Actions of Italy leading up to World War II. Animated map shows Japan and the Sea of Japan on world globe. Benito Mussolini gives a speech. Italian troops invade Ethiopia. Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie addressing the League of Nations. Eithiopian native leaders and tribal soldiers gather with Emperor Selassie and pledge allegiance to him and Ethiopia at a rally against the Italian invasion. Ethiopian fighters with spears and bare feet battling well-armed Italian soldiers in vain. Newspaper heading reads 'Mussolini invades Ethiopia'. Italian aircraft drops bombs on Ethiopia. President Franklin Roosevelt in his speech denounces the Italians invading Ethiopia. Adolf Hitler raises his hand. German troops lined up.
During the Second Italian-Ethiopian War, General Emilio De Bono arrives at an Italian Air Base. He reviews the troops, and addresses them. General De Bono awards medals to several flyers who then stand as a group for photographs. Ceremony concludes with troops passing in review.
Scenes of Second Italo-Ethiopian war. Two Italian soldiers stand by the flag of the Kingdom of Italy. Italian soldiers pull a field gun up the hill. Some soldiers set up field guns below the hill.
Second Italian-Ethiopian war. Italian troops enter and occupy Ethiopian village. Ethiopians observe without resisting. One Ethiopian waves a white flag of surrender. Ethiopian fighters stand at attention under a white flag as large numbers of Italian troops march by under the flag of the Kingdom of Italy.
Footage during the Second Italian-Ethiopian war (also Second Italo-Abyssinian War). Ethiopian Air Force officers, in uniform, wearing flyer's wings, discuss a map of the area. Close view of famous African American pilot John C. Robinson, also known as the "Brown Condor" and regarded years later as the father of the Tuskegee Airmen. Robinson, a native of Mississippi, commanded the Ethiopian Air Force after volunteering his services to Haile Selassie. Robinson is seen speaking with Ethiopian pilots. Military vehicle in the background. The fliers converse among themselves.
Two Ethiopian Air Force officers converse in a hangar where several high wing monoplanes are parked with parts of them covered. Camera comes closer to one of the officers near the covered tail of an airplane, who watches several men working on an airplane. He then turns and walks toward the camera. He appears to be John C. Robinson (also called "The Brown Condor"), a native of Mississippi who volunteered to command the Ethiopian Air Force during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War. He wears the uniform of a Colonel. Film concludes with closeup of a young Ethiopian officer (unidentified).