We saw last week that the Duke of Aosta, who replaced Graziani as Viceroy, for tactical reasons adopted a somewhat more “liberal” approach than his predecessor. The new policy was desirable, and almost essential, for the Italian leadership, which knew it would soon be at war with the British and French, and could not afford further to alienate the “native” population, whose opposition could be decisive in the international struggle ahead. General Nasi’s Change in Policy The new fascist approach…
The Emperor’s statement observed further that “the resistance of the population” was “more intensive, united and effective than at any time since the Italian Army extended its invasion in the autumn of 1936”. There was, moreover “every reason to believe that armed resistance” would “be intensified on a greater scale during the coming rainy season when the Italian Air Force could not be “effectively employed… The present situation in Ethiopia,” the statement concluded, “will be appreciated if it is realised…
We saw last week that Mussolini and his followers were deeply worried, in 1937, by the continued resistance of the Ethiopian Patriots, whom they seemed unable to crush, despite the extensive use of aircraft, and yperite gas. Now read on: “Eliminate Them, Eliminate Them, Eliminate Them” The Patriots, in the last months of 1937, were indeed very active, but their operations, at least in Shoa, as Graziani recalled in a memorandum of 9 November, dated back from May of the…
We saw last week that Mussolini, by the late summer of 1937, was seriously concerned by the fact that the Ethiopian Patriots were still unbeaten, and, on the contrary, that their “rebellion”, as the fascist Viceroy, Graziani, dubbed it, seemed indeed to be increasing in strength. Mussolini’s Son-in-Law’s Diary The Duce’s concern was later underlined by his son-in-law Ciano, the then Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, who noted in his Diary, on 13 September 1937, that his master was “annoyed…
We saw last week that, during the Italian fascist occupation of Ethiopia, the fascist Viceroy, Graziani. decided to eliminate what he called the “witch-doctors and soothsayers”, because they opposed the fascist regime. Mussolini gave the resultant murders his personal approval. He telegraphed back to Graziani, on 20 March 1937: “I approve what has been done concerning wizards and rebels. It must continue until the situation is radically and definitely peaceful”, i.e. until the country was what he called “pacified”. Shootings…
Graziani’s attempted assassination resulted not only in the great massacre associated with his name, but also in intensified repression all over the country. Mussolini, on receiving his Viceroy’s first report about the attempted assassination, immediately telegraphed back, on 20 February 1937. He declared that without attributing the incident “greater importance” than it really had, “it showed the need for that radical clean sweep which, in my mind, is absolutely necessary in Shoa.” “Get Rid of Them” This message set the…
We saw last week that the Ethiopian Patriots faced fierce repression in 1936, and were attacked in the north and east of the country, both by the Italian ground forces and by the Italian Royal Air Force, which made extensive use of yperite gas. Now read on: Bombing in the South Italian aerial operations against the Patriots also took place in Southern Ethiopia. Graziani, reporting on them, telegraphed on 16 November: “Addis Ababa air force will. . . intensify from…
We saw that the fascists in Addis Ababa responded to an attempt on the life of the Italian Viceroy, Graziani, on 19 February 1937, by unleashing a three-day massacre, which was to have a major impact on the Ethiopian Patriotic movement. The massacre was so important that its documentation requires further elaboration.. “Burning Houses Illuminated the African Night” One of several graphic eye-witness accounts is provided by the Hungarian, Dr Ladislav Sava, or Shaska. He recalls that immediately after the…
Ethiopian Patriot resistance to the Italian fascist invasion, during the rainy season of 1936, which we discussed last week, was so widespread that the Ethiopian Legation in London, which was run by Hakim Workneh, also known as Dr Martin, issued an important report, on 12 September, describing much continued fighting. In this document the Embassy declared that: “Full Vigour” “The occupation by the Italians. . . far from being extended, has in some cases been confined to certain points, and…
The rainy season of 1936, which began at the end of June, greatly hampered Italian offensive operations, and thus provided the Ethiopians with a much needed breathing space in which the Patriot Movement developed. “Sons of Ras Kassa” The first significant incident of this phase of the struggle occurred on 6 July, when a force of Patriots, described by the Italian writer Bollati as “incited by the sons of Ras Kassa,” cut the railway and telegraph lines between Akaki and…
After the Italian fascist occupation of Addis Ababa, on 5 May 1936, and the proclamation of Mussolini’s Empire on May 9, the aggressors still had much to do in the military field. Graziani, the Italian commander responsible for operations against the forces of Ethiopian resistance, and later Viceroy of Ethiopia, was in a by no means confident mood. He was subsequently quoted by the Italian military author Canevari as declaring: “The situation that I inherited was the opposite of happy;…