Mussolini’s Conquest of Ethiopia

The war against Abyssinia. This is a book designed not for the academic but for the general reader. And it succeeds in that context, but also is an excellent history in English of the war.

Physically the book is well produced, has numerous maps where they need to be in the text and is well footnoted. You will learn some Italian words in the course of reading it (yes, I had to look some up). This is due to the author being very familiar with the Italian language! His extensive and thorough bibliography reflects that.

As the title implies, the author spends much time on the use of poison gas in the war and the first chapter discusses the entire "problem" of discussing its use. This was both mustard gas bombs and artillery shells using an arsenic gas. Military history during the Fascist period in Italy has been and remains a touchy issue. For example, an excellent two volume history of Italian mech and armor by Lucio Ceva and Andrea Curami (La Meccanizzazione dell’ Esercito fino al 1943, copyright 1994) had to stop at 1943 (the September Armistice) to be officially published)

Any discussion of the use of poison gas was, in the postwar era, denied by many right-wing Italians. and has resulted in archives being closed or limited by the powers that be. Stephenson artfully discusses the twists and turns of this process. What is silly about this denial is that Italian propaganda post-cards show the use of poison gas in the Abyssinian War!

The author shows well the price paid by authors pursuing the truth in Italy. It took many years for the facts to be set straight, though Fascist apologists and deniers remain active to this day.

While it is a general history addressing all aspects of the war, it certainly does discuss military affairs in some detail. For example, the Tevere Blackshirt division is discussed. The Blackshirts were supposed to be Fascist inspired regular folks and not regular army troops – technically a militia that was more like the German SA than SS. It was made up of a hodgepodge of soldiers with various backgrounds, and the Tevere division was primarily used to garrison Mogadishu. It had four "Legions" each of two battalions. One battalion consisted of W.W. I invalids (including those with missing body parts) & its 2nd battalion of W.W. I Ardiyi veterans, one Legion of W.W. I veterans and two Legions of Italians who came home from other countries to fight. The machine-gun battalion, which did see action, was made up of university students, along with a battalion of the World War I veterans. The artillery were regular army units.

The author has a great quote from Galeazzo Ciano, Il Duce's son-in-law, at the end of the fighting (which of course never stopped until 1942); ". . . We have not only won this campaign; we are ready for the future. We have the only experienced army in Europe as a result of our Ethiopian training."(p. 170).

Stephenson concludes with a discussion of the failure of the Allies in conducting a Nuremburg style trial of various Fascist leaders at the end of the war. Of course, that would have made for some awkward discussions (pp. 180-181).

Complaints? An appendix with an order of battle and technical notes about the various units, obviously more precise for the Italians than the Ethiopians, would have been helpful. There are a very few places where terms differ between the text and the maps, but are still easily understood. He does not discuss the early German support with guns and even anti-tank guns sent to Abyssinia.

This book joins Brian R. Sullivan's “Thirst for Victory,” which remains a thesis available through UMI Dissertation Information Service, as a must read in English for understanding the war.

---///---

Our Reviewer: Jack Greene is the author or co-author of numerous works in naval and military history, such as The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940-1943, Rommel's North Africa Campaign: September 1940-November 1942, and The Black Prince and The Sea Devils. He previously reviewed Field Marshal: The Life and Death of Erwin Rommel and The French Fleet: Ships, Strategy and Operations, 1870-1918, The Melting Point: High Command and War in the 21st Century, Birth and Fall of an Empire: The Italian Army in East Africa, and Fascist Italy at War: 1939-1943.

---///---

Note: Mussolini, Mustard Gas and the Fascist Way of War is also available in e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium

www.nymas.org