Italian colonization of Libya

The history of Libya as an Italian colony began in the 1910s and lasted until February 1947, when Italy officially lost all the colonies of the former Italian Empire. It can be divided in two periods: the first from 1911 to 1934 called "Italian colonization" and the second from 1934 called "Italian Libya" (after the creation of "Libya" as a political entity).

The Italian colonization of Libya started in 1910,

On 3 October 1911, Italy attacked Tripoli, claiming to be liberating the Ottoman Wilayats from Istanbul's rule.

Despite a major revolt by the Arabs, the Ottoman sultan ceded Libya to the Italians by signing the 1912 Treaty of Lausanne (not to be confused with a more famous treaty of the same name made in 1923). Tripoli was largely under Italian control by 1914, but both Cyrenaica and the Fezzan were home to rebellions led by the Senussi.

On 25 October 1920, the Italian government recognized Sheikh Sidi Idris as the hereditary head of the nomadic Senussi, with wide authority in Kufra and other oases, as Emir of Cyrenaica, a new title extended by the British at the close of World War I. The Emir would eventually become King of the free Libyan state after World War II.

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 (Royal Corps of Libyan Colonial Troops).

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Wikipedia