From a glorious reparation to a wretched adventure : the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in Italian history textbooks (1936-2020)

Abstract

Conducted against the backdrop of international debates on colonial and racist crimes, this study examines representations of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War in Italian secondary school history textbooks from the fascist period to the present. In a systematic analysis, the article explores how textbooks, as key “memory-makers,” depict the motivations, context, course, and consequences of a colonial war frequently subject to amnesia in Italy. We explore the distortions, omissions, and demystification textbooks have promoted over time, measuring them against historiographical advancements. Overall, we observe growing recognition of arbitrary Italian aggression and the illegal use of chemical weapons, but fluctuations in the assessment of European responsibilities and Mussolini’s involvement in the Second World War and the Holocaust. Silencing, minimization of responsibility, and a strong Italo- and Eurocentric tendency persist in the textbooks, whose lacunae and inaccuracies appear to feed into the enduring myth of the “good Italian.”