Italy’s Ethiopian Empire

The 1935-1941 war in the A.O.I. (Africa Orientale Italiana) - Italy's empire in the horn of Africa, involved Somalia, Eritrea and Ethiopia. The 1935-36 invasion of Ethiopia (Abyssinia) is covered by only one chapter, so this work's focus is on World War II in the Horn of Africa.

Physically the book is well produced, with numerous photographs, a section in color of various Italian uniforms and equipment, and a good glossary. Written by two Italians, the English is pretty good, but the editing was poor – something the publisher, Helion, should have caught. For example (p. 67), “officer” is printed as “office.” There are not a great number of these errata, but they do occur throughout. The authors did not work in the languages of the locals but did utilize British publications.

Each chapter ends with a large photograph and map section which is quite good. Many of the maps are from the Italian Official Histories and are in Italian. Others were made for this book and are quite helpful for those unfamiliar with the A.O.I.

But the book certainly downplays certain aspects of the wars. For example, poison gas, used liberally by the Italians in 1935-36 gets a one-word mention of "chemical." I know of at least one Italian language study on the use of poison gas by Italy in the war.

There are some other errors. A MAS boat (Motoscafo Armato Silurante - think Italian PT-Boat) fires two torpedoes and hits HMS Capetown with one, but here it implies that both hit (p. 206). The destroyer Giovanni Acerbi (p. 204) was first bombed and then scuttled, and really this relic of World War I was acting as a mothership to the Italian submarines and not in the role as a destroyer.

One interesting tidbit is the German motorized company that fought as an Italian unit (pp. 132-133). The Deutsche Motorisierte Kompanie was made up of Germans cut-off from the motherland and fighting with Italian uniforms and equipment.

There is a short section that discusses resistance to the British rule after the formal surrender in 1941 (pp. 328-335). It does touch on a point seldom discussed – Italy used the tribal schisms in Ethiopia in an attempt to tie down British troops while awaiting for Rommel to send a column up the Nile!

Benito Mussolini said, 'It is better to live one day as a lion than 100 years as a sheep.' This book has numerous medal citations and the word "lion" is often used. While the history of Italy in World War II remains to this day dogged by wartime propaganda and this book is an attempt to correct that commentary, unfortunately, it simply lacks a balanced approach.

If you wanted a book on the A.O.I.'s uniforms and many pro-Italian illustrations, or if you specialized in the fighting that took place in the A.O.I., then you should add this book to your collection. If you wanted a balanced view of the fighting there, then get the best single volume in English on this period, which in my opinion, remains Anthony Mockler's Haile Selassie’s War. The best study on Italy and the war against Abyssinia in 1935-36 is Brian R. Sullivan's Thirst for Victory, which remains a thesis available through UMI Dissertation Information Service.

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