The Beginning of everything

Benito Mussolini, fascist dictator of Italy after 1922, eventually looked toward Ethiopia since the opening of Suez Canal in 1869, to purse an active Mediterranean policy. At the time, Italy already conquered Eritrea and Somalia. Ethiopia was the perfect land to adjoin the already existing Italian colonies. Besides, it was the last piece of Africa that was outside the European domination. It had a lot of potential value.

At the time, Haile Selassie’s success in Ethiopia was quite amazing. This persuaded Benito Mussolini to undertake a strike before Ethiopia grew too strong to opposed Italian ambitions in the Horn of Africa.

(picture of signing the Treaty of Friendship)

So first, he signed the Treaty of Friendship in 1928, for two reasons.

First, this treaty granted economic concessions to Italy from Haile Selassie. He was afraid of aggressive Italians and did not live up to his agreements. Second, Adolf Hitler’s power was arising in Germany. Mussolini had to act quickly to stand up to the big power.