It is seen as an example of the expansionist policy that characterized the Axis powers and the ineffectiveness of the League of Nations before the outbreak of World War II. On 3 October , two hundred thousand soldiers of the Italian Army commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono attacked from Eritrea then an Italian colonial possession without prior declaration of war. On 15 October, Italian troops seized Aksum , and an obelisk adorning the city was torn from its site and sent to Rome to be placed symbolically in front of the building of the Ministry of Colonies.
Ethiopian forces attacked the newly arrived invading army and launched a counterattack in December , but their poorly armed forces could not resist for long against the modern weapons of the Italians. Even the communications service of the Ethiopian forces depended on foot messengers, as they did not have radio. It was enough for the Italians to impose a narrow fence on Ethiopian detachments to leave them unaware of the movements of their own army.
Nazi Germany sent arms and munitions to Ethiopia because it was frustrated over Italian objections to its attempts to integrate Austria. It would soon lead to Italy's greater economic dependence on Germany and less interventionist policy on Austria, clearing the path for Adolf Hitler 's Anschluss. The Ethiopian counteroffensive managed to stop the Italian advance for a few weeks, but the superiority of the Italians' weapons particularly heavy artillery and airstrikes with bombs and chemical weapons prevented the Ethiopians from taking advantage of their initial successes.
The Italians resumed the offensive in early March. On 29 March , Graziani bombed the city of Harar and two days later the Italians won a decisive victory in the Battle of Maychew , which nullified any possible organized resistance of the Ethiopians. Fighting between Italian and Ethiopian troops persisted until 19 February Italian troops used mustard gas in aerial bombardments in violation of the Geneva Protocol and Geneva Conventions against combatants and civilians in an attempt to discourage the Ethiopian people from supporting the resistance.
The Kingdom of Italy began its attempts to establish colonies in the Horn of Africa in the s. For the next few decades, Italian-Ethiopian economic and diplomatic relations remained relatively stable.
