Is it true that Italian Army was literally losing to an army of spearmen in Ethiopia?

[R. Evans]

Originally Posted by Pisces Adonis

I want more details.

Look them up. It is the internet after all.

And it did end in less than a year. Oct. '35 to May '36 is 8 months.

[Michele]

Originally Posted by Pisces Adonis

I want more details.

While the Italians ultimately won in the end, the popular view is that they should've have won in less than a year (some critics go as far as less than a month)

My dear friend, have you ever walked for 20 kms a day with a rucksack weighing 20 kgs?

If you keep that up for 35 days in a row, no slacking off, you'll cover the distance from Massawa to Addis Ababa - as the crow flies. Following a road - and a bad, bad road at the time - you can make it probably in 45 days.

No fighting or other delays along the way, of course.

At that point you will have reached the capital. But somewhere close to some God-forsaken border in some desertic area there are guerrillas. So march another couple hundred kilometers.

I am aware they had rifle men but even wikipedia lists the bulk of the Ethiopian Army as spearmen.

So you should be able to reach the obvious conclusion. Which is not a conclusion about this war, but about wikipedia.