Abyssinia Crisis Abyssinia to Mussolini, so his troops were able to continue their war relatively unchallenged by the rest of Europe. Haile Selassie was forced into exile on 2 May. All the sanctions that had been put in place by the League were dropped after the Italian capture of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa on the 5th of May 1936. Ethiopia was then merged with the other Italian colonies to become Italian East Africa ("Africa Orientale Italiana", or AOI). Ethiopia never officially surrendered, and pleaded for help from foreign nations, such as Haile Selassie's . As a result, there were six
HMS Abyssinia (1870) HMS Abyssinia (1870) HMS "Abyssinia" was a breastwork monitor ordered, designed and built by J & W Dudgeon specifically for the Bombay Marine for the defence of the harbour at Bombay. She was designed by Sir Edward Reed, and was a smaller version of, and hence a half-sister to, the s and . It was intended that "Abyssinia" and "Magdala" would serve in mutual support on the same station. Given that the stipulated naval requirement was for two ships for the coastal defence of the Bombay area, the India Office were pressed by the Board of Admiralty and the Chief