Journal of Contemporary History 2015, Vol. 50(2) 215–233 ! The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/0022009414552147 jch.sagepub.com Article Imperial Links: The Italian-Ethiopian War and Japanese New Order Thinking, 1935–6 Reto Hofmann Monash University, Australia Abstract This article investigates Japanese New Order thinking in terms of the political and cultural debates sparked by the Italian aggression of Ethiopia (1935–6). Interpreting the war in light of Japan’s earlier conquest of Manchuria (1931), Japanese ideologues, policymakers, and journalists expressed a mixture of rage and relief. On one side, they regarded Fascist Italy’s war as old-fashioned Western imperialism – from which Japan claimed to be liberating Asia. On the other side, they concluded that the Italian- Ethiopian war accelerated the collapse of the international order established after the First World War. In this way the Japanese recognized a commonality of interest with Mussolini’s attempt to contrast the League of Nations and the Great Powers by means of empire-building. This article argues that, in the attempt to overcome the international order centered on the League of Nations, Imperial Japan’s fascist tenden- cies overlapped with Fascist Italy’s imperial policies – and that Japanese observers were conscious of (albeit often ambivalent about) this unexpected ideological common ground. Ultimately, the article attempts to shed new light on the relationship between imperialism and fascism in the interwar period. Keywords Axis, empire, Fascism, imperialism, Italy, Japan Mussolini’s attempt to carve out a fascist empire in East Africa shook the political, economic, and ideological foundations that underpinned the post-First World War order. His invasion of Ethiopia (October 1935) proved to observers worldwide the weakness of the League of Nations – its diplomacy appeared ineffective in Corresponding author: Reto Hofmann, School of Philosophical, Historical and International Studies, Building 11, Monash University, Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia. Email: reto.hofmann@monash.edu at Monash University on November 7, 2016 jch.sagepub.com Downloaded from