Full Document Question: Italy's invasion of Abyssinia/ Ethiopia
Source A
Mussolini to the National Assembly of the Fascist Party in March 1934:
"The historical objectives of Italy have two names: Asia and Africa. South and east are the compass points towards which the interest and will of Italians are. To the north, there is nothing to do, to the west nothing either, either in Europe or beyond the sea. Of all the great powers, the closest to Africa and Asia is Italy. -- Italy's positions in the Mediterranean gives it the right and duty to accomplish this task." (Quoted in Overy & Wheatcroft, The Road to War, 211-212.)
Source B
A cartoon drawn by David Low, published in Evening Standard in May 1935:
(Click the picture!)
Source C
Richard Overy & Andrew Wheatcroft, The Road to War: The Origins of World War II (2009), 213-215:
"-- at the height of the Ethiopian crisis, in 1935, he [Mussolini] told the French ambassador to Rome: 'Cost what it may, I will avenge Adowa.'*) -- Ethiopia was regarded as a 'natural' area for Italian expansion. There were strong economic arguments put forward for conquest. Mussolini talked of exporting ten million Italians to the colonies. --The suggestion of limitless mineral riches, even oil, under Ethiopian's barren soil was a further spur (though much oil remained undiscovered, beneath the sand of Italy's other colony, Libya). Yet the most compelling arguments were the glory than an treasure. The king was won over to the strategy by promises of new titles and subjects. Revenge on Ethiopia was a propaganda prize of great value to Mussolini; it also had the advantage that the area was already one that the rest of the world had come to regard as a sphere of Italian influence. The politica periferica promised real gains at much less risk than a policy in Europe. -- Ethiopia was a risk which Mussolini took in the end because of his desire to 'act', to keep Fascism on the boil by satisfying the nationalist chorus for Italian glory."
Source D
Overy and Wheatcroft write about the timing of the invasion:
"Italy had sponsored Ethiopian membership of the League of Nations in 1923 against Western opposition; in 1928 Ethiopia was bound closely with a treaty of friendship and trade. In 1932 Mussolini ordered work to begin on plans to turn friendship into formal control. -- The exact timing of the planned assault on Ethiopia owed much to circumstances. Italian leaders could see that Ethiopia was rapidly building up armed forces of her own, and might well prove a more difficult conquest only a few years hence. Adowa had to be avenged, not repeated. Ethiopia was already slipping away from earlier dependence on Italian trade. By 1934 80 per cent of her imports came from Japan; much of the investment in the region game from Britain and and the United States, undermining the Italian position throughout East Africa. Italy's historic influence was strongly challenged by Japan, which saw Ethiopia as an independent empire like herself, resisting European encroachment. -- Mussolini was all too aware of the revival of Germany and of German rearmament. He was anxious not to let the Ethiopian affair weaken his position in Europe at the Benner frontier [between Italy and Austria]; an attack in 1935 would give him time to rearm and complete the operation before German military strength had revived too much." (Overy & Wheatcroft, The Road to War, 214-215).
Question One, part one (3 marks): According to Source A, what were the matters that guided Italian expansionism in the mid-1930s?
Question One, part two (2 marks): What is the message of the Source B?
Question Two (4 marks): With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the values and limitations of Source A for historians studying the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.
Question Three (6 marks): Compare and contrast the views expressed in Sources A, B and C regarding Mussolini’s motives for invading Abyssinia.
Question Four (9 marks:) Using the sources A - D and your own knowledge, analyse the reasons for the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.
*) http://www.africanews.com/2017/03/02/ethiopia-commemorates-defeat-of-italian-forces-at-1896-battle-of-adwa/ ('Adwa' = Adowa)
Mussolini to the National Assembly of the Fascist Party in March 1934:
"The historical objectives of Italy have two names: Asia and Africa. South and east are the compass points towards which the interest and will of Italians are. To the north, there is nothing to do, to the west nothing either, either in Europe or beyond the sea. Of all the great powers, the closest to Africa and Asia is Italy. -- Italy's positions in the Mediterranean gives it the right and duty to accomplish this task." (Quoted in Overy & Wheatcroft, The Road to War, 211-212.)
Source B
A cartoon drawn by David Low, published in Evening Standard in May 1935:
(Click the picture!)
Source C
Richard Overy & Andrew Wheatcroft, The Road to War: The Origins of World War II (2009), 213-215:
"-- at the height of the Ethiopian crisis, in 1935, he [Mussolini] told the French ambassador to Rome: 'Cost what it may, I will avenge Adowa.'*) -- Ethiopia was regarded as a 'natural' area for Italian expansion. There were strong economic arguments put forward for conquest. Mussolini talked of exporting ten million Italians to the colonies. --The suggestion of limitless mineral riches, even oil, under Ethiopian's barren soil was a further spur (though much oil remained undiscovered, beneath the sand of Italy's other colony, Libya). Yet the most compelling arguments were the glory than an treasure. The king was won over to the strategy by promises of new titles and subjects. Revenge on Ethiopia was a propaganda prize of great value to Mussolini; it also had the advantage that the area was already one that the rest of the world had come to regard as a sphere of Italian influence. The politica periferica promised real gains at much less risk than a policy in Europe. -- Ethiopia was a risk which Mussolini took in the end because of his desire to 'act', to keep Fascism on the boil by satisfying the nationalist chorus for Italian glory."
Source D
Overy and Wheatcroft write about the timing of the invasion:
"Italy had sponsored Ethiopian membership of the League of Nations in 1923 against Western opposition; in 1928 Ethiopia was bound closely with a treaty of friendship and trade. In 1932 Mussolini ordered work to begin on plans to turn friendship into formal control. -- The exact timing of the planned assault on Ethiopia owed much to circumstances. Italian leaders could see that Ethiopia was rapidly building up armed forces of her own, and might well prove a more difficult conquest only a few years hence. Adowa had to be avenged, not repeated. Ethiopia was already slipping away from earlier dependence on Italian trade. By 1934 80 per cent of her imports came from Japan; much of the investment in the region game from Britain and and the United States, undermining the Italian position throughout East Africa. Italy's historic influence was strongly challenged by Japan, which saw Ethiopia as an independent empire like herself, resisting European encroachment. -- Mussolini was all too aware of the revival of Germany and of German rearmament. He was anxious not to let the Ethiopian affair weaken his position in Europe at the Benner frontier [between Italy and Austria]; an attack in 1935 would give him time to rearm and complete the operation before German military strength had revived too much." (Overy & Wheatcroft, The Road to War, 214-215).
Question One, part one (3 marks): According to Source A, what were the matters that guided Italian expansionism in the mid-1930s?
Question One, part two (2 marks): What is the message of the Source B?
Question Two (4 marks): With reference to its origin, purpose and content, analyse the values and limitations of Source A for historians studying the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.
Question Three (6 marks): Compare and contrast the views expressed in Sources A, B and C regarding Mussolini’s motives for invading Abyssinia.
Question Four (9 marks:) Using the sources A - D and your own knowledge, analyse the reasons for the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.
*) http://www.africanews.com/2017/03/02/ethiopia-commemorates-defeat-of-italian-forces-at-1896-battle-of-adwa/ ('Adwa' = Adowa)