During the late 19th-century Scramble for Africa, Ethiopia was the only African nation to successfully defend itself against European colonization, defeating Italy at the Battle of Adwa. This also enabled it to establish its modern borders through extensive conquest of territories to the east, west and south. Ethiopia was the first independent African member of the League of Nations and the United Nations. In 1935, Italy, under Mussolini's Fascist regime invaded Ethiopia and annexed with the former colonies of Eritrea and Somaliland to become Italian East Africa, before liberation and a short period of military administration by British forces amidst World War II. During Italian rule, the government made steps to abolish the centuries-old practice of slavery, eventually doing so in 1942, and urbanization steadily increased. 