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Ethiopia's role in European politics resulted from French and British influence in the region. Ethiopia was one of the few territories which had not become a European colony, and Italy, a newcomer in the colonial bonanza, soon made its designs known. Unlike France and the United Kingdom, the Kingdom of Italy, formed by the forcible annexation of several Italian monarchies in the 1860s, was not a particularly free or democratic nation. Despite a shadowy constitutional structure, control of the government was in the hands of a king who appointed senators and most ministers, and even determined foreign policy. The Italian nation's army and navy left much to be desired in terms of leadership and general battle readiness, a situation that changed little with the passing decades. Nevertheless, the other powers found it economically convenient to allow Italy to act as their unofficial surrogate, especially if this served to curtail France's occupation of British territories or vice versa. Italy received Massawa from the British in 1885 and occupied several Red Sea ports in 1886. Italy defended its acquisition of these coastal territories on the basis of securing these for trade.

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