Chapter 870: Armed Intervention

In January 1935, French Foreign Minister Reival went to Rome to sign an agreement with Mussolini to strengthen cooperation and resolve differences, and Italy promised to renounce its claims to French Tunisia and to accommodate France's special interests in Abyssinia.

France agreed to revise the demarcation line between Libya and French West Africa and French Equatorial Africa, and ceded 110,000 square kilometers of the Sahara Desert to Italy; At the same time, the border between French Somaliland and Eritrea was amended, giving Italy an additional 800 square kilometres of coastal land, close to the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which was of great strategic value.

In addition, France agreed to Italy acquiring 20 per cent of the shares of the Djibouti-Addis Ababa railway and using the port of Djibouti to facilitate the Italian invasion of Abyssinia.

Britain had always been conniving at the Italian invasion of Abyssinia, and according to Aiden, who was then Secretary of State for League of Nations in the British Government, Mussolini sent a message to His Majesty's Government in early May 1935 through his ambassador. According to British Foreign Secretary Simon, the message was an appeal to Britain to be the friendliest of Italian actions in Abyssinia. A helpful attitude. Simon told the ambassador: "Friendship with Italy and helping Italy has always been the aim of the British Government, and many of our actions can be used as proof of this. ”

It can be seen that the British government supported the Italian fascists in their aggression.

As for the United States, just as Italy was transporting troops to the Abyssinian border and preparing to launch a war of aggression, the United States was at this time in the midst of a new economic crisis, and had no time to deal with the problems of Italy or Abyssinia.

This appeasement policy of Britain, France, and the United States greatly encouraged the aggressive arrogance of the Italian fascists, and Mussolini became even more unscrupulous.

On October 3, 1935, the Italian invasion army of 300,000 launched a surprise attack, crossed the border of the Mareb River, and invaded Abyssinian territory on a large scale.

The Abyssinian people rose up against the enemy, and the royal spokesman told the foreign journalists who came to talk about the future of the war and the mood of the people: "The king is reorganizing his army in self-defense." You have already seen armed men in the city and in the countryside, twelve-year-olds already carrying rifles on their delicate shoulders, and old men hanging their sabers on their right waists, it is already a habit of the Abyssinians. We Abyssinians love weapons, not because we are warlike, much less because we are cruel; We are a peace-loving country, and we are fighting for independence and freedom. In order to defend the country, none of us, even a woman, will stay at home. We were shot, only to die bleeding, and even then, none of us wanted to be left behind! We believe that the just cause will surely triumph. ”

On the second day of the national mobilization, the king inspected the capital Weicheng troops, which consisted of 4,000 infantry, cavalry, and artillery. They were all majestic and high-spirited, neatly dressed in military uniforms and hats with lion's mane. Abyssinia has more than 200,000 people in the army, who are only between the ages of 12 and 20.

This is the most appropriate age for service in the country, because the Abyssinians were the most capable and at the same time the most willing to learn in their early years. This kind of hard primitive life turned those lively teenagers into strong and brave warriors. In the military academy in Oletta, a group of young officers is being trained. They only had six months of short-term training before heading out to the front to command operations. Most of them are around fifteen or sixteen years old. Whenever people talk about their youth, they proudly reply:

"Our fathers were no older than us when they defeated the Italian invaders in Adua!" …,

Abyssinia has the youngest army in the world, but they are an army of sharpshooters. Of the hundreds of thousands of troops mobilized across the country, less than 50,000 have modern weapons, and the rest are mostly sabers and spears. In the Somali and Danakir tribes, spears are coated with poison, and hand-to-hand combat with this weapon is very lethal.

Some of the tribes that used to fight each other are now united under the slogan "Defend the independence of Abyssinia".

In the sacred war to defend their homeland, the Abyssinian peoples united and took advantage of the favorable mountainous terrain to stubbornly resist the Italian invading army. They organized ambushes, cut off the lines of communication of the invading army, penetrated deep into the enemy's rear, fought valiantly to defend every kilometer of land, and inflicted several major defeats on the Italian invading army.

Depono was removed from his post and General Badogglio succeeded him as the executioner of the massacre of the Abyssinian people.

The just war of the Abyssinian people against aggression has won the support of not only the people of the whole country, but also the solidarity of the progressive people of the whole world. The people of Egypt and other countries formed a committee to support Abyssinian independence and held demonstrations in solidarity with the Abyssinian people in their struggle.

Many countries not only in Africa, but also in Asia, Europe and the Americas sympathize with and support the just struggle of the Abyssinian people.

When the Italian invaders stepped into Abyssinian territory, blacks protested in various ways. They believed that Abyssinia was a black country, and that its destruction symbolized the final victory of the Negro over the Negro.

Crowds were raised in many places to support that African kingdom, and elaborate organizations were established in some large cities. At the strong demand of the people of the world and progressive public opinion, the League of Nations, manipulated by Britain and France, was forced to pass a resolution declaring Italy an aggressor and imposing economic sanctions on it.

However, these resolutions were nothing more than dead letters to deceive world public opinion and did not in any way hinder Italy's aggressive actions.

Under the guise of "neutrality," Britain and France declared an arms embargo on both warring sides, so that Abyssinia, which was industrially underdeveloped, would not be supplied with weapons at all, but the Italian fascists had long been prepared for aggression and did not lack weapons at all. As for oil and other strategic goods, which are urgently needed by Italy, they are not included in the embargo. In this way, Italy received a constant supply of energy from the West, especially oil, to wage a war machine and slaughter the Abyssinian people.

Without a lot of oil, Italy could not have fought this war of aggression.

In addition, the British-controlled Suez Canal was not blockaded by the invaders, and Italian ships could move troops and weapons to suppress the Abyssinian people without hindrance.

What's more, British Foreign Secretary Hall also secretly colluded with French Prime Minister Reival in Paris to concoct a plan to hand over most of Abyssinia's land to Italy, but this plot did not succeed due to Mussolini's higher price and strong opposition from world public opinion.

With the connivance of Britain, France, and the United States in this policy of appeasement, Mussolini had no fear and slaughtered the Abyssinian people even more unscrupulously.

The Italian invaders intensified their offensive, and the fascist air forces indiscriminately bombarded the cities and villages of Abyssinia. The fascist bandits also trampled on public international law, carried out dehumanizing chemical warfare, and openly used poison gas in large quantities, resulting in the death of 275,000 soldiers and civilians in Abyssinia and the brutal murder of more than 400,000 innocent residents.

In the Abyssinian people's war of resistance to Italy was at its most, Haier. King Selassie appealed to the League of Nations and the Western powers for help, but Britain, France, the United States, and the League of Nations did nothing to oppose the Italian invaders.

In this way, the Italian fascists captured

Addis Ababa, the capital of Abyssinia. Haier. Selassie went into exile in England.

Mussolini officially declared the annexation of Abyssinia, and Mussolini's invasion of Abyssini was aimed at occupying this strategic point in the Horn of Africa, plundering the country's rich mineral deposits and fertile lands, gaining bases for the expansion of aggression in Africa...,

On the other hand, Italy also received support from Germany in the war of aggression against Afghanistan. Hitler was seeing Mussolini as a future partner in aggression, and at the same time wanted to divert Italy's attention from Austria and the Balkans so that Nazi Germany could establish its sphere of influence in those regions.

This promoted the proximity of the two fascist countries of Germany and Italy.

The fascist invading forces further entangled themselves to intervene in Spain, and Mussolini extended his black hand to Spain soon after he invaded Abyssinia. Together with Hitler, he carried out armed intervention in the Spanish Civil War.

Spain is located in the Iberian Peninsula in southwest Europe, bordering Portugal to the west, the Bay of Biscay to the north, France and Andorra to the northeast, the Mediterranean Sea to the east and southeast, and Morocco in Africa across the Strait of Gibraltar to the south.

Britain, France, and the United States had a large investment in Spain and had their own spheres of influence.

Spain is rich in resources and has long been coveted by Mussolini. Spain was originally a kingdom, but in the early 1930s, a bourgeois revolution broke out, a republic was established, and democratic forces gradually grew.

In February 1932, the Popular Front government, with the participation of the Communists, came to power, which greatly alarmed the international fascist forces and caused serious concern among the major Western powers!

Hatched by Mussolini and Hitler, Franco, the head of the Spanish garrison in Spanish Morocco, launched an armed rebellion.

Germany and Italy immediately gave open support, first airlifting rebels from Spanish North Africa to various parts of Spain by plane, and then openly sending troops to fight and carry out naked armed intervention.

On Spanish soil, a war that shocked the world began.

Fascist armed rebellions first began in Morocco and Spain. After defeating some individual resistance, the rebels captured the cities of Melilla, Ceuta and Tetouan.

The officers who insisted on loyalty to the republic were shot on the spot.

This was followed by armed rebellions in a number of Spanish cities and in the main garrison areas. The leader of the rebellion was General San Hurhó, but he was killed in a plane crash under extremely unusual circumstances on his way back to Spain from Portugal.

In order to lead an armed rebel group in Morocco, General Franco flew from the Canary Islands to Tetouan on a British plane. After the death of San Hurjo, he became the leader of the rebellion!

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