Amedeo: The True Story of an Italian's War in Abyssinia

By Sebastian O'Kelly

Book Overview

War-time love story set in Abyssinia, Eritrea and the Yemen 1935-1945. Amedeo Guillet is still alive and living in County Meath, Ireland. Khadija is lost.

This is the story of Amedeo Guillet - an Italian calvary officer who was sent out to Abyssinia as part of Mussolini's army to establish and command a troupe of 2,000 Spahis - or Arabic calvary. He met and fell in love with Khadija - a beautiful Ethiopian Muslim. Together they held up the British lorries heaving up the mountain road to Asmara and blew up the important Ponte Aosta. Eventually captured, Amedeo went on the run disguised as an Arab, eventually making it to Yemen, only to be thrown in jail.

This is a rare view of the Second World War from an Italian perpective; particularly valuable are the chapters that tell the story of Italian resistance to the Nazis, and their subsequent withdrawal from Italy in 1943.

There are few stories more cinemagraphic than this - Fascist Italy, his early years in Ethiopia commanding the Cossack-like Spahis, the brutal Abyssinian war waged by the Duce, Italian and British colonial rivalry; Amedeo led the last ever cavalry charge the British army faced (Eritrea 1941 - they were massacred by tanks and sub-machine guns), defeat and guerrilla warfare against the British; then flight, disguised as an Arab, imprisonment in the Yemen and a great love lost as he leaves his beloved Khadija behind to face her future alone and returns to Italy, to his fianc e and a career as a distinguished Italian diplomat and Arabist.

Amedeo is still alive and living in County Meath, Ireland. Sebastian O'Kelly is a journalist for the Mail and Telegraph and has Amedeo's full co-operation in writing this book.

This is a very valuable and absolutely stunning story, beautifully told by O'Kelly.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0006552471
• ISBN13: 9780006552475
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Length: 333 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Romantic tales of cavalry war amongst the Arabs

This is a truly excellent book for military and non military readers alike. As a love story, its gripping, poignant and emotional. As a war tale, its a 'must read', an account of a truly brave and rambunctious war hero. As history, its also a wonderful, acessible and mature rendering of Italy's tragic involvement in Colonialism, Fascism, and the demise of her Noble families who fought for Italy - and suffered the consequences of Musollini's ill-concieved marriage with Nazi Germany. Pertinent to today's American adventures in Iraq, the hero of the story both fights against and later himself employs the kind of irregular desert warfare that the US Forces now are confronted with in Iraq. A great book.

...a ripping good tale...

This book is a fun read for anyone interested in the colonial history of Africa, and of Eritrea in particular. It suffers somewhat in comparison to other works of pop history about the region, such as Anthony Mockler's Haile Selassie's War, the most glaring shortcoming being a lack of important details, such as dates. The reader is likely to come away with the feeling that the subject, Amedeo Guillet, is worthy of a better effort. That having been said, I still recommend the book. It's a ripping good tale about a fascinating character.