Italy's African Destiny - The Colonisation of Libya | BETWEEN 2 WARS I 1931 Part 1 of 3 - YouTube (1)
since 1923 benito mussolini has been working to fulfill his vision of a new
roman style Italian empire by subjugating those large parts of North
Africa that had once been colonies under Roman rule two millennia ago and now in
Libya this process concludes with a murder
welcome to between two wars a chronological summary of the interwar
years covering all facets of life the uncertainty hedonism and euphoria and
ultimately humanity's descent into the darkness of the Second World War
i'm indy neidell it is 1931 and since we last saw mussolini he's increased his
power and been dictator of Italy since 1927 formally he is only head of the
government and King Victor Emmanuel the third is still head of state but without
protest the monarch is signed into law want to reform after the other that has
granted Mussolini absolute power and turned Italy into a totalitarian fascist
state now ever since he started the fascist movement he's been promoting a
mythical connection between ancient Rome and modern Italy to justify his
expansive ideas for an Italian Empire to rule over vast parts of the central
portion of the Mediterranean or as the Romans once called it and the fascists
have now adopted Mare Nostrum our see a central part of that plan is to expand
and gain full control over the portions of North Africa captured from the
Ottoman Empire just before the Great War domains that Mussolini now styles as
Libya a name that harks back to the old Roman name for its colonies there which
in turn was adapted from the ancient Egyptian name for some of the tribes in
the region learn something new every day Mussolini starts this campaign they
Reconquista della Libya the reconquest or pacification of Libya a year after he
becomes prime minister in 1923 but Italian interest in the region goes back
to shortly after the creation of Italy in 1861 the colonial interests of the
European powers are driven by the promise of increased natural resources
and cheap labor but there's also the Imperial concept of national greatness
and Italy wants its place in the Sun too in the 1880s the young Italian Kingdom
becomes a late and relatively weak addition to the Scramble for Africa she
initially makes modest inroads in Eritrea and Somalia but after an attempt
to colonize Abyssinia the Ethiopian Empire Italy faces a disastrous defeat
against the Ethiopians at the battle ah dois in 1896 effectively ending
Italian expansion for the next 15 years in 1911 they make another attempt to
gain a foothold when they go to war with the Ottoman Empire to conquer the
provinces Tripolitania Cyrenaica and phezzan it is a financially costly war
for Italy prime minister Giovanni Julie T had predicted an immediate and
decisive military victory but that turns out to be a miscalculation and they
spend 1.3 billion lira a billion more than plan however in October 1912 the
first Balkan war breaks out the Ottomans now need all of their forces in the
Balkans and a peace treaty is signed with Italy as the new master of what
will in 1934 once again be known as Libya but it turns out that not all new
subjects of the Italian King are delighted with their new rulers Italy
faces widespread unrest and must deploy the military to keep control
moreover Italy's entry into the great war in 1915 forces the Italian
government to shift its attention to the war in Europe in an effort to keep power
but spare their forces they pull back to coastal African cities such as Tripoli
and Benghazi in the resulting vacuum resistance to Italian rule quickly grows
into outright war the leaders of the opposition to Italian rule are the
Sanusi a political and religious movement tracing back to a mystical
Muslim order founded by theologian syed muhammad bin ali el Sanusi in 1837 the
Sanusi are at the core of the anti-colonial movement and had
effectively fought off eastward expansion by the French in the knots at
their head since 1911 is the teacher turned rebel Omar Mukhtar also known as
the Lion of the desert he is a fierce adaptive and resourceful military
commander and is dedicated to religious piety swearing off personal gain and
creature comforts even his Italian counterparts come to admire him for his
prowess and dedication in an effort to weaken both Italy and Britain
the Ottoman Sultan now encourages the thousands of tribesmen organized by
Mukhtar to rise up and carry out raids in both Libya and British controlled
Egypt but the Ottomans are under increasing pressure in the world war and
can't give Mukhtar the support he really needs to prevail
so the Sanusi signed a peace treaty with both of those European powers in April
1917 but this does not really cement Libya as an Italian colony
although Italy is formally given Dominion in the Treaty of Lausanne in
effect the region continues to be controlled by the Sanusi not much is
gonna bout it at first as domestic Italian concerns take center stage with
all the post-war instability but in 1922 Italian colonial power is under
increasing threat stiffening cyrenaic and resistance and the nominal Egyptian
independence which we covered in our episode about carving up the Middle East
pushes the Italian government to consider military pacification for the
fascists this is good news with bitterness over the relatively minor
territorial gains given in Paris 1919 Libya now presents itself as the perfect
opportunity for the nascent fascist government to demonstrate its military
prowess in 1923 Mussolini decides to go to war in Africa once again now all of
that might sound like Italian soldiers have been and are going to be fighting
in Africa against indigenous soldiers trying to regain control of their own
lands but it isn't quite that simple already during the teens most of the
Italian fighting done in Libya is actually done by Eritrea and Somalia
Legionnaires attracted by steady pay an escape from the natural fluctuations of
their agrarian economy these recruits turn out to be loyal and effective
fighters the Italian officers soon develop the view that colonial troops
are better suited to the climate and terrain then Italian soldiers Colonel
Guglielmo nasty one of the senior figures in Italian East Africa even goes
so far as to say that Italian troops are a hindrance and a ball and chain on
military commanders in the field these are
positive attributes sometimes based on vague racial understanding even when
meant to be praised such as when general authorial machete one of the commanders
of the troops in Libya notes that the eretrians feel excited and developing
the fight the best deal instincts of a warrior race but there are other more
important factors that push Italy to use local recruits first of all they're
cheaper than Italian troops in 1926 an Italian private is paid two and a
quarter lira daily with an additional three and a half if serving in a colony
those from East Africa get one and a half daily with an additional one if
serving outside their native colony they also receive and accept smaller food
rations than their native Italian counterparts third of all it enables the
Italian government to avoid opposition by the war tired Italian population for
sacrificing more Italian lives and yet another war abroad or as historian
Giulia Barrera puts it by using eretrians
and not italians the Italian government was able to continue pursuing an
expansionist colonial policy in Somalia and Libya without running the risk of
the political backlash that the death of Italian soldiers could have caused but
it poses a problem of over reliance on local manpower which spills over to the
Italian colonial administrators in for example Eritrea between 1912 and 1934
the East African colonies small population of roughly half a million
will furnish 68 battalions and six artillery batteries in rotation that
causes concerns about labor shortage in the largely agrarian but increasingly
industrial territory officials in Eritrea's capital Asmara
clash continuously with Rome about this throughout the 1920s it's only by 1929
the tensions are reduced after a plague of locusts makes the voluntary 2-year
military service a means of reducing unemployment and destitution while all
of this fills the ranks of the Italian forces it is one of many factors that
now wreaks havoc on social structures now this is a war against insurgency so
there are no clear front lines and and few major actual battles instead it
plays out through repeated widespread raids and attacks on Italian strongholds
by the rebels Mukhtar has organized the rebels into
highly mobile squads and created a support network within the tribal
communities in Libya Mukhtar and his men know the terrain
like their own backyards and are able to stealthily move and strike without
warning much to the frustration of the Italians from 1923 to 1930 mook tarz
rebels continued their actions but the italians respond with militarized police
action with increasing intensity and brutality especially after the
declaration of jihad holy war for all muslims by the most militant wing of the
Sanusi to close off the possibility of retreat into safe havens in British
Egypt they erect a 350 kilometer long barbed-wire fence along the Libyan
Egyptian border and create a highly militarized zone with armored vehicles
and aircraft patrolling the sector continuously the local populations
livelihood is badly damaged as they depend on an open border exchange
especially the partly nomadic Bedouin who are also major supporters of the
Sanusi in March 1930 general Rodolfo Graziani takes command of the Italian
forces in Libya Graziani is determined to achieve a complete victory he starts
carrying out organized retaliatory actions against rebel support by the
widespread slaughter of livestock closing down the vital desert wells and
isolating a hundred thousand of the Bedouin population in 11 concentration
camps surrounded by barbed wire and machine guns
tens of thousands perish from the abysmal conditions in the camps
throughout Libya contact with the rebels becomes a capital offense leading to
immediate execution through systematic torture deportation and impoverishment
Graziani is hell-bent on crushing the insurgency the amount of people murdered
disappeared is unclear as there is no senses by which to definitely determine
casualties it is safe to say though that it is in the high tens of thousands
possibly more gratzi Annie's campaign of terror is efficient and by the end of
the year the Sanu sees capacity to move and strike freely has been significantly
reduced despite this Mukhtar continues to elude
them and continues a limited campaign harassing the Italian forces during the
summer of 1931 it becomes a main objective of Grazia unease forces to
capture Mukhtar on September 11 he's wounded in a battle near sláinte a town
south of the city beta incapacitated he is finally captured and brought to a
POWs camp in salute on the 16th of September 1931 he now 73 year old Omar
Mukhtar is hanged in front of his followers he accepts his fate with the
words from Allah we come and to Allah we must return his nemesis Graziani will
later say omar was endowed with a quick and lively intelligence was
knowledgeable in religious matters and revealed an energetic and impetuous
character unselfish and uncompromising ultimately he remained very religious
and poor even though he had been one of the most important census figures
historian Angelo del Boca summarises Mukhtar like this Omar is not only an
example of religious faith and a born fighter but also the builder of that
perfect military political organization which for 10 years kept in check troops
under 4 governors the execution of the Lion of the desert is met with
widespread indignation throughout the Arab world but the war is over for now
and the italians proceed to consolidate their gains the plan is to settle
italian farmers in towns and villages either newly constructed or claimed from
the indigenous population it's a mixture of land seizure and forcing the sale of
