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Ayo Akinfe
[1] We are just a week away from the October 3 anniversary of the Second Italian-Ethiopian War of 1935 where Benito Mussolini sought revenge for the humiliation Italy suffered during the Battle of Adowa in 1896
[2] In one of the most callous acts ever seen before, on October 3 1935, 200,000 soldiers of the Italian Army commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono attacked from Eritrea (then an Italian colonial possession) without prior declaration of war
[3] In a pincer movement, a minor force under General Rodolfo Graziani also attacked from Italian Somalia. This time around the Italians were leaving nothing to chance. Bear in mind that the Italian defeat at Battle of Adowa took place around the same time as the 1897 Massacre of Benin, so Mussolini wanted as comprehensive a victory as the British secured in Benin City
[4] It is easy to understand why the Fascist Benito Mussolini had to defeat Ethiopia. The humiliation of the Battle of Adowa is often under-estimated. Across Europe, the Italians had to spread the word that the Ethiopians were white because it would be unheard of that savage Africans defeated a European army
[5] Just to let you know how pained they were, on 15 October 1935, Italian troops seized Aksum and the 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 created by the Fascist regime
[6] Despite the attack, the Ethiopians fought back gallantry and heroically. In a 1978 publication, Alberto Sbacchi calculated that by May 1936, 10,000 Italian soldiers had been killed and 44,000 had been wounded. He added that from 1936 to 1940, an additional 9,555 men were killed and 144,000 sick and wounded
[7] In the US, black Americans were volunteering to go and fight for Ethiopia, while Italian-Americans were volunteering to fight for Mussolini. Despite being crushed by superior firepower including the use of napalm, Ethiopian resistance continued
[8] Ethiopian resistance fighters facing up to Italy faced 10 times more odds than Afghans facing the Taliban or Nigerians facing Fulani cattle herdsmen. The difference is that they were prepared to fight and die for freedom
[9] They say the strong dominate the weak. How can 300,000 Afghan soldiers flee before 100,000 Taliban troops or how can 13m Fulani dominate 65m Hausas, 36m youruba and 30m Igbo? Cowardly people will always be dominated
[10] I have zero sympathy for people who lay down their arms and hold up their hands in despair when under attack. As far as I am concerned the Taliban and herdsmen have the right to behead as many of such cowards as they deem fit. People with dignity would pursue the route marked out by our Ethiopian heroes!
