Italy - Kingdom / Fascist Period: Commemorative Medal for Operations in East Africa (Medaglia Commemorativa delle Operazioni in Africa Orientale) 1935-1936, bearing makers marks Regio Zecca (Royal Mint),
Condition: Good Very Fine.
The medal was instituted on 27 April 1936 for those involved in the conquest and occupation of Ethiopia in the face of international condemnation. Ethiopia had maintained her independence for more than two thousand years when Italian forces invaded in 1935 and, armed with 20th Century weapons, bombed and gassed the Ethiopian people into temporary submission, annexing the country in 1936. In 1941 patriotic Ethiopian, British and Commonwealth troops liberated the country and Emperor Haile Selassie re-entered Addis Ababa in triumph on 5 May
