In contrast to nearly every other front in the opening months of World War II, the action in East Africa was spectacularly favorable to the Allies. This was a result of the resourcefulness of British commanders, the remarkable work of British cryptology experts (who quickly broke the key Italian codes), and the timid ineptitude of the key Italian theater commander, Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Savoy, duke of Aosta.

The Italians initially seized the upper hand during June 1940, moving out from their colony of Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia) to occupy Karora, Gallabat, Kurmak, and Kassala, all near the border of Sudan. Italian troops also occupied Moyale, on the border of Kenya and, in August, advanced into British Somaliland, which thereby became the first British colony to fall into the hands of the Axis. On paper, the situation looked quite desperate for the British. Against some 92,000 Italian troops and 250,000 Ethiopians under Italian arms, the British had about 40,000 colonial soldiers. British armor was almost nonexistent, and whereas the Italians had 323 aircraft available, the British commanded at most 100. What the Italians lacked, however, the British possessed in abundant quality: brilliant leadership. The duke of Aosta failed to exploit his manifest superiority of numbers and equipment and instead took cognizance only of his isolated position, far from any sources of resupply and reinforcement. Rather than act quickly and offensively against the British, Aosta hunkered down and, as a result, fell under attack by British units and by growing numbers of anti-Italian Ethiopian rebels called by the Allies "Patriots."

In October 1940, the British commanders devised a highly effective strategy for East Africa. Major General William Platt, British commander in chief of the Sudan, was assigned to lead the 5th Indian Division against Gallabat in November, then against Kassala in January 1941. The newly named commander in chief of Kenya, Lieutenant General Sir Alan Cunningham, was tasked with taking Kismayu, also in January. In the meantime, Haile Selassie, the exiled emperor of Italian-occupied Ethiopia, was assigned then-Major Orde Wingate as his military adviser to help him organize and prepare Patriot units. . .

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