I am much enjoying @MaazaMengiste's The Shadow King. It's about the women who fought in the Ethiopian armies resisting the Italian invasion of 1935/6.

Here are clips from @Reuters that shed light on the book. First: a clip from Aug. 1935 showing the emperor marshalling the army.

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Mussolini's army invaded Ethiopia on 2 Oct. 1935 from the Italian colony in Eritrea.

Here's a clip from 9 Oct. showing something of the patriotic sentiment that the Italian invasion generated among Ethiopian commoners.

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On 15 Oct. 1935 the Italians seized the city of Aksum, removed the ancient stelae there and took it off to Rome.

Here's a clip from 30 Oct. showing Ethiopian men, with their single-shot rifles, advancing toward the front.

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Haile Selassie made several appeals for international support against the Italian fascists.

Here he is in Geneva, appearing before the League of Nations. He was jeered by Italian journalists who were in the gallery.

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The Ethiopians won a reprieve in December 1935, when they counter-attacked against the Italian army.

Here's a clip showing Ethiopian soldiers driving about in a captured Italian tank.

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The Italians entered Addis Ababa in May 1936, driving Haile Selassie into exile. The Italian king was made emperor over the Province of East Africa.

Here's a clip showing the celebration in Rome. Hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian civilians died as a result of the invasion.