Attempting to fulfill its colonial ambitions, Fascist Italy committed atrocities against the Ethiopians. In the gallant resistance against Fascist rule, however, the Ethiopian nobility was conspicuously absent, focused as it was on its own self-preservation. In spite of a lack of coordination, the Ethiopian patriots kept Ethiopia in a state of continuous warfare, thwarting Italian colonialist plans. The emergent Black nationalism of that period capitalized on the precarious internal situation of Ethiopia to win world public opinion and support in preventing the recognition of the Italian Empire. Italy's atrocities, including the use of the banned poison gas, posed a dilemma that had to be addressed by the Western powers. Instead, the international community, for political reasons and military considerations -- primarily the containment/appeasement of Germany -- proceeded to eliminate the economic sanctions against Italy which had been imposed by the League of Nations and, after two years of debate, acknowledged the de jure conquest of Ethiopia by Italy. Thus was Ethiopia sacrificed for the security of Europe. Legacy of Bitterness is a broad description of the Italo-Ethiopian war in the global context. The study looks at the response to the war by the emergent Black nationalism in the diaspora, and Ethiopia's bitter struggle to tip the balance of world opinion in its favor."(This book is) a path-breaking achievement, (and) the most fully researched, analytical and rewarding treatment yet to appear on Fascist Italy in Ethiopia and on the international scene in the period immediately preceding World War II." -- John H. Spencer, Professor Emeritus of International Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University; and former Legal and Foreign Adviser to the Imperial Ethiopian Government, 1936-1974.
