Abyssinian War (1935-1936) at Wal Wal on December 5, 1934 For 10 months tensions built in the region and internationally London tried to appease Rome by offering a strip of Abyssinian land to Italy, but Mussolini personally wanted war to “erase the shame” of the defeat at Adowa and to celebrate the cult of violence and of “action” that underlay his fascist movement Italian armed forces therefore invaded Abyssinia in October 1935 Until that point, Britain and France had sought to accommodate Italy’s imperial ambitions in Africa to avoid pushing Mussolini closer to Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany in Europe Some in London and Paris still thought it might be possible to bring Italy back into the old anti-German alliance, the Triple Entente that fought the Great War in the west from 1915 to 1918, or at least the Stresa Front formed in April 1935 to oppose Hitler’s rearmament of Germany But given Mussolini’s sharp and relentless aggression, the Stresa Front soon lay in ruin The Hoare-Laval Pact (1935) was hastily negotiated as a last-ditch diplomatic effort to again appease Italy at Abyssinia’s direct expense But it also failed Mussolini sent a huge force of 400,000 troops, 100,000 supporting civilians, and 500 combat aircraft crashing into Abyssinia starting on October 3, 1935 That military commitment was extraordinary for a colonial war, constituting the largest invasion in the history of European colonialism Against such numbers the Abyssinians stood little chance Italian technological superiority in aircraft and armor, as well as ruthless use of illicit blister gas, quickly bested more lightly armed Abyssinian troops Along with tons of bombs, blister agents killed thousands out of 20,000 Abyssinian soldiers retreating in long columns Biological agents were also approved for use by Mussolini, in a measure of his ruthlessness and nature as a war criminal The Abyssinians had no anti-aircraft guns to repel low-flying crop dusters of the Regia Aeronautica spraying poison, or biplane bombers and fighters that attacked and strafed panicking columns Addis Ababa fell on May 5, 1936, to an Italian army led by Field Marshal Pietro Badoglio Italy now possessed the enlarged East African empire it had coveted since the 19th century Four days later, Mussolini proclaimed from a balcony in Rome: “Italy finally has its empire It is a Fascist empire, an empire of peace, an empire of civilization and humanity.” Mussolini had initial trouble gaining recognition of his new conquest, which remained incomplete in any case The League of Nations denounced Italy as an aggressor state on October 11, 1935, but it authorized only limited sanctions that specifically excluded oil and steel Many in high policy circles in London and Paris thought that an accommodation with Mussolini was still possible Indeed, some would believe that also about Hitler into January 1939 The weak Western response deeply discredited an already tottering League and gutted any meaning of its proposed service as an instrument of collective security As one result, Hitler concluded that the Western powers were feeble, speeded his rearmament program, and moved more quickly to overturn the international order established by the Treaty of Versailles Mussolini sidled ever closer to Hitler, despite continuing Anglo-French efforts at appeasement, and whipped up nationalist sentiment against the League and against London In wake of the weak response to his