World War II
In 1941, after years of occupation, Emperor Haile Selassie I returned to what was now called Italian East Africa. With the help of the British and the Congolese Force Publique, the Emperor led an uprising to drive the Italian Army from his country.
Indeed, when Italy entered World War II, Ethiopia was still under Italian occupation as part of Italian East Africa. However, even after the Italian invasion, some areas of the country remained under the control of Ethiopian armed resistance groups called "Arbegnoch": according to some Ethiopian historians, approximately in 1/4 of the country there was never under effective Italian control.
Indeed, the liberation of Ethiopia started in early 1941 during the East African Campaign.
After some initial Italian offensive actions in 1940 (conquest of Kassala in Sudan and British Somalia), British and Commonwealth forces launched attacks from the Sudan and from Kenya. Emperor Haile Selassie joined the resistance groups and on 5 May 1941, the Emperor re-entered Addis Ababa, five years to the day from when he was forced to flee. By the end of November, organized Italian resistance in East Africa ended with the fall of Gondar.
However Italians maintained a guerrilla war, mainly in northern Ethiopia, until September 1943.
Read more about this topic: Military History Of Ethiopia
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