Il punto di non ritorno negli anni Trenta: la crisi globale innescata dalla guerra d’Etiopia

The Italo-Ethiopian War has long captivated generations of historians, who have examined Mussolini’s African campaign through various lenses, from the conflict’s diplomatic and military origins to the strategic decisions of major powers. However, recent advancements in global history approaches call for a more comprehensive perspective. Moving beyond isolated analyses, this study advocates a holistic reexamination of the Abyssinian crisis within the broader framework of world politics during the Thirties. By integrating new archival discoveries with a critical reevaluation of published diplomatic documents, this reassessment highlights the intricate connections among key policymakers and the reciprocal influences shaping their actions, generating dynamics that precipitated a significant shift in the global order at a time when the consequences of the First World War (most of all, the League of Nations) had already fostered a deeply interconnected international system. France, Great Britain, Germany, the United States and Japan, whether as members of Geneva’s organization or outside its framework, were deeply affected by the dispute and its consequences, prompting them to adjust their policies to address the challenges it posed. The Italo-Ethiopian War thus emerges as far more than a regional conflict, but it stands as a pivotal moment of the interwar period and the true turning point of the Thirties, whose far-reaching consequences destabilized and destroyed unequivocally Versailles order, a global crisis that set the stage for the outbreak of the Second World War.