It’s 1884. The powers of Europe meet in Berlin. Berlin is no longer the capital of Prussia, one the regional powers of Europe, surrounded by little German city states. Berlin is now the capital of the most powerful nation in Europe - Germany. To avoid war over the division of Africa, the Europeans (the Ottomans and Americans too) decided to meet.

The major powers Great Britain, France and Germany had the biggest slices. Little remained for the other nations. The Ottomans, who controlled Egypt and Libya, claimed no new land. They wanted to keep their African territories from the Europeans. Britain and France wanted Egypt, and Italy wanted Libya. None of them made a move, despite the Ottomans getting weaker by the day. The Ottomans still had a bite. The Americans wanted to guarantee the independence of Liberia. No European nation objected.

Finally, the secondary powers - Spain, Italy, Belgium and Portugal squared out their portions. Surprisingly, the Netherlands wanted no land, and the Sweden-Norway were incapable of securing any. Spain laid claim to the barren lands west of Morocco. Portugal claimed Angola.

Italy was surprised to see much of East Africa unclaimed. Shocked to see the Somali coast and the Ethiopian heartland unclaimed. With an old effective navy, and battle-hardened troops from the civil war, Italy was confident on conquering East Africa.

Once Italian ships landed on the Somali coast is when they realized why the other European did not desire the Somali coast. There were two wealthy sultanates in the North East armed to the teeth with modern Ottoman weapons. The Italians would not be able to defeat the armies of the Majerteen and Hobyo Sultanates. However, they would be able to buy them out. The Sultanates used to be one, but it was turning out to be a dynastic civil war, each unwilling to start. The Italians quickly invaded the primitive Southern Somali coast and started negotiations with the Northern sultanates. Offering them superior Italian weapons and supplies in exchange becoming protectorates of the Italian Empire. The Somalis accepted, hoping to use it on one another, the Ethiopians and the Yemenis. The Italians were unable to extend their influence beyond the Ogaden desert, so they turned their attention to Eritrea. After some negotiations with local tribes, and assistance from Somali Camel Calvary, they were able to establish a large beachhead nation on the coast of Eritrea. This caused serious alarm to Ethiopian nobility, and more importantly, the Ethiopian king.

The Italians, confident of easy victory, prepared for the invasion of Ethiopia. Local tribesmen, Somali aristocrats, and English mercenaries warned against an invasion of Ethiopia. They advised on waiting on reinforcements from Italy and Somalia. The military command refused, and started preparations for the invasion of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia feared the Somali sultanates. The Somalis had traded with the Indians and Arabs. They received military support from the Ottomans to thwart growing Portuguese and Omani influence on the Indian Ocean. What the Ethiopians lacked in technology, they made up for in unity and manpower. The Ethiopians were able to fend off Somali invasions by overwhelming them with Calvary, Christian zealously, and feeding Somali division (by always hosting the losing claimant in dynastic disputes). This meant the invasion of Ethiopia, without significant support from Italy was impossible. This led the Ethiopians to lay waste to the Italian forces when they met in the field. The Ethiopian calvary once again caused havoc to the Italian military. The Italians retreated to the Eritrean coastline. The Italians were unable to call up on the aid of the Somali sultanates as they would need to cross British Somalia in order to do so. The Ethiopian king planned on finishing the Italians off, but the Italians sued for peace in order to keep their Eritrean holdings.

It’s important to understand the mindset of Europeans at the time. Europeans believed they were superior everyone (except the Ottomans). From the Americas, to Africa, to Asia, many nations fell to superior European forces. That is why when the Russians were defeated by the Japanese in the Russo-Japanese war, it sent shockwaves throughout Europe. The damage to Italian prestige due to the defeat to Ethiopia was immense. No European power respected the Italians any longer. Europe were unable to fathom how a European forced was bested by a primitive African one. To Italy’s defense, only three nations were capable of challenging European forces on the battlefield, Morocco, North East Somalia, and Mainland Ethiopia. Italy aimed to colonize two of them.

The Italians focused all their energies on modernizing their nation and increasing their control over Somalia. After a few decades, and few well-placed assassinations, the Majerteen sultanate had no direct heir, and Italy annexed Northern Somalia. With their foothold over Somalia secure, they started the invasion of Ottoman controlled Libya. The invasion was an absolute success. The Libyans and Ottoman forces were roundly defeated. Italian prestige was restored. The Ottomans were not primitive savages.

Once the Fascists took over Italy after World War I, Italian nationalism was an at all-time high. Italian pride was a staple of everyday Italian life. But there was one stain on Italy’s beautiful history. The defeat at hands of the Ethiopians. The national pride, driven up by Mussolini to increase his control, led to a movement desiring the invasion of Ethiopia. Italy was able to easily defeat the Ethiopians. The use of artillery, aircraft and modern rifles quickly overrun the Ethiopian army. Once the war was winding down, the Italians started the invasion of Albania. Their casus belli (reason for war) was to claim the Albanian nation through a personal union (royal vassalage), and ancient Venetian claims to the Albanian coast. There was little support in Italy for the Albanian invasion, but as the nation was on a nationalist high on the good news coming from Ethiopia, the people supported Mussolini.

On a side note, Greece is a very resource poor nation. That is among one of the reasons they were dominated by Greek powers situated outside of Greece for much of their history.

I hope this helps!