Addis Herald
  • Home
  • History
  • Africa
  • Travel
  • Music
  • Culture
  • Art

Culture

  • calanderEthiopia: A truly unique African country
  • passionfruit-istanbul-croppedPassionfruit’s Globe-Trotting DJ Mixes Tell Stories Through Disco
  • Ethiopia-HighlandsThe most breathtaking geography in Ethiopia
  • Christmas in Lalibela‘Genna’: Christ’s birthday anniversary, an indispensable part of Ethiopian culture
  • the weekendThe Weeknd’s Next Album Will Be Inspired By BLM Movement, COVID-19 Pandemic

Business

  • EthiopiaCan agriculture be Ethiopia’s growth engine?
  • Orange-Digital-VenturesGIZ and Orange launch an Orange Digital Center in Ethiopia, the 3rd in Africa and the Middle East region
  • 31342IMF and Ethiopia agree framework for loan deal reviews
  • 11-2-696x446Ethiopian Coffee History: From Chewing to Brewing
  • ICL600Ethiopia: First-mover advantage for investors with long-term outlook

Africa

  • battle of adwa woriorThe Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
  • shutterstock_pricing-317799113ECA Price Watch points to construction sector as key driver of growth
  • africa-s-pulse-april-2018-780x439China’s poverty alleviation model instructive for Africa: expert
  • 20210222T0930-AFRICA-ENVIRONMENT-GATES-1165226Faiths institute asks Gates Foundation to change tactics in Africa
  • detail ethiopiaGrid connection of the Eastern Electricity Highway is awaiting trial operation
Mussolini’s atrocity
February 19, 2021

Mussolini’s atrocity

Mussolini’s atrocity in Ethiopia was not any less Barbaric then Hittler’s

by Ian Campbell (Hurst, £24)

ON FEBRUARY 19, 1937, less than a year after the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, resistance fighters threw hand grenades at members of the fascist Italian high command as they assembled for a public ceremony at the occupied emperor’s palace in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. No-one was killed but a handful of highranking officials were injured.

The guerilla attack provided the perfect excuse for an immediate response of incredible brutality from the Italian occupying forces as they embarked on a three-day orgy of bloody depravity that killed 19,000 Ethiopians in the capital — a fifth of the population.

With dreadful savagery Italian civilians, [fascist paramilitary] blackshirts and army personnel, encouraged by an official announcement that they had “carta bianca” — permission to do what they wanted — flooded onto the streets to bludgeon defenceless local citizens to death with shovels, daggers, clubs and anything else they had to hand.

Families were sealed inside their huts as they were set alight with flame throwers, men were tied alive to trucks and driven around until they were torn apart and hand grenades were thrown into crowds of fleeing innocents. Women and young girls were raped and disembowelled, while others had their hands tied behind their backs and were thrown off bridges and into wells.

Even when the authorities called an official halt to the slaughter after 72 hours, the murder, rape, torture and pillaging continued for many more days. For months afterwards, thousands were herded into concentration camps, where they perished from hunger or disease.

For the past 25 years, author Ian Campbell has tasked himself with gathering as much material as he can find about this horrific frenzy of bloodlust which, he argues, gives the lie to the idea that Mussolini’s brand of fascism was somehow more benign than Hitler’s nazism.

Amazingly, thanks to Allied prevarication after the second world war, no-one was ever brought to book for the crimes committed over those three days and, while most of the Italian protagonists are now dead and gone, Campbell has been determined to put their deeds down on paper for all to see.

This is by far the most complete account of the massacre ever constructed and it is an important, impressive body of work. What it is not, though, is a “good read.” In Campbell’s understandable commitment to corroborating and confirming the evidence, his 478-page tome takes on the feel of a long inquiry report rather than a book.

As it progresses painstakingly through the atrocities, the author’s commitment to providing a narrative gradually wanes and, by the second half, the reader has to be content with little more than a series of disjointed observations, potted histories and eyewitness accounts, rather than any held-together story.

As a document designed for posterity that approach might be justified but, as a book, the job could have been done using half the space.

Does that matter? Probably yes, because one of Campbell’s stated aims is to bring much greater attention to a forgotten corner of history. Crass as it may appear to ask for such wicked events to be presented in a more engaging fashion, the truth is that by doing so Campbell would have had a much better chance of reaching a wider audience.

Source  https://dearkitty1.wordpress.com

Ethiopia: First-mover advantage for investors with long-term outlook Sudan devalues currency to meet key condition for debt relief

Related Posts

battle of adwa worior

Africa, The Battle of Adwa, The battle of Adwa, World

The Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective

Entoto-park Night-View

World

Entoto Natural Park: The Hidden Treasure at the Mountain’s Shoulder

ethiopia-yemen

World

In Ethiopia, a taste of home for displaced Yemenis

Industrial Parks Development | Ethiopia |

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-vSnVQfBoo

Africa

  • battle of adwa woriorThe Victory of Adwa: A Fresh Perspective
  • shutterstock_pricing-317799113ECA Price Watch points to construction sector as key driver of growth
  • africa-s-pulse-april-2018-780x439China’s poverty alleviation model instructive for Africa: expert
  • 20210222T0930-AFRICA-ENVIRONMENT-GATES-1165226Faiths institute asks Gates Foundation to change tactics in Africa
  • detail ethiopiaGrid connection of the Eastern Electricity Highway is awaiting trial operation

Travel

  • Homage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hubHomage to Entoto Park How the Old “Town in the Forest” is turning into a newly flowering tourist hub
  • 00ddd3-724x483This Is What It’s Like Trekking the Hottest Place on Earth
  • Screenshot_20200106-034619_GalleryExtreme Ethiopia in pictures
  • Addis-skyline-768x402Enigmatic Ethiopia: Africa’s (still) hidden jewel in the crown?
  • 929-1024x524-488x250Ethiopia’s Tourism sector is on the rise

Culture

  • calanderEthiopia: A truly unique African country
  • passionfruit-istanbul-croppedPassionfruit’s Globe-Trotting DJ Mixes Tell Stories Through Disco
  • Ethiopia-HighlandsThe most breathtaking geography in Ethiopia
  • Christmas in Lalibela‘Genna’: Christ’s birthday anniversary, an indispensable part of Ethiopian culture
  • the weekendThe Weeknd’s Next Album Will Be Inspired By BLM Movement, COVID-19 Pandemic

Business

  • EthiopiaCan agriculture be Ethiopia’s growth engine?
  • Orange-Digital-VenturesGIZ and Orange launch an Orange Digital Center in Ethiopia, the 3rd in Africa and the Middle East region
  • 31342IMF and Ethiopia agree framework for loan deal reviews
  • 11-2-696x446Ethiopian Coffee History: From Chewing to Brewing
  • ICL600Ethiopia: First-mover advantage for investors with long-term outlook

RSS Allfrica.com News feed

  • Africa: Covid-19 Accelerated Tech Adoption By Most Firms
  • Africa: President Saied Meets Heads of African Diplomatic Missions in Tunis
  • Africa: "Tunisia's Hosting of La Francophonie and Ticad Summits Pose New Challenges for Country and Africa" (Saied)
  • Africa: Sisi - Aswan Forum Seeks to Achieve Stability, Peace, Security and Development in Africa
  • Africa: Okonjo-Iweala Assumes Duty, Rallies WTO Officials for Reforms
  • Africa: Africa Must Speak With One Voice On Covid-19 Vaccine Equity, Kagame Says
  • Africa: Abuja Airport Rated Best in Africa
  • Africa: End Inequality and Achieve Sustainable Development for All
  • Africa: Baby Infected With Coronavirus in the Womb - New Study
  • Africa: International Women's Day - Gender Equality Is Our Captain for Sailing to a Green & Just Recovery
  • Abijitta-Shalla National Park
  • Alatish Ethiopian National Park
  • Awash National Park
  • Babille Elephant Sanctuary
  • Bahir Dar Blue Nile Millennium Park
  • Bale National Park; Ethiopia’s lesser-known Treasure
  • Bale Mountains National Park
  • Borena-Sayint National Park
  • Chebera Churchura National Park
  • Dati Wolel National park
  • Gambella National Park
  • Gambella National Park 2
  • Kafta-Sheraro National Park
  • Mago National Park
  • Maze National Park
  • Nechisar National Park, Ethiopia
  • Omo National Park 
  • The Semien Mountains
  • Yabello National Park
  • Yangudi Rassa National Park
© Addis Herald 2021
  • Contact us
en English
af Afrikaansam Amharicar Arabiczh-CN Chinese (Simplified)en Englishfr Frenchde Germanel Greekhi Hindiit Italianja Japaneseko Koreanla Latinru Russianes Spanishsu Sudanesesw Swahilisv Swedish