The British-Italian-Ethiopian Dispute

Early in October, 1935 Italy began a war of conquest which had been announced sometime before. The general purposes of it were known to the foreign offices for about a year. However, nothing was done by the great powers or the League of Nations to drive home to Mussolini the fact that he would be met with organized resistance. Mussolini came to the conclusion that he would be showered with resolutions of disapproval and then allowed to proceed. True, the League did not stop the war. Instead of forbidding Mussolini to move his army to Ethiopia by closing the Suez Canal, it decided not to take the risk, and adopted a program of sanctions, which though it might ruin Mussolini later, did not prevent him from carrying on his war. With these facts in mind we now take up the British-Italo-Ethiopian Dispute in detail