Why did Mussolini order the invasion of Italian troops to Africa?

Question

Was it because he was confident that their country got the backing of the Nazi War Machine then?

Answer 1

Nah, the Nazis had nothing to do with Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia. It was a purely imperialistic move on the part of the Italians who were looking to create their own colonial empire. Ethiopia was chosen simply as a matter of convenience as it was one of two African states, the other being Liberia, not colonized by any European nation during the "Scramble for Africa" in the late 19th century and it was the closer of the two for the Italians. In addition, Ethiopia was perceived as militarily weak and was already flanked by Italian-controlled Eritrea and the Italian Somaliland.

Answer 2

Italian Colony In Northern Africa

Answer 3

The Italians had colonies in Africa long before Mussolini and Hitler came to power, from the time when it was percieved fashonable to have African colonies, Britain, Portugal, Belgium & Germany had some too.

By the way Mussolini Fascists were an inspiration for Adolf Hitler, the Italians were the model used by Hitler to design his own version.

Answer 4

Italy entered very late in the elite of colonial power, but since the end of '800 we had a little presence in Africa.
Eritrea was the first Italian colony before the end of the '800.
Italian troops tried to enter in Ethiopia too, but they had beed defeated during the Adua battle...
In the early years of '900 Italy won a war against Ottoman Empire and we get the control over Rodes and other greek islands and over Libia(1911).
then we had Somalia(italian somalia)...
In 1936 Italian troops from Eritrea and Somalia invaded Ethiopia, the only indipendent country in Africa at that time
Ethiopia was not rich of row materials and so other colonial power were not interested in control Ethiopia...
But Italy intended the colonies in a different way...they did not wanted row materials but they wanted Italian excess population to go there and build farms, work the land..
In fact while other nations simply stole row materials from colonies Italia built in colonies a lot of infrastructures like streets, hospitals, schools, railways....(because italians had to live in that lands)
In the decision to invade Ethiopia also the desire of revenge for Adua's defeat played a role..
Regarding the Nazis....Between Mussolini and Hitler there were not good relations till 1936.... in fact before 1936 Hitler wanted to invade Austria, but Mussolini sent Italian army near the Italian-Austrian border with the will to help Austria in case of German invasion (In Austria at that time there were a filo-italian governament).
After 1936 when Society of Nations decided embargue against Italy, this forced Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany to get closer... after that Mussolini gave Germany the consent to invade Austria without entering the conflict.
And in addition also during the WW2 in North Africa german troops had always been a minor part of the axis troops.
Germans in Libia-Egypt had been important only for tanks (and aviation), because althoug the number of german tanks was not bigger than the number of italian tanks, Panzers 3 was much more powerful than italian M-15 tanks.

Answer 5

Germany despatched the Afrika Korps and Rommel as a rule to assist their best pal Italy who have been being routed through the British and Commonwealth forces... Hitler replaced into hoping the Axis might desire to capute the Suez Canal then pass into the middle-east and the oil fields. Denying the Germans aspects eg defeating them in Africa did a lot to defeat them. Invading Sicily and Italy a/ knocks Italy out of the conflict, Germany has one much less best pal, b/ ideally opens up a course to Germany from the south and c/ ties down many German troops and equipment that is used someplace else eg in France opposing those touchdown or combating on the eastern front. The Normandy landings on the Brittany coast in France is a right away course to Germany, defeat them there, set up a beachhead and the Allies have a base on continental Europe to attack Germany from. additionally lower back, you're tying down Germans in France who might ideally be on the eastern front, so a '2d front' further divides German forces weakening them. desire that enables :)