In 1936, the bodies of two Ethiopian men were scattered on the streets of Addis Ababa under Italian occupation. Their ankles were tied with rope and they were dragged along the streets.

    In 1936, the bodies of two Ethiopian men lay scattered in the streets of Addis Ababa under Italian occupation. Their ankles were tied with rope and they had been dragged along the road. The Second Italo-Ethiopian War was an Italian invasion of Ethiopia that took place from October 1935 to February 1937. It symbolized the expansionist policies that characterized the Axis powers and the impotence of the League of Nations before the outbreak of World War II.

   On October 3, 1935, 200,000 Italian soldiers attacked from Eritrea without a declaration of war. Small units attacked from Italian Somalia. On October 6, the symbol, Adwa, was conquered. On October 15, the Italian army occupied Axum.

    After that, the Italian army, which was lagging behind, was replaced with a new invasion force by Italian Prime Minister Benito Mussolini. The poor Ethiopian army counterattacked in December 1935. The Italian army imposed a narrow fence on a detachment of the Ethiopian army. Nazi Germany sent weapons and military supplies to the Italian army. The war dragged on, and it drained the resources of the Italian army. Italy became increasingly dependent on Germany for military support.

   The Ethiopian counteroffensive in December 1935 gave the Italian army the advantage of modern weapons. The Italian army resumed its offensive in early March 1936. On March 29, 1936, they bombed Harar, and two days later, the Italian army won a crushing victory in the Battle of Maychuu. Emperor Haile Selassie went into exile on May 2. The Italian army invaded the capital Addis Ababa on May 5. Italy announced the annexation of Ethiopian territory on May 7. Fighting between the Italian and Ethiopian armies continued until February 19, 1937. On the same day, the attempted assassination of Graziani was followed by the Yekatit 12 massacre in Addis Ababa, in which between 1,400 and 30,000 Ethiopian civilians were massacred. The Italian army suppressed the rebels until 1939.

   The Italian army bombed the Ethiopians with mustard gas. Attacks on the Red Cross were reported. As a result of the Italian invasion, hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian civilians died. War crimes against the Ethiopian army included the use of dum-dum bullets, the killing of civilian workers, and the mutilation of prisoners.