Post by Diarist on May 20, 2014 21:49:21 GMT 1
Background
Both Italy and Abyssinia were members of the League of Nations (founded in June 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference). Italy was a founding member of the League. Ethiopia joined on September 28, 1923, seven years after Ras Tafarai Makonnen was appointed the head of state as HIM Haile Selassie I . The League had rules, which Article X explicitly forbade aggression among its members.
On August 6, 1928, in addition to abiding by Article X, Italy and Ethiopia signed the Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of Friendship. This treaty declared a 20-year friendship between the two nations. On August 27 in the same year, both Italy and Ethiopia signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an international treaty "providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy."
In 1930, Italy built a fort at Walwal, an oasis in the Ogaden. The fort was in a boundary zone between the nations, which was not well defined; today it is about 150 km inside Ethiopia. On September 29, 1934, Italy and Abyssinia released a joint statement renouncing any aggression against each other.
The Walwal incident
The Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast (approximately 73.5 miles). In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis (also Walwal, Italian: Ual-Ual) in the Ogaden well beyond the twenty-one league limit.
On November 22, 1934, a force of 1,000 Ethiopian militia with three fitaurari (Ethiopian military-political commanders) arrived near Walwal and formally asked the Dubats garrison stationed there (comprising about 60 soldiers) to withdraw from the area. The Somali NCO leading the garrison refused to withdraw and alerted Captain Cimmaruta, commander of the garrison of Uarder, 20 km away, to what had happened.
The next day, in the course of surveying the border between British Somaliland and Ethiopia, an Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission arrived at Walwal. The commission was confronted by a newly arrived Italian force. The British members of the boundary commission protested, but withdrew to avoid an international incident. The Ethiopian members of the boundary commission, however, stayed at Walwal.
Between 5 and 7 December, for reasons which have never been clearly determined, there was a skirmish between the garrison of Somalis, who were in Italian service, and a force of armed Ethiopians. According to the Italians, the Ethiopians attacked the Somalis with rifle and machine-gun fire. According to the Ethiopians, the Italians attacked them, supported by two tanks and three aircraft. In the end, approximately 107 Ethiopians and 50 Italians and Somalis were killed.
Neither side did anything to avoid confrontation; the Ethiopians repeatedly menaced the Italian garrison with the threat of an armed attack, and the Italians sent two planes over the Ethiopian camp with some machine-gun fire.
International response and subsequent actions
On December 6, 1934, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia protested Italian aggression at Walwal. On December 8, Italy demanded an apology and, on December 11, followed up this demand with another for financial and strategic compensation.
On January 3, 1935, Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for arbitration of the dispute arising from the Walwal incident. But the League's response was inconclusive. A subsequent analysis by an Arbitration Committee of the League of Nations absolved both parties of any culpability for what had happened.
Shortly after Ethiopia's initial appeal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval of France and Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare of the United Kingdom met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome.
On January 7, 1935, a meeting between Laval and Mussolini resulted in the "Franco–Italian Agreement". This treaty gave Italy parts of French Somaliland (now Djibouti), redefined the official status of Italians in French-held Tunisia, and essentially gave the Italians a free hand in dealing with Ethiopia. In exchange, France hoped for Italian support against German aggression.
On January 25, five Italian askaris were killed by Ethiopian forces near Walwal.
On February 10, 1935, Mussolini mobilized two divisions. On the 23rd, Mussolini began to send large numbers of troops to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, which were the Italian colonies that bordered Ethiopia to the northeast and southeast, respectively. There was little international protest in response to this build-up.
On March 8, Ethiopia again requested arbitration and noted Italian military build-up. On March 13, Italy and Ethiopia agreed on a neutral zone in the Ogaden. On March 17, in response to continued Italian build-up, Ethiopia again appealed to the League for help. On March 22, the Italians yielded to pressure from the League of Nations to submit to arbitration the dispute arising from the Walwal incident, but continued to mobilize its troops in the region.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyssinia_Crisis
Both Italy and Abyssinia were members of the League of Nations (founded in June 1919 at the Paris Peace Conference). Italy was a founding member of the League. Ethiopia joined on September 28, 1923, seven years after Ras Tafarai Makonnen was appointed the head of state as HIM Haile Selassie I . The League had rules, which Article X explicitly forbade aggression among its members.
On August 6, 1928, in addition to abiding by Article X, Italy and Ethiopia signed the Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of Friendship. This treaty declared a 20-year friendship between the two nations. On August 27 in the same year, both Italy and Ethiopia signed the Kellogg-Briand Pact, an international treaty "providing for the renunciation of war as an instrument of national policy."
In 1930, Italy built a fort at Walwal, an oasis in the Ogaden. The fort was in a boundary zone between the nations, which was not well defined; today it is about 150 km inside Ethiopia. On September 29, 1934, Italy and Abyssinia released a joint statement renouncing any aggression against each other.
The Walwal incident
The Italo–Ethiopian Treaty of 1928 stated that the border between Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia was twenty-one leagues parallel to the Benadir coast (approximately 73.5 miles). In 1930, Italy built a fort at the Welwel oasis (also Walwal, Italian: Ual-Ual) in the Ogaden well beyond the twenty-one league limit.
On November 22, 1934, a force of 1,000 Ethiopian militia with three fitaurari (Ethiopian military-political commanders) arrived near Walwal and formally asked the Dubats garrison stationed there (comprising about 60 soldiers) to withdraw from the area. The Somali NCO leading the garrison refused to withdraw and alerted Captain Cimmaruta, commander of the garrison of Uarder, 20 km away, to what had happened.
The next day, in the course of surveying the border between British Somaliland and Ethiopia, an Anglo–Ethiopian boundary commission arrived at Walwal. The commission was confronted by a newly arrived Italian force. The British members of the boundary commission protested, but withdrew to avoid an international incident. The Ethiopian members of the boundary commission, however, stayed at Walwal.
Between 5 and 7 December, for reasons which have never been clearly determined, there was a skirmish between the garrison of Somalis, who were in Italian service, and a force of armed Ethiopians. According to the Italians, the Ethiopians attacked the Somalis with rifle and machine-gun fire. According to the Ethiopians, the Italians attacked them, supported by two tanks and three aircraft. In the end, approximately 107 Ethiopians and 50 Italians and Somalis were killed.
Neither side did anything to avoid confrontation; the Ethiopians repeatedly menaced the Italian garrison with the threat of an armed attack, and the Italians sent two planes over the Ethiopian camp with some machine-gun fire.
International response and subsequent actions
On December 6, 1934, Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia protested Italian aggression at Walwal. On December 8, Italy demanded an apology and, on December 11, followed up this demand with another for financial and strategic compensation.
On January 3, 1935, Ethiopia appealed to the League of Nations for arbitration of the dispute arising from the Walwal incident. But the League's response was inconclusive. A subsequent analysis by an Arbitration Committee of the League of Nations absolved both parties of any culpability for what had happened.
Shortly after Ethiopia's initial appeal, Minister of Foreign Affairs Pierre Laval of France and Foreign Secretary Samuel Hoare of the United Kingdom met with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini in Rome.
On January 7, 1935, a meeting between Laval and Mussolini resulted in the "Franco–Italian Agreement". This treaty gave Italy parts of French Somaliland (now Djibouti), redefined the official status of Italians in French-held Tunisia, and essentially gave the Italians a free hand in dealing with Ethiopia. In exchange, France hoped for Italian support against German aggression.
On January 25, five Italian askaris were killed by Ethiopian forces near Walwal.
On February 10, 1935, Mussolini mobilized two divisions. On the 23rd, Mussolini began to send large numbers of troops to Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, which were the Italian colonies that bordered Ethiopia to the northeast and southeast, respectively. There was little international protest in response to this build-up.
On March 8, Ethiopia again requested arbitration and noted Italian military build-up. On March 13, Italy and Ethiopia agreed on a neutral zone in the Ogaden. On March 17, in response to continued Italian build-up, Ethiopia again appealed to the League for help. On March 22, the Italians yielded to pressure from the League of Nations to submit to arbitration the dispute arising from the Walwal incident, but continued to mobilize its troops in the region.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abyssinia_Crisis