Colonial and World War I · 1911 to 1912

Italian Invasion of Libya

Italy took Libya, the last Ottoman province in Africa. Local resistance went on for twenty years under leaders such as Omar Mukhtar, who was hanged in 1931.

The site of the battle on the 1923 map. Shaded: Republic of Turkey, 1923, French mandate, British mandate or occupation, British protection or influence.

Key facts

When: 1911 to 1912
Where: Tripoli, Libya
Sides: Italy vs Ottoman Empire
Commanders: Carlo Caneva vs Ottoman officers including Enver and Mustafa Kemal
Result: Italian victory
Type: Colonial and World War I
Chapter: 5. The Ottomans

The wider picture: The end of the caliphate

The Ottomans entered the First World War on Germany's side and lost. Britain and France divided the Arab lands under the Sykes-Picot agreement and the mandates that followed, and British troops entered Jerusalem in December 1917. In Anatolia, Mustafa Kemal won the war of independence and declared a republic in October 1923.

See the 1923 map Read chapter 5

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