Is it true that the Italian Army was literally losing to an army of spearmen in Ethiopia in 1930s?

by Phoenix Ikki

Jagama Kelo (middle) was just fifteen years old when he went to fight the Italian invasion

 

of Ethiopia

 

In the 20th Century the Italians have a mockible reputation comparable to that of the French post World War 1. Italians are believed to have lost every battles they fought against the Allies and the Italian Army was considered so poor in quality that most of the troops that fought during the Italian campaigns were stated to be professional German soldiers, not Italains.

But the greatest shame to Italy (well at least according to popular History) is their war in Ethiopia back in the 1930s. The popular consensus is that the Italian Army was a mechanized force with the latest modern weaponry from tanks to machine guns to gas bombs and even Fighter planes.
That they should have wiped out the Ethopians who were mostly using spears as their prime weapons with only a fear using outdated rifles.

However the popular view of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia is that the Italians despite being a modern force were literally losing the war and it took nearly 10 years to even stabilize the region. That the Ethiopians were seen as an inspiring force of a backwards army defeating a modern mechanized force.

Italian soldiers are thought in this campaign as ill-disciplined, poorly motivated, cowardly, and just plain unprofessional. In fact I remember reading in my World History textbook saying that the Italians committed atrocious war crimes such as bombing innocent towns, rounding up women and children and shooting them, plundering whole communities and enslaving the local inhabitants and raping the young girls and women, and even gassing up groups of Ethiopian civilians out of nowhere that were not involved in the rebellion.

In addition Ethiopians are seen in this war as cut out from any form of foreign support. No countr not even the US had supply Ethiopia supplies and weapons or any other means of defending herself.
My World History textbook put a specific section show casing how the Italians violated the rules of war in this campagin.

Its not just this war that mentions such stuff-the Italian war in Libya according to popular History seems to repeat the same thing and indeed its shown perfectly in the classic film “The Lion of the Desert” starring Alec Guinness as the rebel of that insurgency, Omar Mukhtar.

I’m curious what was the truth? I find it impossible to believe an army of spearmen can destroy a modern mechanized army. Even if the Italians were cowardly and undisciplined, their modern arms is still more than enough to compensate for their lack of professionalism.

In addition, are the warcrimes as mentioned in my World History book and popular history portrays in the war-are they over-exaggerated and taken out of proportion?I seen claims of genocide in Ethiopia by the Italians!