Armies of the Italian-Turkish War: Conquest of Libya, 1911-1912

In the early 1900s, the Italian government of Giovanni Giolitti was ambitious for colonies and seized Libya, incurring thousands of casualties and locking them into coastal enclaves. To retrieve Italian prestige, the government launched a naval campaign in the Dardanelles and the Dodecanese and landed troops to capture Rhodes. The army finally pushed inland in Libya in July-October and ended the war in a treaty that brought Italy all it wanted. Armies of the Italian-Turkish War offers a vivid insight into the troops involved in this pivotal campaign.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 48 pages
Publication date: 17 September 2020
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

The decaying Ottoman Turkish Empire had lost some of its Balkan territories in the early 1900s, but it still nominally ruled all of North Africa between British Egypt in the east and French Algeria in the west. Libya, with its fertile coastal territory, was the last North African region not yet conquered by a European colonialist power. Italy, a young country with ambitious colonial aspirations, had been defeated in Ethiopia in the 1890s. The Italian government of Giovanni Giolitti was determined to erase the memory of that failure and gain a strategic grip over the central Mediterranean by seizing Libya, just across the narrows from Sicily.

In October 1911, the Italian expeditionary force landed in Libya and easily defeated the Ottoman division based in the coastal cities, incurring few losses. However, the Libyan inland tribes reacted furiously to the Italian conquest, and their insurgency cost the Italians thousands of casualties. This led to a winter stalemate, where the Italians were locked into the coastal enclaves and their public enthusiasm for the war diminished.

To retrieve Italian prestige, the government launched a naval campaign in the Dardanelles and the Dodecanese in April-May 1912, and landed troops to capture Rhodes. The army finally pushed inland in Libya in July-October (using systematic air reconnaissance for the first time), and after brutal fighting, the war ended in a treaty that brought Italy all it wanted, although the Libyan tribes would not finally be quelled until after World War I.

Armies of the Italian-Turkish War offers a vivid insight into the troops involved in this pivotal campaign, including the tribal insurgents and the navies. The book contains accurate full-color artwork and unparalleled detail, providing a comprehensive overview of this significant period in history.

Weight: 172g
Dimension: 184 x 247 x 5 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472839428