Italian Tripolitania
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.
Although resistance to the Italian colonisers was less prevalent in Tripolitania than Cyrenaica, a resistance group did form the Tripolitanian Republic in 1918. Although it didn't succeed in setting up a republic, it demonstrated attempts to resist colonial control. The Italian colonisers set up various infrastructure projects, most notably roads and railways. Archeology was another important feature of the Italian presence in Tripolitania, as they focused efforts in excavations in old Roman cities.
A significant number of Italian settlers moved to Tripolitania, particularly to Tripoli, and Italian presence was still felt long after the decolonisation process began.
History
Conquest and colonization
Italian Tripolitania and Italian Cyrenaica were formed in 1911, during the conquest of Ottoman Tripolitania in the Italo-Turkish War.Despite a major revolt by the Arabs, the Ottoman sultan ceded Libya to the Italians by signing the 1912 Treaty of Lausanne. The Italians made extensive use of the Savari, colonial cavalry troops raised in December 1912. These units were recruited from the Arab-Berber population of Libya following the initial Italian occupation in 1911–12. The Savari, like the Spahi or mounted Libyan police, formed part of the Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali della Libia.
The memoirs of Francesco Crispi states the discussion of Tripoli during the Congress of Berlin. The discussion was halted as it was not a priority, however Italy's attention in the congress was focused on Tripoli. Their expansion into Tripoli, which they believed was their right, was reluctantly accepted by other European Powers. The Italian occupation of Tripoli was mentioned within the Italian press during the following years, Tripolitania was expecting Italian arrival.
Sheikh Sidi Idris al-Mahdi as-Senussi, of the Senussi, led Libyan resistance in various forms through the outbreak of the Second World War. After the Italian army invaded Cyrenaica in 1913 as part of their invasion of Libya, the Senussi Order fought back against them. When the Order's leader, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi, abdicated his position, he was replaced by Idris, who was his cousin. Pressured to do so by the Ottoman Empire, Ahmed had pursued armed attacks against British military forces stationed in neighbouring Egypt. On taking power, Idris put a stop to these attacks.
Instead he established a tacit alliance with the British, which would last for half a century and accord his Order de facto diplomatic status. Using the British as intermediaries, Idris led the Order into negotiations with the Italians in July 1916. These resulted in two agreements, at al-Zuwaytina in April 1916 and at Akrama in April 1917. The latter of these treaties left most of inland Cyrenaica under the control of the Senussi Order. Relations between the Senussi Order and the newly established Tripolitanian Republic were acrimonious. The Senussi attempted to militarily extend their power into eastern Tripolitania, resulting in a pitched battle at Bani Walid in which the Senussi were forced to withdraw back into Cyrenaica.
At the end of World War I, the Ottoman Empire signed an armistice agreement in which they ceded their claims over Libya to Italy. Italy however was facing serious economic, social, and political problems domestically, and was not prepared to re-launch its military activities in Libya. It issued statutes known as the Legge Fondamentale with both the Tripolitanian Republic in June 1919 and Cyrenaica in October 1919. These brought about a compromise by which all Libyans were accorded the right to a joint Libyan-Italian citizenship while each province was to have its own parliament and governing council. The Senussi were largely happy with this arrangement and Idris visited Rome as part of the celebrations to mark the promulgation of the settlement.
In October 1920, further negotiations between Italy and Cyrenaica resulted in the Accord of al-Rajma, in which Idris was given the title of the Emir of Cyrenaica and permitted to autonomously administer the oases around Kufra, Jalu, Jaghbub, Awjila, and Ajdabiya. As part of the Accord he was given a monthly stipend by the Italian government, who agreed to take responsibility for policing and administration of areas under Senussi control. The Accord also stipulated that Idris must fulfill the requirements of the Legge Fondamentale by disbanding the Cyrenaican military units, however he did not comply with this. By the end of 1921, relations between the Senussi Order and the Italian government had again deteriorated.
Following the death of Tripolitanian leader Ramadan Asswehly in August 1920, the Republic descended into civil war. Many tribal leaders in the region recognised that this discord was weakening the region's chances of attaining full autonomy from Italy, and in November 1920 they met in Gharyan to bring an end to the violence. In January 1922 they agreed to request that Idris extend the Sanui Emirate of Cyrenaica into Tripolitania in order to bring stability; they presented a formal document with this request on 28 July 1922. Idris' advisers were divided on whether he should accept the offer or not. Doing so would contravene the al-Rajma Agreement and would damage relations with the Italian government, who opposed the political unification of Cyrenaica and Tripolitania as being against their interests. Nevertheless, in November 1922 Idris agreed to the proposal. Following the agreement, Idris feared that Italy — under its new Fascist leader Benito Mussolini—would militarily retaliate against the Senussi Order, and so he went into exile in Egypt in December 1922.
Fighting intensified after the accession to power in Italy of the dictator Benito Mussolini. Due to the effective resistance of the Libyan people against Italy's so-called "pacification campaign", Italian colonization of the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica was not initially successful and it was not until the early 1930s that the Kingdom of Italy took full control of the area.
Several reorganizations of the colonial authority had been made necessary because of armed Arab opposition, mainly in Cyrenaica. Between 1919 to 1929, the Italian government maintained the two traditional provinces, with separate colonial administrations. A system of controlled local assemblies with limited local authority was set up, but was revoked on 9 March 1927. In 1929, Tripoli and Cyrenaica were united as one colonial province. From 1931 to 1932, Italian forces under General Badoglio waged a punitive pacification campaign. Badoglio's successor in the field, General Rodolfo Graziani, accepted the commission from Mussolini on the condition that he was allowed to crush Libyan resistance unencumbered by the restraints of either Italian or international law. Mussolini reportedly agreed immediately and Graziani intensified the oppression.
Some Libyans continued to defend themselves, with the strongest voices of dissent coming from the Cyrenaica. Beginning in the first days of Italian colonization, Omar Mukhtar, a Senussi sheikh, organized and, for nearly twenty years, led Libyan resistance efforts. His example continued to inspire resistance even after his capture and execution on 16 September 1931. His face is currently printed on the Libyan ten dinar note in memory and recognition of his patriotism.
By 1934, Libyan indigenous resistance was effectively crushed. The new Italian governor Italo Balbo created the political entity called Italian Libya in the summer of that year. The classical name "Libya" was revived as the official name of the unified colony. Then in 1937 the colony was split administratively into four provinces: Tripoli, Misrata, Benghazi, and Derna. The Fezzan area was called Territorio Sahara Libico and administered militarily."
Resistance
The Italian Fascist Party came to power in 1922, it was agreed that fraternising with local Libyan Leaders was a failure of the previous colonial practice. Instead, the fascists opted for to 'pacify' the local population. Their ideas was based upon racial supremacy and Social Darwinism. The belief in a hierarchy of races meant that the Italians therefore had a 'duty' to colonise African nations. This led to the subjugation of Libyans, as policies before 1922 were dismissed, such as the colonial official's push to "Italianise" its colony's education. For example, they censored Italian culture from the native population, banned education after the sixth grade and terminated teaching Italian in classrooms, replacing it with Arabic. Libyans were only allowed to work as Labourers. The banning of Italian in class was with the intention to 'protect' Italian culture, and exclude Libyans.Benito Mussolini gave General Rodolfo Graziani responsibility for the pacification of Libya, due to previous success in the reoccupation of Tripolitania and Fezzan. Tripolitanian resistance was not as substantial, as various tribes cooperated with Italians. However, Graziani saw Cyrenaica as a problem due to the united force of Cyrenaican tribesmen and merchants. As well as 70 years worth of gathering with the religious and social movement, Sanusiyya. As a consequence they were able to forge a unified front that shared an anti-colonial, pan-Islamic ideology that successfully resisted colonialism.
Guerrilla warfare in 1924, by Shaykh Rida, brother of Sayyid Idris, was able to contain Italians, with a force of 2,00 to 6,000 tribalmen. In December 1925, an agreement between Great Britain cemented Italy's jurisdiction on Jaghbub and Kufra.This made guerrilla attacks more tortuous, as Italians established control by making it impossible for Rida to attack. The Italians did this by constructing fences across the border and patrolling with aircraft and cars. Shaykh Rida was arrested in January 1928 and exiled to Sicily.
The resistance was later led by 'Umar Al-Mukhtar. The Al-Mukhtar resistance notably included a network of spies in Italian enforced towns. It was estimated by Graziani that the native guerrillas numbered around 3.000 and they owned about 20,000 guns. Al-Mukhtar and the Cyrenacians had advantages over the Italians as they knew the terrain, and used the mountains and trails as a trump card. In 1931, Al-Mukhtar engaged in 250 attacks with the Italian army, Italian officials attempted to bribe 'Umar al-Mukhtar, with salary and retirement but were rejected.
Resistance in both Cyrenaica and Tripolitania was not uniquely based on religious motives but instead was a virtue of the colonial struggle, especially within Cyrenaica, they fought with both religious order and tribal support, the latter being immensely supportive. In 1915, Italian domination was declining, with forces being held only within coastal cities.On the 29th of April 1915, they experienced a heavy defeat at the battle of Gasr Bu Hadi, when a presumed ally Ramadan al-Suwayhli, defeated an Italian column.
The Italian defeat and engrossment with the war in Europe meant that Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were able to have political agency. Arab nationalism was trending, and after several attempts at regaining power in Tripolitania Al-Suwayhil was able to create the Tripolitanian Republic in 1918 with Ahmad Al-Murayyid of Tarhuna, Abd Al-Nabi Bilkhayr of Warfalla, Sulayman Al-Baruni. Al-Suwayhil's advisor was also Abd al-Rahman Azzam Bey, an Egyptian nationalist, who later became the first secretary general of the Arab League.The Tripolitanian Republic shortly failed after disagreements among rival factions and Italian pressures, however, it showed the first attempt at a republican government in the Arab world as well as the impact of resistance.
The resistance came to a stop with Umar Al-Mukhtar's capture on the 11th of September 1931, his trial ran personally by General Rodolfo Graziani.Within five days the trial ended with the public hanging of the Al-Mukhtar, Concluding the era of organised resistance.