After he came to power in 1922, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini sought to avenge his country's defeat in the Italo-Ethiopian War of 1895. He mobilized 500,000 troops and invaded Ethiopia in October, 1935. Ethiopian forces were poorly equipped and were unable to fight a modern army, which resulted in more than 250,000 military and civilian casualties. Ethiopia was formally annexed by Italy in 1936.