1918-1939 Eritrea
1952-1991






On the Right : British Stamp overprinted B.M.A. (= British Military Administration) Eritrea
On the Left : British Stamp overprinted B.A. (= British Administration) Eritrea



World War II and British Occupation



In June 1940, under the impression of Germany's quick victory over France, Italy entered World War II on Germany's side. Italian forces occupied British Somaliland. In 1941, the British launched a counteroffensive, from Kenya, Sudan and Aden. The Italian forces surrendered that year; Italian Eastern Africa, and with it Eritrea, came inder British military administration (BMA).
In Ethiopia, Negus Haile Selassie (ousted by the Italians in 1936; he had stayed in exile in London 1936-1941) returned to power. He pushed for Eritrea to be annexed to Ethiopia, to give the landlocked country access to the sea. The idea was welcomed by Eritrea's christian clergy. In 1952, the UN (Britain held Eritrea only as a mandate) decided that Eritrea and Ethiopia should be federated; the federation became fact in 1952; Eritrea became an autonomous region within the Empire of Ethiopia.






EXTERNAL
FILES 		Articles from Infoplease : Eritrea
History of Eritrea, from Eritrea.net
Links to Eritrean History, from Eritrea.net and from Looksmart, and from BUBL
Eritrea Index, from ICL
German P.O.W.s held in Eritrea, from Kriegsgefangen.de, in English
Battling the Shifta in Eritrea 1948-1951, from Britain - Small Wars
The Royal Berkshire Regiment : The Last Twelve Years, from Farmers Boys, on the Shifta
Astier M. Almedom, Re-Reading the Short and Long-Rigged History of Eritrea 1941-1952 : Back to the Future ?, in : Nordic Journal of African Studies 2006
DOCUMENTS Map of Eritrea, from UPenn, African Studies
French bar (medal) issued for participants in the Eritrea Campaign 1941, posted on Hendrik's Medal Corner
REFERENCE Chapter 16 : More about Ethiopia, Eritrea and the Somalis, pp.274-284, in : John Gunther, Inside Africa, NY : Harper & Bros. (1953) 1955 [G]
Article : Italian Colonial Empire, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1945 pp.376-377, 1946 pp.408-409, 1947 pp.426-427, 1948 pp.413-414, 1949 pp.387-388 [G]
Article : Eritrea, in : Britannica Book of the Year 1951 p.260, 1952 p.257, 1953 p.257 [G]
Article : Eritrea, in : Statesman's Year Book 1943 pp.1041-1042 [G]
Article : Italian East Africa, in : Americana Annual 1940 pp.399-401, 1943 pp.392-394, 1944 p.363 [G]
Article : Italian East Africa - Eritrea, in : Americana Annual 1945 p.381, 1946 pp.384-385 [G]
Article : Eritrea, in : Americana Annual 1947 p.237; Italian East Africa p.364 [G]
Article : Italian East Africa, in : New International Year Book, Events of 1940, pp.369-370, 1941 pp.295-296, 1942 pp.337-338, Eritrea 1942 p.221, 1943 pp.188-189, 1944 pp.198-199, 1945 p.188 [G]
Article : Italian East Africa, in : Funk & Wagnall's New Standard Encyclopedia Year Book 1940 p.316, 1941 pp.265-266, 1942 pp.235-236, Eritrea 1942 p.152, 1943 p.159, 1946 p.151, 1952 p.142 [G]



This page is part of World History at KMLA
First posted in 2001, last revised on August 27th 2007

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