The Crisis of Abyssinia

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Italy was moving troops on the border of Abyssinia, a member of the League of Nations. Britain and France were faced with two questions: Should Mussolini be stopped? And if so, what should be done to stop him? The British controlled the Suez Canal, which Italy needed to move its troops and supplies into position. So Britain had the means and the motive to stop Mussolini's invasion. But the cost of doing it would be high.

An authoritarian ruler moves to invade a smaller country and take it for himself. People around the world rally to that country’s defense. European and American leaders grapple with how to stop the invasion and prevent a wider war. But this isn’t Russia and Ukraine in 2022. It’s Italy and Ethiopia in 1935. Rachel Maddow and Isaac-Davy Aronson explore what we can learn from the very different choices made decades ago, when the world faced a similar challenge.

Featuring:

Deborah Cohen, the Richard W. Leopold Professor of History at Northwestern University, and author of Last Call At The Hotel Imperial: The Reporters Who Took on a World at War.

Susan Pedersen, the Gouverneur Morris Professor of History at Columbia University, and author of The Guardians: The League of Nations and the Crisis of Empire.

Anne Applebaum, staff writer at The Atlantic, and author of Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.