I never said Germany wouldn't get bogged down in North Africa like IOTL. Same thing might go for Greece.
The new Conquering Lion of Judah, Ras Imru! - an Ethiopia TL
- Thread starter twistedirregular
- Start date
This is excluding Albania which the Italians invade in 1939, shortly before World War 2 begins. Any other questions?
I'm guessing here but the reserves number around 100,000 soldiers with a large amount of men and material going towards putting down the Ethiopian resistance, although much of these troops are colonial but the Italian Royal Army in Italy is growing as Italian settlers in Eritrea, Somalia and Libya being sent to Italy. Please correct me if anything seems wrong.
Donald Reaver
Donor
Really sounds like the Italian army is overstretched far more than o.t.l. Not a good thing for their future, how much money is going to support them that would go o.t.l. navy and airforce instead.
It is quite overstretched, isn't it? It's not the best thing for their future (an understatement) and I'd say a sizeable amount of their budget is going towards either attempting to develop Ethiopia or supporting the Italian presence in Ethiopia.
Doubt it, they had issues OTL. Here, with a another quagmire showing they aren't invincible and sucking down troops and such?
Depends, who knows? Mussolini might make the same mistake of invading Greece even with his troops stretched thin across the supposed Italian Empire or he might just not get involved in World War 2.
Heck, for all we know, he's doing one of those big triumphant parades the fascists love, and a veteran of Ethiopa, sick at how many buddies died for "Il Duce", puts a slug in his chest.
I mean....
Haha, who knows? Quite a few soldiers of the Italian occupational forces are tired of attempting pacification in Ethiopia and many colonial soldiers (mostly Eritrean) have deserted to the Ethiopian Patriots whilst a fairly large number of Italian settlers are pissed at the ineptitude of the colonial administration. Despite establishing better infrastructure and industries in the population centers of Ethiopia, Nasi's administration isn't very successful at their pacification of Ethiopia and its only starting to show results in the Shewan province where relentless Italian pummeling and propaganda of the Patriots has taken its toll but there's still many Shewan Patriots who continue the fight. As for a veteran of Ethiopia assassinating Mussolini . . . anything could happen!
I wonder... what if Mussolini did try invading Greece and the weakened state of his army led to the Greeks pushing him out of Albania completely?
They might be successful, considering he's in no position to invade Greece in the first place.
Have you ever heard of Zerai Deres? He was an Eritrean that was brought to Italy to translate for Amharic nobles that had been deported to Italy in the aftermath of OTL's Yekatit 12 massacre and when he was found praying in front of the stolen Monument to the Lion of Judah, he knelt and prayed - Italian police attempted to stop him but he pulled out a sword and wounded several officers before being stopped by gunfire. He was then sent to a mental ward by the Italian government and stayed there until he died, in 1945 as he was portrayed as a hero in Ethiopian and Eritrean folklore alike - I have plans for him in my ATL.
I mean, OTL Japan's conquests is what allowed natives to start seeing Europeans as beatable resulting in the anti-colonial movements in Asia and Africa, I'm guessing this time round the Ethiopian Resistance is going to have a much more tangible result with it being so close to home and so accessible.
Also wouldn't the battle hardened Italian forces in Ethiopia be withdrawn/redeployed to the North once the war starts? That might increase the Italian threat compared to OTL...
Also wouldn't the battle hardened Italian forces in Ethiopia be withdrawn/redeployed to the North once the war starts? That might increase the Italian threat compared to OTL...
There are quite a few pro-Ethiopia and/or pan-Africanist Africans throughout the European colonial empires as a result of the successfulness of the Ethiopian Patriots, some having been inspired.
If Italy joins World War 2 as OTL, then Italian East Africa is going to be isolated from Italy proper and all of those years attempting colonization will have been for nothing.
Pictures of the Ethiopian Patriots taken by Soviet representatives at the New Gore Conference and throughout Ethiopia
Autonomous Ethiopian Patriots under the command of the National Ethiopian Liberation Council holding routine exercises, circa. 1938
General Jagama Kello (center) and Yohannes Tegru (right) pose for pictures, circa. 1938
Armenians of the 6th Fedayi Brigade fire at advancing Italian forces pursuing Tekle Wolde Hawariat's Republican Ethiopian Army which successfully makes it to New Gore, circa. 1938
Ethiopian Patriots who've fought in the Battle of Gondar proudly display their flag for the Soviet representatives, circa 1938.
A Soviet emissary posing alongside Ethiopian soldiers of the 9th Patriotic Armoured Regiment, circa 1938-39.
Well-equipped Ethiopian Patriots about to launch an attack on an Italian fortification at Bahir Dar, circa. 1938
Partisans of the Ethiopian People's Liberation Army becoming recruits in the Ethiopian Patriotic Partisan Brigade in the Soviet Union, circa. 1939
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Out of curiosity: what is the OTL source of the picture with African soldiers posing with CV 33 tankettes?
That's where you found it alright, but that's still an alternate history site. What I'm asking is where and when in OTL the picture was taken.