Subject of the Research (1) This research addresses the Sudanese role in the liberation of Ethiopia and the restoration of Emperor Haile Selassie to his throne. It focuses on the political role of Sudanese people through their intellectuals and their organization at the time, the Graduates' Congress; their newspapers, publications, and leaders in supporting and sheltering the Ethiopian resistance. It also covers the military role played by the Sudan Defence Force in expelling the Italians from Eritrea and Ethiopia and restoring the Emperor to his throne in Addis Ababa.

Although the campaign to liberate Ethiopia started from Sudan and Kenya, this research is concerned with the campaign that started from Sudan. It is also chronologically confined to the period of the Italian invasion, resistance, and liberation, which falls between 1935 and 1941, although the prelude to the event and its consequences and aftermath extend beyond this period, at the beginning and end.

Importance of the Research (2) a/ Despite the deep and multifaceted relations between Sudan and Ethiopia since geography linked them and created a shared history between them, the course of this history and its events, especially in the first half of the twentieth century, has remained far from study and research, with only a little attention. The history of the relationship between the two countries has remained written in Ethiopia by Western academics and historians or under their influence and perspective on this relationship. Consequently, the relationship with Ethiopia has not received sufficient attention from Sudanese researchers and scholars, for whom Egypt remained for a long time the focus of their attention and interest.

b/ The establishment and emergence of the modern Ethiopian state under Emperor Menelik II coincided with the end of the Mahdist state in Sudan under British colonialism (1889-1913) and the establishment of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium, which left significant impacts on the future of Sudan and its relationship with Ethiopia, especially concerning border issues and the Nile waters.

c/ The relationship between the two countries has gone through many phases of tension and attraction, cooperation and tension, which sometimes reached the stage of military confrontation. However, the period of Italian occupation of Ethiopia represented a turning point in these relations, due to the agreement of the two peoples against the Italians who occupied Ethiopia and advanced towards Sudan, actually occupying a number of its border towns. This period was characterized by Sudan's embrace and support of the Ethiopian resistance and the endorsement of Emperor Haile Selassie, who resided in Sudan for six months before entering his country accompanied by Sudanese and Ethiopian battalions.