Word: abyssinia
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Because the three statesmen had been through so many diplomatic campaigns together, Messrs. Eden and Laval wasted few words. Over the consomme, they talked hard & fast. Italy was determined to test her new army by a military campaign in Abyssinia. In normal times London and Paris would have no objection. As a matter of fact it would benefit both France and Britain to have Italy, instead of Japan, gain the upper hand in Africa's last independent empire. But these were not normal times. Abyssinia has been a member of the League of Nations in good standing since...
Granted, now that they were around one small table, that the League was a feeble crutch at best, nevertheless, if Italy refused to arbitrate her border differences with Abyssinia, much more than this particular crisis was at stake. If Abyssinia's appeal should be dragged into the open League forum and if Italy still refused to arbitrate, the same thing would happen that had happened in the case of Japan and Germany. It would turn into a squabble of Italy against the entire League and probably force Italy to withdraw from the League. With the Danubian conference...
...disgraces: the bloody defeat of their army in 1896 by barbarous Abyssinian tribesmen, and Italy's ignominious rout by Austrians and Germans at Caporetto in 1917. Since then Benito Mussolini has built up a war machine that on paper holds its own with the best in Europe. Abyssinia in 1935 will be a chance to test its worth. To make that test more impressive it would be a purely Fascist war. The commander in the field is none other than one of the original Quadrumvirs of the Fascist March on Rome, bearded, long-nosed General Emilio de Bono...
...Ardently does Italy need more colonies, feels bitterly that she was diddled out of her due share of the loot by the Treaty of Versailles. Abyssinia is a nut that other imperialistic countries have tried often to crack. Should Italy succeed, it would be a great feather in the Fascist...
Practical. 1) Italy's two East African colonies, Eritrea and Italian Somaliland, are unconnected except by the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. As early as 1906, France and Britain gave her permission to build a railroad through Abyssinia to connect the two. Only a military expedition will make it possible...