Today I finally begin covering the actual Italian invasion of Ethiopia, which will take three installments. The first few months of the invasion were marked by a slow Italian advance, Ethiopia getting its army together, and the invaders quickly turning to chemical weapons. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Mockler, Anthony Haile Selassie's War Oliver Branch Press 2003

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

This week I cover the other two branches of the Italian military, the navy and air force. Like the army, the get bad reputations. Also like the army, there are reasons for this, which I get into during the episode. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Gooch, John Mussolini and His Generals Cambridge University Press, 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

It's finally time to take a hard look at the fighting forces of one of the major players in our story. And since this is a new kind of episode for me, I'm happy that I'm taking the baby step of talking about one of the smaller examples. Italy gets maligned a lot during this period, and there are good reasons for this, but today I not only want to cover how its army worked, but also where these deficiencies came from. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Gooch, John Mussolini and His Generals Cambridge University Press, 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

I'm trying something new today, and this episode isn't intended to advance the narrative at all, but it is intended to give a crash-course on military organization and important kinds of equipment. It's not intended for everyone, as some of you already know everything that I cover, and many of you who do not are not going to be interested in the material. And that's OK! I just wanted to throw this out there just to get a baseline of familiarity of the material established.

The Ethiopian Crisis kicked off over a border incident in the village of Walwal in October-December 1934, and then proceeded to slow-burn develop until the Italian invasion actually came in October 1935. It was a period of diplomatic maneuverings, and served to deliver a fatal blow to the system of collective security that had been so painfully built up during the 1920s. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Strang, G. Bruce Collision of Empires: Italy's Invasion of Ethiopia and its International Impact Rutledge 2013

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Ethiopia was not Mussolini's preferred target in the early 1930s. His expansionist ambitions gravitated more towards the Balkans, and Yugoslavia in particular. But diplomatic and military realities, the pressure of an emerging fascist rival, and Italy's own weakness forced his attention towards East Africa as an alternative. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Gooch, John Mussolini and His Generals Cambridge University Press, 2007

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

I wrap up the intro to Ethiopia this week by covering the key points of Menelik's successful reign, and the rise to power of Ras Tafari Makonnen. Who before this episode is finished will have established himself under his much more famous royal name of Haile Selassie. His reign would see forceful attempts at modernization, which was carried out against a ticking clock, as there always seemed to be a threat to Ethiopia. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia University of California Press 1994

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Today marks the start of another new miniseries, this time cover the Italian invasion of Ethiopia. But before I get going on the main topic, I'm going to be spending the next two episodes introducing modern Ethiopia. If you missed the overview histories from last season, you're in luck as this is a crash course how the country unified and survived the scramble for Africa. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Marcus, Harold G. A History of Ethiopia University of California Press 1994

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

Given all the misfortune to have befallen the Roosevelt administration going into the 1934 mid-terms, you'd probably think FDR and the Democrats were going to pay a political price. Well, turns out their opposition wasn't exactly the most effectual. Or in the case of Huey Long it was complicated by actually being a Democrat at the time. Anyway, today I'm looking at the early opposition figures to the New Deal, and how they failed to counter the new normal in the United States. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]

One of the big criticisms of the New Deal, and one of the most valid, was the fact that it didn't do much of anything to try and tackle the plight of African-Americans. Sure, the relief efforts and public works projects were mostly made available to all Americans. But these efforts didn't reckon with the institutional discrimination of the country, nor the fact that they had toiled as second-class citizens for generations already, and therefore would have benefited enormously from reforms to address that. Those reforms were not forthcoming, and today we'll get into why, along with other ways African-Americans experienced the New Deal. 

Bibliography for this episode: 

1. Kennedy, David M. Freedom From Fear: The American People in Depression and War 1929-1945 Oxford University Press 1999

Questions? Comments? Email me at [email protected]