The Abyssinian Campaigns

[Italian-wiseguy]

Well I've personally met people who fought in Eastern Africa and in Libya in WWII (some were my relatives) and also one who fought the campaign of '35 (AND WWII... he was a shoemaker, he used to say "well I was in war during all my youth... and they called it a blitzkrieg!").

One thing every italian knows about "the colonies", especially Eastern Africa, was the very high number of mixed weddings, and the even higher one of unofficial unions (the so-called "madame").
Eastern African women were considered to be (and actually were) very attractive, and the most popular "war song" actually told about "freeing" a "bella abissina".
These unions actually continued after the "Racial Laws".

One thing I personally never noticed in veterans was racism: ethiopians/erithreans were poor farmers, they were poor farmers themselves, full stop.
On the other hand, a former PoW captured by the americans in North Africa (the grandfather of one of my friends) was shocked about the quantity of materials that american soldiers had;
he came out trading it almost freely with arabs.

As for the first campaign against Ethiopia, the defeat of Adowa (Adua in italian) was shocking for italians, but I'd point out it was not
"the poor spear-shaking savage against the big white man army" celebrated (or condemned, a matter of point of views) by contemporary propaganda;

simply, ethiopian army, which had a consistent quantity of modern weapons, outnumbered the mis-led italians (and erithreans).

Ciao!

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

Libia is also a fascinating study, not to be toofftopic:. As with the French and Spaniards in Morocco, the Italians spent years putting down local resistance, and weren't really able to make headway in the colony until the early '30s.

Italian army was brutal in his fight against resistance in inner Libya: concentration camp (à la Boer war) and war atrocities were, sadly, committed in order to really conquer the desertic inland.
The Senussi brought terror to italian soldiers especially with thier night raids.

The general idea of the colonization was to make Libya "the fourth coast" of Italy, which obviously couldn't be achieved without a strong hold of the interior.

OTH, this meant also that since '33 (? maybe I don't recall the year correctly) Libya was not a colony but a province, just like any italian province.
Libyan soldiers so weren't colonial troops but common italian army, wearing the distinctive "stellette", the tiny stars on collars that identify the italian soldier.
I think that the first paratroopers of the italian army were also libyans.

The number of italians settled in Libya (not only traders, but I'd say mostly farmers) was also impressive.

Ciao!!

 

[cookie]

I don't have any specific books to recommend reading but I would suggest that if Italian involvement in East Africa is of interest, then you could do far worse than to read about the history of Eritrea. This stretch of land on the west coast of the Red Sea became an Italian colony in 1889. This was the result of the First Italian-Abyssian War in which Italy tried to conquer Abyssinia/Ethiopia. The Italians failed for pretty much the same reason the Muslim Arabs failed to invade and convert Ethiopia in the 7th Century. The terrain. Within 50 miles, the land rises from sea level on the Red Sea Coast to a plateau at nearly 8,000 feet above sea level, (and goes up there the further inland you go.) The Italians were able to get up onto the plateau and a little further inland but were stopped and held by the Abyssinians.

Under Mussolini, Eritrea's capital, Asmara, became a showcase for Italian enterprise and several thousand Italian colonists moved there. Hence the city today is full of Art Deco architecture that was too avant garde for Europe, Italian food is common, and Italian is still understood by many older people. Eritrea along with Italian Somaliland were the springboards for Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia in the mid 1930s.

The Italian occupation of Ethiopia only lasted 5 years when all of Italy's East African colonies were invaded and occupied by British Commonwealth forces. (One book I can recommend about the late stages of this campaign and the removal of the Italian settlers is _Tales From the King's African Rifles_ by John Nunneley.) Post-war Eritrea was administered by the UK under a UN mandate, federated with Ethiopia in 1952 and unilateraly annexed by Ethiopia in 1961. This sparked the 30 year war that ended in 1991 with Eritrea's independence.

Apologies for the brain-dump. Eritrea and Asmara have become something of a curiousity-itch since I began reading up on the Axum Empire of the First Millenium - a Christian kingdom that ruled what is now Ethiopia, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Yemen. It was the ancestor of the Kingdom/Empire of Abyssinia/Ethiopia. Because it lost its entire coastline to Muslim Arab expansion in the 7th C., Ethiopia became cut off from the rest of the Christian world until the 19th C. and set the stage for Italy to take and create Eritrea in the 19th and 20th Cs.

Haversack.

I read the whole history of Ethiopia on Wikipedia. This part was very interesting.

Interesting Golden Era trivia via White Mischief. My wife's clan chief (RIP ) the Earl Of Erroll (Josselyn Hay) was the head UK officer in the Italian Somaliland campaign until he met with an unfortunate accident....

 

[Alexi]

just some random stupid thoughts, We have lot's of Ethiopians and Etrians here in Boston. And yes i know of a at least a few who are parking attendants, but they all work for the same company down by the Gah'den.

And one of my favorite books from my youth deals with Italian POW's "No Picnic on Mt. Kenya"

Besides that I have nothing to add except that apparently according to my brother all that Somalis wanted to talk about during Operation Restore Hope was basketball.

 

[Widebrim]

Even though this post probably belongs in the Moving Picture section, there's a very good movie (and the only one as far as I know) about the 1929-31 Senussi Rebellion in Libya called Lion of the Desert (1981). The star-studded cast included Anthony Quinn (Omar Mukhtar who led the rebellion), Oliver Reed (Gen. Rodolfo Graziani), Rod Steiger (Mussolini), Irene Pappas and John Gielgud. Even though I don't know his name the real scene-stealer in the movie is the actor who plays the rabid Blackshirt commander in Libya (who later gets killed).

The battle scenes are quite breathtaking -- particularly the ones featuring replicas of the Fiat 3000 tanks (an Italian copy of the French FT-17 from WWI). One of my favorite scenes in the movie is where Graziani arrives in Libya. At a ball held in his honor the elegantly-clad guests welcome Graziani with a rousing chorus of the Fascist hymn Jovenezza.lol

Being that the movie was financed by the Man of a Thousand Spellings, Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi, there's a little Arab boy (presumably symbolizing the young Qaddafi who actually wasn't born until 1942!) that appears throughout the movie bearing witness to the epic struggle against the Italian colonializers.

Yes, I enjoyed that film! And I also loved that scene of Graziani being welcomed to Libia; very well done. It's amazing that since Qaddafi financed the film, it actually isn't too one-sided.

 

[Widebrim]

As for the first campaign against Ethiopia, the defeat of Adowa (Adua in italian) was shocking for italians, but I'd point out it was not
"the poor spear-shaking savage against the big white man army" celebrated (or condemned, a matter of point of views) by contemporary propaganda;

simply, ethiopian army, which had a consistent quantity of modern weapons, outnumbered the mis-led italians (and erithreans).

Ciao!

That is true. For years, Menelik II had been accumulating modern weaponry, and his armies far outnumbered the Italians and Eritreans (Askaris).

 

[Widebrim]

Well I've personally met people who fought in Eastern Africa and in Libya in WWII (some were my relatives) and also one who fought the campaign of '35 (AND WWII... he was a shoemaker, he used to say "well I was in war during all my youth... and they called it a blitzkrieg!").

One thing every italian knows about "the colonies", especially Eastern Africa, was the very high number of mixed weddings, and the even higher one of unofficial unions (the so-called "madame").
Eastern African women were considered to be (and actually were) very attractive, and the most popular "war song" actually told about "freeing" a "bella abissina".
These unions actually continued after the "Racial Laws".

Ciao!

Thanks for the Italian perspective on all of this!

A member of my parents' former club said he was an Italian born in Ethiopia, but my father (of Italian parents) always said that the former was obviously mixed. As you say, though, the Italian men stationed in East Africa often favored the African women (especially since there were comparatively few White women in Africa Orientale Italiana). That is why the Racial Laws, established in the late '30s, made no sense to many Italians.

Going a bit fftopic:again...my great-uncle served with the Italian Army in Libia during the Turko-Italian War, and related his experiences to my other great-uncle (who related them to me back in PA). One thing that apparantly remained vivid in his memory was how captured Italians were impaled on stakes, presumably while still alive...

 

[Story]

I'd read a report by (then Captain) Jarrett, US Army Ordnance Corps, after the Italians surrendered East Africa. A US Army Ordnance Company was sent to the port city of Asmara, to help process the surrendered Italian weaponry for recycling to Commonwealth units (like the Indians used alot of obsolete Italian rifles for training purposes).

The US Army Ordnance Company was very short on sidearms and the armed 'shifta' were very much in evidence - particularly at night. Apparently, the local bandits were intent on looting some of the weapons stockpiles and taking out their frustrations on the local Italian civilian population.

Jarrett had his guys sort through and pick out K98 Mausers (from German merchant ships trapped at Asmara by the British blockade), since they were similar to the 1903 Springfields the Americans had been trained on.

There was a note about Italian truck drivers being allowed to keep revolvers and Beretta submachineguns, after commerce picked up in Eritrea/Ethiopia, since the shifta were still preying on road traffic.

 

[Bustercat]

Cool thread!
My paternal side is Eritrean, so I've had the fortune of travelling to Asmara and around the countryside several times. Asmara (and other cities, such as Massawa) are really what they say, and it's great to see how adamant they are about maintaining its character. After liberation from Ethiopian rule in the 90's, they even resurrected the old railway (complete with restoring and painting the old locomotives) and even restored the old decrepit cable car system, which was a marvel of Italian engineering. The revolutionaries who fought against the Ethiopian stalinist Dergue were highly educated so there was a great deal of engineering expertise for use during peacetime.
fftopic: If you're interested in learning more about that stage in Eritrea's history, I suggest the book Against All Odds about the liberation struggle. It's pretty neat to see how these young people, men and women, left home to undertake a pretty impossible struggle—liberating their country from what was the 6th largest army in the world at the time, with nearly no outside assistance and no airforce or navy, while simultaneously educating the rural population and reforming ancient feudal agrarian practices. They had to build labyrinthine underground fortifications to escape constant scorched earth MIG attacks, and produced some pretty impressive improvised facilities: subterranean factories to reverse engineer and manufacture captured equipment, and produce penicillin, artificial limbs, even sanitary napkins for their female soldiers. The most impressive was probably a 2km subterranean hospital with sanitary conditions for performing surgery.

Today, there's fairly strict building codes limiting the vertical size of new development to certain parts of the city, and much of the new homes take design cues from art deco. The old stuff is continually being restored and preserved. It's great to see. Travelling there was like going to a different era—not just the architecture, but the pace of life... men in dress pants and hats, drinking espresso in old chrome and marble cafes, aging Fiats and vespas flitting around the city, kids playing games with sticks and hoops...

Re: race laws, Under Mussolini there was a color bar that hadn't existed under previous Italian rule, and it didn't just relate to marriage—locals weren't permitted to hold jobs above civil service. But there were odd loopholes, and via the church, Eritreans could pursue higher education in unusual ways: men became lawyers and medical doctors via the church, but were only able to be educated and sometimes practice in Axis Italy (!)

There is indeed little animosity between Eritreans and Italians in Eritrea. Most of the old Italian families have unfortunately left in recent years under the continuously looming specter of further border war with Ethiopia, but they were there for generations, under both Italian and Eritrean rule, and were considered an essential part of Asmara life. My uncles fondly remember their Italian friends, riding motorcycles and getting Gelato at one of the best joints in the city, which had been run by the same Italian family for decades.

I have 3rd cousins who are Eritreo-Italian, descended from an Officer who brought his Eritrean wife back with him to Parma. I visit them whenever I go to Europe. My father has met old Italians on trains there who strike up conversations about their fond memories of their time there, and hold alot of respect for the Askari they served with.

 

[Widebrim]

Bustercat, out of curiosity, what is your maternal side? I ask, because judging from your avatar, you appear to take after the European side of your ancestry. Also, do you know how many Italians (roughly) are still in Eritrea?

 

[Bustercat]

My mother is Austrian, with our roots extending to Slovenia and Hungary.
Actually, more often than not, East African and 'other' mixes wind up taking on many of the features of the other parent. The explanation is quite a few East African faces look fairly semitic or even European caucasian, but with black skin and very curly hair. More relevantly, there's a considerable amount genetic similarity between East Africa, the Middle east, and Europe.

Eg, Haile Selassie, David Bowie's wife Iman, or these monks (the first one looks a bit like Tom Selleck, I think lol):

As I understand it, the current theory is that modern man got his start in East Africa (Lucy, etc.), and from there, he traveled both out of Africa and deeper into it, where he evolved specific adaptations that were suited to the climate (body hair and depigmentation up north for warmth and vitamin D, and darker skin and tight, moisture-retaining curls further south and west for protection from the sun.)
Older theories accounted for "the East African look" by claiming it was due to recent gene flow from South Arabia into Africa, but these fell out of favor several decades ago with advances in genetics.

 

[Widebrim]

You're correct in pointing out that there is quite a bit of mixture in that part of Africa, and that some of the inhabitants defy placement in neat categories. And that first monk does resemble Tom Selleck somewhat.lol

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

Bustercat

do you have relatives in Parma? I live there! Come visit me!

About askaris: erithrean ascaris were considered to be the best soldiers in the colonies, alongside somali "dubat"; they were essential in the conquest of Libya.

Fascist propaganda often celebrated colonial troops, which isn't too weird considering that Fascism, before alliance with Hitler, wasn't really race-related;
they went on establishing fascist youth organizations for the colonies etc.

Another part, perhaps of interest, of the wars in Abyssinia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Guillet

Ciao!

 

[Bustercat]

Mayby next time I'm in country, I'll drop you a line!

 

[Widebrim]

About askaris: erithrean ascaris were considered to be the best soldiers in the colonies, alongside somali "dubat"; they were essential in the conquest of Libya.

Fascist propaganda often celebrated colonial troops, which isn't too weird considering that Fascism, before alliance with Hitler, wasn't really race-related;
they went on establishing fascist youth organizations for the colonies etc.

I have a 1940 American magazine which sports a colonial troop on the cover blowing a bugle. The related article speaks of Italy's entry into WWII, and divides the Italian military into two groups: White Italians/Black Italians. (It doesn't mention "Mixed," of course.) The point here being is that the Italian government, at least in theory, considered its colonial subjects to be Italian (all part of the Romanization process). Even though this was obviously never fully played out, it says something of the Italian attitude towards its colonized peoples, and accounts at least partially for the Fascist youth organizations which you mentioned. Even though "natives" in the British colonies were usually treated better than those of other powers, you would never hear the term "Black Briton" bandied about by Parliament, the Prime Minister, or the King.

 

[cookie]

Eritrean 1920s-30s Rail Line Restored

http://www.capitaleritrea.com/insight/eritrea-old-steam-trains-on-new-journey-in-the-horn-of-africa/

 

[Widebrim]

^^That is great! Now this really makes me want to see Eritrea (especially as someone of Italian ancestry)!

 

[Story]

Check out the vintage photos of Eritrean Askaris.
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16847

 

[Widebrim]

^^Good photos, and "interesting" site!

 

[Italian-wiseguy]

Lot of photograpsh and illustrations on ascaris (uniforms, symbols etc.):

http://www.collezioni-f.it/ascari/ascari.html
But: it's in italian

also an interesting article on an old "sciumbasci" (pronounce "shoombashi") or warrant officer: he was 93 at the time of the article, living in Rome.
http://www.collezioni-f.it/ascari/beraki.html


a good starting point with some link:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Àscari

Ciao!