despite an attempt by Italy to take over Ethiopia in the 1890s, the country remained independent. Italy never gave up its intentions for the territory and they used a border incident between Ethiopia and Italian Somaliland as an opportunity to finally take control. In December 1934, the border incident caused Benito Mussolini to intervene. Ethiopia tried to arbitrate the incident, but Italy rejected all offers and invaded on October 4, 1935.
The Ethiopian army was outmatched against the Italian forces, they were poorly armed and not well-trained. The Italian air force bombed the cities of Harar and Jijiga on March 22 and both cities were reduced to nothing but ruins. On April 14, the Battle of the Ogaden began with the last of the Ethiopian army. It took ten days for the Ethiopian army to disintegrate, as 5,000 soldiers perished in the battle.
On May 5, the Italian army took the capital of Addis Ababa with little resistance. Emperor Hailie Selassie of Ethiopia went into exile, which promoted Mussolini to proclaim King Victor Emanuel III as emperor of Ethiopia. Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for help against Italy. The League condemned the invasion and imposed economic sanctions. The sanctions were not very well supported by member nations and were largely ineffective at halting the Italian aggression in Ethiopia. None of the major powers had an interest in militarily opposing Mussolini.
Ethiopia stayed under Italian control until it was granted its sovereignty following the events of World War II.