Italian colonialism in Libya (1911)

05Italian colonialism in Libya (1911)

Why Italy turned towards Libya

• French expansion in North Africa — especially since the Congress of Berlin 1878 — alarmed the great powers, Italy above all. When France got ahead of it into Tunisia, Italy replied by joining, in 1882, the German-Austrian alliance directed against France.
• In 1887 a treaty bound Italy, Germany, Austria, Britain and Spain and was directed against any new French expansion in Libya or Marrakesh — so Italy concentrated its effort on Libya.
• Italy saw in Libya a temporary consolation preserving its international dignity: it was the uncolonised region left in North Africa overlooking Italy and it could be a spearhead for future expansions.
• It won the great powers' consent to its acting alone in Libya: the agreement of Britain and Spain; a deal with Russia not to oppose Russia's control of the Turkish Straits; and the 1902 deal with France over Marrakesh.
• Italy penetrated economically and founded the Bank of Rome, and Catholic missionary activity and Italian schools grew; so when it found an opportunity to declare war on the Ottoman state in 1911 it already held many projects.

Why Turkey failed to defend Libya

• Italy sent the Ottomans an ultimatum in September 1911 and landed its troops, and soon consolidated itself on the coast against weak Ottoman resistance.
• The Ottoman government had withdrawn part of its forces in Libya and sent them to Yemen to fight its imam.
• The British refused to allow Ottoman forces to cross through Egypt to Libya.
• Sending forces by sea was difficult, because the Italian fleet besieged Tripoli and pressed on the Dodecanese islands.
• Italian superiority at sea and on land helped bring down the coastal towns (Tripoli, Derna and Benghazi); the Arab tribes resisted the invaders but could not hold out financially or militarily.