The claims of Italy over Libya dated back to verbal discussions after the Congress of Berlin (1878), in which France and Great Britain had agreed for the occupation of Tunisia and Cyprus respectively, both part of the then-ailing Ottoman Empire. When Italian diplomats hinted about a possible opposition of their government, the French replied that Tripoli would have been a counterpart for Italy. In 1902, Italy and France had signed a secret treaty which accorded freedom of intervention in Tripolitania and Morocco. However, the Italian government did little to put in practice the opportunity, and knowledge of the Libyan territory and resources remained scarce in the following years.
Italian politicians began expressing their own interests in an invasion of the territory as early as 1908[2] and subsequently the Italian press began a massive lobbying campaign in favour of an invasion of Libya towards the end of March 1911. It was fancifully depicted as rich of minerals, full of water, and defended by only 4,000 Ottoman troops. Also the population was considered hostile to the Ottoman Empire and friendly to the Italians. The future invasion was described as little more than a "military walk".
The Italian government was initially hesitant, but in the summer the preparations for the invasion were finally carried out, and Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti began to probe the other European major powers about their reactions of a possible invasion of Libya. The Socialist party had strong influence over the public opinion. However, it was in opposition and also divided on the issue. It acted ineffectively against the military intervention.
An ultimatum was presented to the Ottoman government of CUP, in the night of 26–27 September. The CUP, through the Austrian intermediation, replied with the proposal of handing over control over Libya without warring, maintaining a merely formal Ottoman suzerainty. This suggestion was comparable to the situation in Egypt, which was under formal Ottoman suzerainty but was actually controlled by the United Kingdom. Giolitti refused, and war was declared on 29 September 1911.
In spite of the time it had had to prepare the invasion, the Italian Army was partially prepared when the war broke out, mainly because of some opposition to the war in Italy (including from Benito Mussolini, then a socialist).
Italy's Military Plans and the Ottoman Lack of Response: The initial plans laid by the Italian General Staff called for an invasion force composed of
34,000 troops
6,300 horses and cavalry
1,050 troop carriers
48 artillery pieces
34 mountain artillery pieces
These initial plans were amended to increase Italian troop strength to 100,000 and include biplanes in the invasion force. Facing this force were 4,800 Ottoman regulars with a mixture of antiquated guns, rifles and artillery. The defense of Libya would be hastily prepared and fall on the shoulders of the indigenous population with a few hundred Ottoman officers providing leadership and guidance from 1911.[3]
Between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu, the then capital of Italian Somaliland, served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the Italo-Turkish War.[4] Most of the troops stationed never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the invasion of Ethiopia in 1935.[5] The Italian fleet had appeared off Tripoli in the evening of 28 September, but started to bomb the port only on 3 October. The city was conquered by 1,500 sailors, much to the enthusiasm of the interventionist minority in Italy. Another last proposal of a friendly settlement was rejected by the Italians, and the Turks determined therefore to defend the province until the last bullet but with a guerrilla war.
Italian landings in Libya
The first disembarkment of troops happened on 10 October, under the command of general Carlo Caneva, and soon Tripoli, Benghazi, Derna and Tobruk were occupied. The Italian contingent of 20,000 troops was deemed sufficient to the accomplishment of the conquest at the time. Tobruk, Derna and Al-Khums were easily conquered, but the same was not the case for Benghazi.
The city of Tripoli and surroundings, after a destructive bombing of the Turkish fortifications, were quickly conquered by 1,500 Italian sailors. They were welcomed by the population who started to collaborate (mainly the Jewish locals) with the Italian authorities.[6]
The first partial setback for the Italian troops happened on 23 October in the Sciara Sciat massacre, when the bad placement of the Italian troops near Tripoli led to their almost complete encirclement by more mobile Arab cavalry, backed by some Turkish regular units. However, the Italians were able to defeat the Turkish and Libyan forces in a few hours.
The attack was portrayed as a simple "revolt" by the Italian press, but almost resulted in the annihilation of much of the Italian expeditionary corps. Consequently, it was increasingly enlarged until it amounted to 100,000 men, who had to face 20,000 Libyans and 8,000 Turks. It became a war of position, and even the first use of aviation in a modern war by the Italians had little effect.
Italian soldiers viewing corpses of dead Libyan and Turk defenders
On November 2 there was a tentative counterattack by the Ottoman forces in the small battle at Tobruk, but even here the city remained under Italian occupation.
Meanwhile, 1,500 Libyan volunteers attacked Italian troops who were building trenches near recently occupied Derna. The Italians, who were outnumbered but had superior weaponry, held the line. A lack of coordination between the Italian units sent from Derna as reinforcements and the intervention of Turkish artillery threatened the Italian line, and the Arabs attempted to surround the Italian troops. However, further Italian reinforcements were able to stabilize the situation, and the battle ended in the afternoon with an Italian victory. Then the Italian command sent three columns of infantry to disband the Arab Turkish camp near Derna. The Italian troops occupied a plateau, interrupting Turkish supply lines. Three days later, the Turkish commander, Enver Bey, attacked the Italian positions on the plateau. The larger Italian fire drove back the Turkish soldiers, who were surrounded by a battalion of Alpini and suffered heavy losses. A later Turkish attack had the same outcome.
Although many elements of the local Arab population collaborated with the Italians, counterattacks by Turkish soldiers with the help of some local troops (who declared a Moslem jihad against the Christian invaders) confined the Italian army to the coastal region from the beginning of the Italian invasion.
The foreign military attaches watching the conflict were amazed to note that General Caneva did not use cavalry in a war zone admirably well-suited to it and how he did not consider requesting reinforcements as soon as possible for his already-small force.[7]
On 15 October 1911, nine Italian "Specialist Battalion" aeroplanes and 11 pilots landed in Libya. On 24 October, the Italian pilot Captain Riccardo Moizo carried out a reconnaissance flight in Tripolitania, reportedly the first ever strategic reconnaissance by aeroplane.[8] On 1 November, another Italian pilot, Giulio Gavotti, dropped four 1.5kg bombs on Ain Zara, pulling the pins with his teeth. This was the first aerial bombing in history.[9]
With a decree on 5 November 1911, Italy declared its suzerainty over all Ottoman Libya, although it fully controlled only some coastal stretches.
Armistice
Meanwhile, Italy maintained total naval supremacy, and could extend its control to almost all of the 2,000km of the Libyan coast between January and early August 1912. To unblock the situation, Italy began operations against the Turkish possessions in the Aegean Sea, after having received approval from the other powers, which were eager to end a war that was lasting much longer than what had been foreseen. Italy occupied 12 islands in that sea, the Dodecanese, but this raised the ire of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, who feared that this could fuel the irredentism of nations such as Serbia and Greece, causing unbalance in the already fragile situation in the Balkans.
The final major military operation that took place during the summer of 1912 was an attack carried out by five Italian torpedo boats in the Dardanelles, on 18 July. In September, Bulgaria, Serbia, and Greece prepared their armies for the war against the Ottoman Empire, taking advantage of its difficulties in the war against Italy. On 8 October, Montenegro declared war on the Turks, starting the Balkan Wars.
Italy then sought a favourable armistice agreement to conclude the conflict. The treaty was signed at Lausanne at 16:45 on 18 October 1912. The terms were formally equal to those requested by Istanbul at the beginning of the war, and maintained a formal Ottoman suzerainty over Libya, which received only an autonomous status under the judiciary rule of a "Cadis" elected by the Sultan.
Aftermath
The invasion of Libya was a costly enterprise for Italy. Instead of the 30 million liras a month judged sufficient at its beginning, it reached a cost of 80million a month, and for a far longer period than the original estimate. This caused economic imbalance at home. From the political point, the creation of Italian Libya showed (to observers like Benito Mussolini) that the lobbying power of an active and powerful minority could have a great power in the country, as the advent of fascism would show after World War I.
As for Libya itself, the Italian control over much of its territory remained very ineffective until the late 1920s, when forces under Generals Badoglio and Graziani waged punitive pacification campaigns which turned into terrible acts of repression. Resistance petered out only after the execution of rebel leader Omar Mukhtar on 15 September 1931.
Successively, Libya was fully controlled by the Italians and integrated into Italian Libya and into Italy's Fourth Shore until World War II.
De Martino, Antonio. Tripoli italiana, la guerra italo-turca Library of Congress. Publisher: Societa' Libraria Italiana. New York, 1911 ()
Maltese, Paolo. "L'impresa di Libia", in Storia Illustrata No. 167, October 1971
Romano, Sergio. La Quarta sponda. La guerra di Libia, 1911/1912, Casa Editrice Bompiani. Milano, 1977
P. Hallion, Richard. Strike From the Sky: The History of Battlefield Air Attack, 1910–1945. (second edition) University of Alabama Press, 2010. ISBN0817356576, 9780817356576.
Vandervort, Bruce. Verso la quarta sponda la guerra italiana per la Libia (1911–1912). Stato maggiore dell'esercito. Roma, 2012.
The Italo-Turkish or Turco-Italian War was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911, to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captured the Ottoman Tripolitania Vilayet, of which the main sub-provinces were Fezzan, Cyrenaica, and Tripoli itself. These territories became the colonies of Italian Tripolitania and Cyrenaica, which would later merge into Italian Libya.
Tripolitania, historically known as the Tripoli region, is a historic region and former province of Libya.
Subdivisions of Libya have varied significantly over the last two centuries. Initially Libya under Ottoman and Italian control was organized into three to four provinces, then into three governorates (muhafazah) and after World War II into twenty-five districts (baladiyah). Successively into thirty-two districts (shabiyat) with three administrative regions, and then into twenty-two districts (shabiyat). In 2012 the ruling General National Congress divided the country into governorates (muhafazat) and districts (baladiyat). While the districts have been created, the governorates have not.
The Italian colonizationof Libya began in 1911 and it lasted until 1943. The country, which was previously an Ottoman possession, was occupied by Italy in 1911 after the Italo-Turkish War, which resulted in the establishment of two colonies: Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica. In 1934, the two colonies were merged into one colony which was named the colony of Italian Libya. In 1937, this colony was divided into four provinces, and in 1939, the coastal provinces became a part of metropolitan Italy. The colonization lasted until Libya's occupation by Allied forces in 1943, but it was not until the 1947 Paris Peace Treaty that Italy officially renounced all of its claims to Libya's territory.
The military history of Libya covers the period from the ancient era to the modern age.
Libya was a colony of Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania, which had been Italian possessions since 1911.
Italian Tripolitania was an Italian colony, located in present-day western Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire after the Italo-Turkish War in 1911. Italian Tripolitania included the western northern half of Libya, with Tripoli as its main city. In 1934, it was unified with Italian Cyrenaica in the colony of Italian Libya. In 1939, Tripolitania was considered a part of the Kingdom of Italy's 4th Shore.
Italian Cyrenaica was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya, that existed from 1911 to 1934. It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, alongside Italian Tripolitania.
Italian Libyans are Libyan-born citizens who are fully or partially of Italian descent, whose ancestors were Italians who emigrated to Libya during the Italian diaspora, or Italian-born people in Libya. Most of the Italians moved to Libya during the Italian colonial period.
Tripoli Province was one of the provinces of Libya under Italian rule. It was established in 1937, with the official name: Commissariato Generale Provinciale di Tripoli. It lasted until 1947.
Darnah Province was one of the provinces of Libya under Italian rule. It was established in 1937 with the official name: "Commissariato Generale Provinciale di Derna". Derna province was called only "Darnah District" after World War II.
Carlo Caneva was an Italian general, known for having led the conquest of Libya in the Italo-Turkish War.
The Battles of Zanzur or Battles of Janzur, were a series of battles that took place in 1911–1912 at Zanzur oasis, near Tripoli during the Italo-Turkish War. During the battles, the Italians unsuccessfully attacked the Turkish-Arab stronghold located approximately twelve miles from the Italian lines at Tripoli until finally achieving a victory on 20 September 1912.
The battle and massacre at Shar al-Shatt occurred on 23 October 1911 in the village of Shar al-Shatt on the outskirts of Tripoli, Libya during the Italo-Turkish War. 378 Italian officers and men were killed in the fighting and the massacre of soldiers who had surrendered. The incident became known as the "Massacre of Italians at Sciara Sciat."
Vincenzo Garioni was an Italian general who saw combat in the Boxer Rebellion, Italo-Turkish War, and World War I. He was the governor of Tripolitania from 1913 to 1914 and later served as the governor of both Tripolitania and Cyrenaica from 1918 to 1919.
Events from the year 1911 in Italy.
The Battle of Benghazi occurred during the Italo-Turkish War when the Kingdom of Italy attacked and took possession of the major cities of the Ottoman Empire's North African Tripolitania province, now Libya. Benghazi was one of the five strategic cities captured and held by the Italians during the entire length of the war.
The Battle of Ain Zara was fought in December 1911 during the Italo-Turkish War between the Kingdom of Italy and Ottoman Empire forces for the control of the oasis of Ain Zara, near Tripoli in modern Libya, where the Ottomans had established a fortified base.
The Battle of Tripoli was fought in October 1911, during the initial stages of the Italo-Turkish War, and saw the capture of Tripoli, capital city of Tripolitania, by Italian landing forces. It marked the beginning of the land campaign in Libya of the Italo-Turkish War as well as the beginning of the Italian colonization of Libya.
Ain Zara is a town and oasis in western Libya, located in the region of Tripoli.
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