Historically, what we now call Ethiopia and Eritrea were colonized and occupied during most of the latter part of the 19th Century, first by the British and then by the Italians who were sent packing from some of southern Ethiopia in 1896. They returned some 40 years later and were finally expelled during World War Two, at which time much of the region became a British protectorate until the mid-1960s. Most of neighboring Somalia, meanwhile, remained an Italian colony until the 1940s. Ethiopian Empire Wiki:
In 1868, following the imprisonment of several missionaries and representatives of the British government, Britain launched a punitive expedition into Ethiopia. The campaign was a success for Britain and the ruler of Ethiopia committed suicide. The 1880s were marked by the Scramble for Africa. Italy, seeking a colonial presence in Africa, invaded Ethiopia and following a successful conquest of some coastal regions, forced the Treaty of Wuchale upon Shewa (an autonomous kingdom within the Ethiopian Empire), creating the colony of Eritrea.
Due to significant differences between the Italian and Amharic translations of the Treaty of Wuchale, Italy believed they had subsumed Ethiopia as a client state. Ethiopia repudiated the treaty in 1893. Insulted, Italy declared war on Ethiopia in 1895.
. . .
In 1935 Italian soldiers commanded by Marshal Emilio De Bono invaded Ethiopia in what is known as the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. The war lasted seven months before an Italian victory was declared. The invasion was condemned by the League of Nations, though not much was done to end the hostility.
During the conflict, Italy used mustard gas, ignoring the Geneva Protocol that it had signed seven years earlier. The Italian military dropped mustard gas in bombs, sprayed it from airplanes, and spread it in powdered form on the ground. 150,000 chemical casualties were reported, mostly from mustard gas. In the aftermath of the war Italy annexed Ethiopia, uniting it with Italy's other colonies in eastern Africa to form the new colony of Italian East Africa, and Vittorio Emanuele III adopted the title Emperor of Abyssinia.
On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on the United Kingdom and France, as France was in the process of being conquered by Germany at the time and Benito Mussolini wished to expand Italy's colonial holdings. An Italian invasion of British Somaliland in August 1940 was successful, but the war turned against Italy afterward. Haile Selassie returned to Ethiopia from England to help rally the resistance. The British began their own invasion in January 1941, and the last organized Italian resistance in Italian East Africa surrendered in November 1941. The British restored Ethiopia's independence.
= new reply since forum marked as read