Italian East Africa
Encyclopedia : I : IT : ITA : Italian East Africa
Italian East Africa (Italian: Africa Orientale Italiana) was an Italian colony in Africa. It was conquered after a brief war in 1936 and lost in 1941 at the end of the East Africa Campaign of World War II. The Second Italo-Abyssinian War played a key role in the absorption of Ethiopia into Italian East Africa. This was also one of the key victories of Fascist Italy which rallied the support of the people behind Benito Mussolini.
It included conquered Ethiopia, Italian Somaliland and Eritrea. Occasionally Libya (at the time another Italian colony) was referred to as being part of Italian East Africa, but this was uncommon and perhaps misleading.
During the Second World War, the Italian army recruited many thousands of native Africans from the colony to fight against the British in the East African Campaign. However due to poor training and inadequate supplies and arms, Italian native troops were usually defeated in the face of the enemy.
See also
- Colonial Heads of Italian East Africa
- Colonial heads of Addis Ababa
- Colonial Heads of Amhara
- Colonial Heads of Galla-Sidama
- Colonial Heads of Harar
- Colonial Heads of Showa
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