The short-lived empire built on a strategy of division
Between 1936 and 1941, Mussolini’s Italy attempted to forge a new African empire. It was a project defined by aggressive expansion, the dismantling of ancient Ethiopian structures, and a rigid system of racial segregation designed to preserve 'Italian prestige' at any cost.
Following the Second Italo-Ethiopian War, Benito Mussolini proclaimed the creation of Italian East Africa on June 1, 1936. This new administrative entity unified the existing Italian possessions of Eritrea and Somaliland with the newly conquered Ethiopian territories. To consolidate power, the Fascist regime implemented a 'divide and conquer' strategy, reorganizing the landscape into six distinct governorates: Eritrea, Somalia, Harar, Galla-Sidamo, Amhara, and Scioa. By dismantling the traditional imperial infrastructure established by leaders like Menelik II, the administration sought to weaken the Ethiopian state by empowering ethnic groups that were traditionally marginalized by the central empire.
The regime's social engineering was underpinned by increasingly radical racial legislation. While early colonial practices in Eritrea already featured segregated zones, the 1930s saw the institutionalization of a system comparable to South African apartheid. In 1939, new laws formally codified the separation of 'citizens' and 'subjects,' prohibiting interracial marriage and criminalizing 'madamismo'—relationships between Italian men and African women. Public life was strictly partitioned; even the simple act of waiting in a queue was regulated, as separate counters were established to ensure Italians did not have to wait alongside Africans.
Despite grand ambitions of 'imperial modernization' through urban redevelopment in cities like Addis Ababa and Asmara, the colony struggled with profound instability. While the regime encouraged Italian settlement to provide 'spazio vitale' (living space), the movement was largely unsuccessful in the Ethiopian interior. By 1939, while the total Italian population in the region reached approximately 165,270, only about 3,200 had managed to establish farms in Ethiopia—less than ten percent of the government's target. This period of occupation ended abruptly during World War II, following the British-led East African campaign and the 1941 battle of Gondar.
Source: Italian East Africa
