By the 1930 decade, Italy had already legitimized her African colonies. Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia, however, found resistanca from the other colonial powers. Ethiopian Emperor Bailie Selassie appealed to the League of Nation. As Italy was also a member, the League voted for severe sanctions. But in an a, of defiance, Mussolini annexed all of Ethiopia.

The Italian forces had a difficult time quelling the indigenous forces whose weaponry for the most part went back to the days of bows and arrows. With few semi-modern weapons, the Ethiopians were able to win several battles. Italy showed its weakness when it began to use mustard gas.

The Ethiopian Imperial troops were overwhelmed by the Italians, who made early use, even against the civilian population, of poison gas, flame throwers, and other weapons outlawed by international treaty." Ethiopian History, End of Colonialism.

In March 1938, Germany annexed Austria and the Sudetenland. As those inhabitants spoke German, annexing those lands by Germany made sense to many Europeans, to Americans, and especially to the Italians. The following year, 1939, German forces took over Bohemia and Moravia.