1935, Italy had made a colony out of the neighboring country of Eritrea. It served as the perfect base to launch an invasion of Ethiopia. <span>Mussolini felt that the Italians were considered "second rate" by other European powers like Britain, France, and Germany. These countries all had many colonies of their own in Africa back then. He was determined to prove that his fascist regime had created a "new Italy" that was modern, industrialized, and </span>militaristic<span> like Germany was becoming that could trump them all. He talked about restoring the glory of ancient Rome to Italy. He craved equality with the other "great" nations of the world. </span>Ethiopia was one of only two or three places in Africa that had avoided colonization altogether. It is estimated the invasion and subsequent occupation of this independent country cost over 1,000,000 lives. Stirring up a violent battle between these countries; Germany<span>, </span>Italy and Japan against Britain<span>, </span>France<span>, </span>Australia<span>, </span>Canada<span>, </span>New Zealand<span>, </span>India<span>, the </span>Soviet Union, China<span> and the </span>US.
