ITALIAN COLONialist period.

Italian colonisation of Libya had been on the cards since early 1886 and culminated in the military invasion of 1911¹. But before the eventual military invasion, Italy prepared the ground for the lasting occupation of Libya. Advocates of Italian expansion in North Africa emphasized that the control of Libya was necessary in order for Italy to become a powerful entity among other Europeans such as Britain and France who had created their own colonies on African land².

There were a number of reasons behind Italian colonization of Libya: aside from becoming as powerful as other European nations, there were economic and social advantages that supporters of Italian colonialism preached. These were not just that Italians had a civilizing mission, which was a foremost component of Colonialism - but they also argued that Italians being heirs to the Romans, had a right to control and influence the Mediterranean³.

In order to translate the arguments for colonial expansion into action and eventually colonize Libya, Italy began to lay its foundation in Tripoli first, where they established their banks and schools, which expanded their influence in the city. Acknowledging the significance of the Libyan merchants, the Italians started approaching them for business deals. By 1907 the Bank of Rome became extremely instrumental in the buying and selling of land and the making of business deals. They also began recruiting local people who could help in bolstering the cause of Italian colonial expansion, placing them in pivotal positions⁴.

Italy fought a very decisive battle in September 1911 against the Ottoman Empire and as a result of that war Tripoli, previously ruled by the Ottomans, came under the control of Italy in October 1912.

1923, saw the start of the Second Italo-Senussi War also known as ‘The Pacification of Libya’, this led to the fleeing of King Idris to Egypt .The war continued until 1932. The conquest of the territories of Libya progressed in phases and it took around 22 years for the Italians to conquer all regions of what now form Modern Libya⁵.

Resistance to Conquest

Initially, the Italians miscalculated the potential of resistance to their military invasion and downplayed the anger that the Libyan people had against the invaders. Italian military generals thought that conquering Libya would be an easy task, but as soon as they landed they realised their mistake and as historians argued it became the longest ever anti colonial resistance, especially in the region of North Africa. Libyans fighters remained engaged in continuous war against Italian colonizers from 1911 to 1932.

The opposition to Italian colonization,and the resistance of local people was met with brutality and culminated in the mass murder of many thousands of Libyans. In fact the historian Ilan Pappe estimated that the Italian military killed half the Bedouin population, either directly or by disease and starvation caused through their imprisonment in concentration camps⁶. Local tribes continued fighting the Italians for many years, foremost amongst them being the iconic Omar al-Muhktar, also known as ‘The Sheik of Mujahideen’ and ‘The Desert Lion’, who had for the last 20 years of his life fought an insurgency against the Italian occupiers.

His capture on 11th September 1931 during a battle with Italian forces, quickly led to a hastily arranged trial, where the Italians offered to allow Omar al- Mukhtar leave of Libya, if he would ask his forces to abandon their cause. al-Mukhtar refused and on the morning of September 1931 he was taken to the gallows in Salouq and hanged in front of a crowd of more than 20000 people⁷.

During 1932, the entire country came under Italian rule, and in 1934 the Italians chose the name ‘Libya’ as the official title of the colony, which was made up of three provinces, Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and Fezzan⁸. It was at this time that Italy began a massive migration of Italians into Libya, the figures have been reported to be as high as 150,000⁹.

The historians of this period argue that the primary reason for defeat of the resistance was factionalism, and a lack of weapons and funds with which to continue the war¹⁰. As resistance continued, the tribal elites began to divide, due not only to personal rivalry, but also social economic factors. The Ottoman Empire's economic policies, as well as the financial capital introduced by Italian banks, enforced political structures, in which the political elites amongst the tribes emerged¹¹. In 1940, Italy entered World War 2, with Libya becoming a base for the Italian North African campaign. The campaign lasted for two years, and resulted in the defeat of the Italians by the allied forces and the expulsion of the Italians from Libya¹².