I was thinking - what if Italian East Africa had been formed earlier? I was thinking about writing a TL about this in the future and wanted to see how plausible it could be.
In the mid-1890s, Italian East Africa is established as Italian Ethiopia (under Emperor Menelik II) becomes the nucleus of this new crown colony that the Italians begin investing in. Infrastructure is constructed as it connects Italian Eritrea to the Ethiopian interior with railways and roads as Italian settlers slowly trickle in, preferring the coastal areas of Italian Eritrea and Somaliland. However, Ethiopia's Italian population grows to thousands as the Italians enact an 'Italianization' policy that sees implementation among the Orthodox Christian highlanders (i.e. Tigrean and Amharic peoples) that expand into the Horn of Africa. The Italians manage to snag a piece of the predominantly Somali and Muslim Ogaden province which becomes apart of their Italian Somaliland colony. More development is seen throughout Italian East Africa as Ethiopians are sent abroad to Rome - and other western European countries - to gain an education, becoming apart of the native intelligentsia in Italian East Africa as they soon became ministers, governors and administrators throughout Italian East Africa.
The Kingdom of Italy decided to join World War 1 as an Entente member, ultimately prevailing against the Austro-Hungarian Empire despite losing 2.1 million men. The rise of fascism in Italy saw Benito Mussolini take power as the new Prime Minister of Italy, establishing a dictatorship. Italian East Africa saw much more development in infrastructure of the Ethiopian interior as Italian settlement reached the hundreds of thousands in Ethiopia. Cities like Addis Ababa, Gondar, Jimma and Harar have become strikingly similar to Italian cities such as Rome after decades of investment and colonization in what is often considered to be the Italian crown colony, akin to British India. Agricultural and industrial centers being established through the Italian Empire's East African colony as it soon became one of the most developed colonies of Africa.
What if the Italians were more subtle in declaring a protectorate over Ethiopia and opted to play different factions against Emperor Menelik II which would make him more reliant on the Italians? What if Ethiopia had become an Italian protectorate in the mid-1890s? What could happen from there?