The+Ethiopia+Crisis,+1935-36

The Ethiopia Crisis 1935-36

Mussolini || An Italian Prime Minister who created the plan of conquering Ethiopia. ||
 * ** Keywords ** || ** Definition ** ||
 * Benito
 * League of Nation || An organization that was set between 1919-1946 to prevent war that might happen after WW I. Britain was the leader of the league. ||
 * Hoare-Laval Plan || A treaty that Britain's Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare and France Prime Minister Pierre Laval signed to end the Ethiopia crisis. The plan was about diving two large areas of land to to Italy. the land to the south was reserved to Italy's business. Italy then will halt the invasion in return. ||
 * Askari || An African soldier that was forced to fight for the European country that control them. ||

Ethiopia Crisis

The Ethiopia Crisis (Abyssinia crisis or Italo-Ethiopian war) was an event that Italy tried to take over Ethiopia before World War II started. At that time, Europian countries have taken part in a "scramble of Africa", a contest to get as many colonies in Africa as possible. Italy came last in the contest. It gained only three African colonies-Libya, Eritrea and Somaliland. When Italy was attacked by Italian's forces, the Etiopians fight back in the battle of Adowa. Eventhought Italy just lost the battle, it didn't stop Italy from the desire of more lands. After Benito Mussolini came to power, Italy began another invasion on Ethiopia. He signed a treaty of friendship with Haile Selassie but it was just the beginning. The Beginning of the end.

The War

After Mussolini had signed the peace treaty with Ethiopia, he ordered his generals to prepared his army. He was waiting for an excuse to declared war and the time had come. November 22 1934, Ethiopian army clashed against Italian army near an oasis call "Wal Wal". Fortunately, financial and strategic compensation was given to the Ethiopian. The real conflict was on January 25 1935 when five Italian askaris (soldiers that were conscripted from Africa) were killed near the same oasis. Mussolini then declard war on Ethiopia and he mobilised his troops and march toward Ethiopia. The Italian armies had approximately 500,000 infantry and million tons of equipment was transported to the battlefield. Italy won a total victory against Ethiopia. They stood a little chance against the overwhelming number of Italian's army.

International response and subsequent actions

"from wikipedia, the free encyclopedia". []
 * Date || Event ||
 * December 6, 1934 || [|Emperor Haile Selassie] of Ethiopia protested Italian aggression at Walwal. ||
 * December 8, 1934 || Italy demanded an apology and, on December 11, followed up this demand with a demand for financial and strategic compensation. ||
 * January 3, 1935 || Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for arbitration in the Walwal incident. But the League's response was inconclusive. The following analysis of an Arbitration Committee belonging to League of Nation absolved both parts from any charge. In actuality, many nations were working independently of the League in order to keep Italy as an ally. Shortly after Ethiopia's initial appeal, Minister of Foreign Affair Pierre Laval of France and Foreign secretary Samuel Hoare met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome. ||
 * January 7, 1935 || A meeting between Laval and Mussolini resulted in the "Franco–Italian_Agreement". This treaty gave Italy parts of French Somaliland (now Djibouti), redefined the official status of Italians in French-held Tunisia, and essentially gave the Italians a free hand in dealing with Ethiopia. In exchange for this, France hoped for Italian support against German aggression. ||
 * January 25 || Five Italian askaris were killed by Ethiopian forces near Walwal. ||
 * February 10, || Mussolini mobilized two divisions. ||
 * February 23 || Mussolini began to send large numbers of troops to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland. These were the Italian colonies that bordered Ethiopia to the northeast and southeast respectively. There was little international protest to this build-up. ||
 * March 8 || Ethiopia again requested arbitration and noted Italian military build-up. On March 13, Italy and Ethiopia agreed on a neutral zone in the Ogaden. ||
 * On March 17, || Ethiopia again appealed to the League due to continued Italian build-up. On March 22, the Italians yielded to pressure from the League of Nations for arbitration into the Walwal incident. But on May 11, Ethiopia again protested the ongoing Italian mobilization. ||
 * Between May 20 and 21 || The League of Nations held a special session to discuss the crisis in Ethiopia. On May 25, a League council resolved to meet if no fifth arbitrator had been selected by June 25, or if a settlement was not reached by August 25. ||
 * June 19 || Ethiopia requested neutral observers. ||
 * From June 23 to 24 || The United Kingdom attempted to quell the crisis and sent Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs Anthony Eden to broker peace. It was a failed mission though, as Mussolini was bent on conquest. Following that, Britain declared an arms embargo on both Italy and Ethiopia on July 25. Many believe that this was a direct result of Italy's decree that supplying Ethiopia would be perceived as an act of unfriendliness. Britain also cleared its warships from the Mediterranean, further allowing Italy unhindered access. ||
 * June 25 || Italian and Ethiopian officials met in the Hague to discuss arbitration and these discussions fell apart by July 9. ||
 * July 26 || The League confirmed that no fifth member has been selected. On August 3, the League limited arbitration talks to matters except for the sovereignty of Walwal. The League met again on September 4 to examine relations between the two countries. ||
 * August 12 || Ethiopia pleaded for arms embargo to be lifted. On August 16, France and Britain offered Italy large concessions in Ethiopia to avert war and Italy rejected these offers. On August 22, Britain reaffirmed its embargo on armaments. ||
 * September 4 || The League exonerated both Italy and Ethiopia of the Walwal incident since both nations believed Walwal was within its territorial borders. ||
 * September 10 || Pierre Laval, Anthony Eden, and Sir Samuel Hoare agreed on limitations to Italian sanctions. ||
 * September 25 || Ethiopia again asked for neutral observers. On September 28, Ethiopia began to mobilize its large but poorly-equipped army. ||



The Result

After Italy had conquer Ethiopia, King Haile Selassie fled to seek help from the League of Nation. The League then imposed economic sanction on Italy for hoping to stop the invasion on Ethiopia. However, it didn't work. Three of the League's members refused to the sanction and the sanction didn't ban oil supplies to Italy which could have devastated Italy's invasion. One of the reasons was because the United State was not the member of the League of Nation and the United Sate could sell oil supplies to Italy. Another reason was the Britain and France was afraid that Italy would turn against them if they ban the oil. Althought the League didn't ban the oil supplies to Italy, the leader Britain and France was creating a negotiation plan to prevent further trouble. They created a Hoare-Laval plan, hoping that it will stop Italy's invasion on Ethiopia. Unfortunately, there was a strong protest against it in Britain and the plan was abandoned. In the end, Italian force conquered all of Ethiopia. .

Analysis Question

Why do you think that Britian and France help Ethiopia by creating the Hoare-Laval Plan instead of using force?

The League of Nation's main duty was to prevent war between memebers.When the war broke out, King Haile Selassie went to the League of Nation's headquarter in Geneva, Switzerland, seeking help. Britian, as the leading memeber of the League, declared an economic snaction on Italy. Unfortunately, Britain didn't declared sanction on oil which kept Italian army moving towards Ethiopia. Besides, Britian, the nation who control the Seuz canal at that time, didn't close the Suez canal. With the canal open, Italian's ships was able to transport military equipments easily.

In my opinion, the reason that Britian and France use the Hoare-Laval plan to solve the conflict because Britain and France was afriad that Italy might be angry at them if they do too much. The making of Hoare-Laval plan was to help help both Ethiopia and the League themselves. The plan makes people think that the League help Ethiopia and it also doesn't anger Mussolini. Unfortunately, the civilian of Britian didn't agree and they thought that it was unfair for Ethiopia. They protested and the plan was abandoned. With no plan, there's nothing to stop Italy from conquering Ethiopia.

The reason that Britian and France invented the Hoare-Laval plan was to solve the conflict without angering Italy. Britain and France should be more decisive if other countries were to believe in them. The decision of Britian and France in creating the Hoare-Laval plan was a choice of fear which the leader shouldn't have.

Video

[] [] []

Link

Unit Three-Origins- Practices- Results of World War Two. Home