On a sunny morning in the heart of Addis Ababa, an event occurred that profoundly shook and altered the balance of Italian colonialism. It was February 19, 1937, a holiday for Coptic Christians, and Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani was preparing to give two silver thalers to the capital's poor, when suddenly several grenades flew onto the stage, wounding the viceroy and killing seven people; several were injured, some seriously. In the confusion, Graziani managed to escape, while Italian and indigenous soldiers fired on the crowd.

Rodolfo Graziani became Viceroy of Ethiopia shortly after the Italian conquest in 1936. The war was waged by Fascism, which, after so many years, sought to realise its "dream" of empire. The war began in late 1935 and ended in May 1936; the protagonists on the battlefield were Pietro Badoglio and Graziani himself. During the conflict, Italy implemented measures prohibited by international conventions, such as the use of mustard gas or the destruction of several Red Cross tents. The first viceroy was Marshal Badoglio, but a few days later, he resigned due to the still-unstable situation; Mussolini therefore appointed Graziani.

Graziani's government was very harsh, especially toward Coptic Christians, who were believed to be close to the exiled Emperor Haile Selassie. From 1936 to 1937, he massively targeted the last pockets of Ethiopian resistance with particularly violent methods, not sparing civilians. This tension led to widespread discontent among a large portion of the population, which culminated in the February 19 attack.

Immediately after the attack, absolute terror broke out in the city. Guido Cortese, secretary of the Fascist Party in Addis Ababa, took control of the situation, and the violence against the local population began. The military and Blackshirts were joined by civilian volunteers who committed several atrocities in the poorest neighbourhoods, destroying tukuls, Ethiopian huts, and killing civilians.

The investigations, carried out in a cursory manner by the Italian colonial administration, identified several alleged perpetrators; the primary perpetrators were young Ethiopian nobles who had attended a military academy, and the second were Coptic monks from the monastery of Debre Libanos. This situation strengthened Ethiopian resistance, which caused further problems for the Kingdom of Italy, which was forced to dismiss Graziani due to the constant demands for men and weapons that weighed on the government in Rome. Amedeo d'Aosta was chosen in his place.