The Italian Empire, A Legacy to Be Proud Of

The Italian colonial empire was a short-lived affair but one that had far more extensive roots than most people realize. As a united country, the Kingdom of Italy is often described as the last to obtain an empire and the first to lose it but Italians had been colonizers for a very long time. One need not go back to the Roman Empire when the whole Mediterranean basin was ruled from Italy but simply going back to the Middle Ages or the Renaissance shows that various Italian states had minor colonial holdings of their own. The Republic of Genoa held territory on the Crimean peninsula, the Kingdom of Sicily held Tunisia for some time and the Republic of Venice had extensive holdings down the coast of the Adriatic and in the Aegean Sea as well as controlling Crete and Cyprus. The Grand Duke of Tuscany sent a preliminary expedition to South America with the intention of establishing an Italian colony in the New World but he died before the project could be completed. Unlike virtually every other colonial power, Italians were most often not treading on new ground but simply returning to lands which their ancestors had held, sometimes for centuries, before them.

Eritrean colonial troops

The colonial empire of the Kingdom of Italy had humble beginnings. It started when the Rubattino Shipping Company bought land around the Bay of Assab on the coast of the horn of Africa from the Sultan of Raheita in 1869 to establish a coaling station. This holding was later bought by the Italian government and expanded to become the first overseas colony of the Kingdom of Italy with the first Italian settlers arriving in 1880. Hearkening back to the old Roman name for the Red Sea, the Italians named the territory Eritrea. In 1888 the first railroad in the country was built and another improvement of particular pride was the Asmara-Massawa Cableway which was the longest in the world at the time (the British later dismantled it after World War II). Laws against racial mixing were imposed but no one seemed to mind much as, for the first time in their history, the local Africans had access to modern medical services, improved sanitation, transportation and improvements in agriculture. Italy lost money in the enterprise on the whole but the lives of the natives certainly improved, particularly because of the Italian colonial army which prevented raids on the country from Ethiopia, particularly from the Tigray region.

As a result, many Eritreans enlisted in the Italian colonial army and many gained quite a high reputation. Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani considered the Eritreans the best of the Italian colonial soldiers and the famous cavalry officer, Amedeo Guillet, referred to them as the ‘Prussians of Africa’. During the Fascist era there was also a huge increase in industrialization in Eritrea and a subsequent boom in the population, both African and Italian. Before the outbreak of World War II, Asmara was a growing, prosperous city dotted with coffee shops, ice cream parlors, pizzerias and even its own race track. The fact that it was a “planned” city meant that it had many modern conveniences that even some cities in Italy lacked and boasted scenic wide boulevards lined with trees. These many improvements as well as the threat from Ethiopia worked together to ensure that Eritrea remained a loyal colony.

Not long after the first foothold in Eritrea was established, Italy also gained new territory on the southern side of the Horn of Africa in Somalia. In 1888 Sultan Yusuf Ali Kenadid of Hobyo made his province an Italian protectorate. The following year the Sultan of Majeerteenia did the same and the colony of Italian Somaliland was established. Here, development was somewhat slower as the Italians left local affairs in the hands of the local rulers, paid them a pension and focused on foreign relations, defense and the establishment of port facilities. In 1905 the Italian government decided to establish a formal colony in the region, partly because it was discovered that the local company had been turning a blind eye to the continued operation of the slave trade in the region. By 1908 the legal formalities were finished to establish Italian Somaliland as a formal colony. The most determined problem, early on, was the trouble caused by Muhammad Abdullah Hassan, aka “the Mad Mullah” but that violent movement was duly done away with and in the Twentieth Century development began to spread from the coast further inland.

Prince Luigi Amedeo formed an Italian-Somaliland Agricultural Society that established new, model plantations in the colony for the growing of sugar, bananas and cotton. The same year, 1920, saw the first modern bank established in Somalia when the Banca d’Italia opened a branch in Mogadishu. Surveys were done, after which more development proceeded such as the establishment of model farms, schools and hospitals. Before the end of the decade, Crown Prince Umberto had come to witness the opening of a new Catholic cathedral in Mogadishu and the region’s first international airport was established. The Sultan of Hobyo was usually very loyal to the Italians, the only problem occurring when he was excepted to allow British troops to land in his territory and Somalis tended to resent the British for their colonial rule over Somali tribes in the north (British Somaliland). After this, the Sultan was replaced by the Italian authorities and the population was disarmed but there were no major problems in the future and the Italians continued to abide by their agreements and allow the original, northern protectorates to govern themselves in their own way. Somalians were also enlisted in the Italian colonial army and included such colorful units as a corps of camel-born artillery.

There were, of course, bound to be setbacks. When the Italians took control of Eritrea, one of the local chieftains who had given his approval was one Sahle Maryam of Shewa. In exchange for this, Italy gave him support such as modern weapons in defeating his rivals to take control of Ethiopia as Emperor Menelik II. A treaty was signed that was supposed to ensure peace between the two, however, there was a discrepancy in the wording as it read differently in the Italian-language and Amharic-language versions. One established, essentially, an Italian protectorate over Ethiopia and the other said that Ethiopia could have Italian protection but only if and when they wanted it. Each side, of course, accused the other of changing the text in their version, Menelik II broke off diplomatic relations with Italy, effectively declaring war. A small Italian colonial army of a little over 17,500 men was later attacked by an Ethiopian army of around 100,000 and almost totally wiped out, ending, for the time being at least, any idea of Italy establishing any sort of control or influence over Ethiopia.

Italian troops landing in Libia

However, of all overseas territories, none seemed more near at hand to Italy than Tunisia. Not only was it extremely close, but it had a sizable Italian population that had been present for a very long time. In the “Scramble for Africa” the Italian government sat back, taking the moral high road as it were, only to see Tunisia snatched up by the French. This caused quite a backlash in Italy and a renewed effort to make sure that such a thing did not happen again with the other north African lands south of Italy, three provinces still held by the Ottoman Sultan of Turkey, known to Italians as “the fourth shore”. Determined not to let another power snatch this region away from them, the Italian government began investing in the area and when the Turkish government started to clamp down on the increased Italian interest, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire in September of 1911. Italian military forces landed on the coast and quickly seized control of the major ports while the Ottoman forces, largely Arab raiders with Turkish officers, fell back into the interior to strike at any Italian attempt to move south. The situation produced a stalemate as Italy had been counting on the support of the local Arab population and resources had not been allocated for a major campaign in the desert interior of the country. The Turks, likewise, could rule the desert but proved incapable of dislodging the Italians from the coast or of challenging Italian naval supremacy.

In 1912 the Turks finally agreed to come to terms with Italy, prompted by the Italian seizure of Rhodes and other nearby islands and the threat of an attack on the Dardanelles, which all powers were anxious to avoid. The former Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan were ceded to Italy which, in due time, merged them into one colonial administration, resurrecting the old Roman name for the region, “Libia”. Actual Italian control, however, continued to remain mostly on the coastal region and during the First World War, attacks by Islamic insurgents, backed up by Turkey and Germany in an effort to restore Ottoman Turkish control over the whole of north Africa, forced the Italians back into the major port cities as the overwhelming bulk of Italian military strength was concentrated on the critical border region with Austria. However, all of that changed after the acquisition of power by Benito Mussolini and his Fascist party. From 1923 until 1932 a fierce irregular war raged in the region, known as the Pacification of Libya. Stopping the terrorist attacks on Italian settlers and ending the insurgency took time but finally Italian forces resorted to repressive measures and the rebellion was ended, with the primary insurgent leader actually being captured by a troop of Libyan cavalry fighting on the Italian side. The first modern roads were built, port facilities were modernized and new model farming communities were established. Much progress was made under the governorship of Air Marshal Italo Balbo and when he was killed at the start of World War II, witnesses remarked that the Libyans showed more grief than the Italians at his loss because he had made things so much better.

Italian troops in Ethiopia

The next colonial acquisition for Italy was Ethiopia, which, of course, was the cause of much controversy. It was sparked by an attack on an Italian outpost which was on land that the Ethiopians claimed as their own. The fact that this was not something instigated by Italy is evident enough by the amount of time it took to transfer military forces to Eritrea and Somalia to fight the actual war. The League of Nations opposed this and the issue became larger than Ethiopia but was, rather, seen by Mussolini as a struggle against the leaders of the existing international world order, embodied by the League. The fighting was harsh but, in the end, Italian forces conquered Ethiopia in seven months and merged it, administratively, with Eritrea and Somalia into “Italian East Africa”. Tensions were high at first and when the Viceroy, Marshal of Italy Rodolfo Graziani, was badly wounded in an assassination attempt, there were bloody reprisals. However, he was replaced by the Duke of Aosta under whose administration the country was at peace and began to see considerable improvements, including the abolition of slavery in the country. Plans for the modernization of the capital and other projects were ultimately canceled by the outbreak of World War II.

The Kingdom of Albania was occupied by Italian forces with practically no opposition by the native population shortly before the outbreak of World War II, however, again, the fact that Italy joined World War II so shortly thereafter, and the Italian presence was removed after 1943, meant that the Italians were able to have very little impact on Albania. Although, it is worth pointing out, that the period of union with Italy, following the conquest of Greece and Yugoslavia, was the only time that the nationalist goal of “Greater Albania” was actually achieved, albeit for a short time. Before World War II had ended, all Italian colonial possessions were, of course, taken away and given independence or, short of that, given nominal independence under the temporary stewardship of a parent country. It is worth pointing out though that, at the time of Italian entry into World War II, there was no widespread opposition to Italian rule in any of the colonies.

Albanian militia unit

The Italian presence in Albania was not entirely welcomed but not entirely opposed either and most of those in the Albanian government had previously been in the government of Ahmed Zog, the previous potentate of the country. Libya, Eritrea and Somalia were all quite calm and peaceful under Italian rule, the only place where any opposition at all existed was in Ethiopia. That is understandable given that, unlike all the others, the Ethiopians had a history as a previously independent country with their own sense of nationhood. However, even there, serious opposition had been dealt with and most accepted the change and got on with things. In fact, of all the colonial troops who served in the Italian royal army in World War II, the only native soldier to earn the highest Italian decoration for bravery was an Ethiopian. So, even there, considerable levels of support and devotion did exist. What is illustrative of the Italian colonial enterprise overall, and why Italians should not be ashamed of their short-lived period of imperialism, is the fate of the former Italian colonies after Italian rule was removed and these places became independent.

Marshal Graziani in Mogadishu

The Kingdom of Albania was occupied by the Germans and then, after the Allied victory in World War II, fell to the communists of Enver Hoxha who established a Marxist tyranny, so fanatical and so murderous that it alienated Stalinist Russia, Maoist China and Tito’s Yugoslavia in turn. Albania fell into oppressive poverty and had the lowest standard of living of any European country. To this day, it has not fully recovered. Italian East Africa was occupied by the Allies (mostly British imperial troops) and broken up into the countries that exist today. Somalia was under the military administration of Britain and became nominally independent though in 1949 stewardship over the country was given to the Italian Republic until 1960 when it was joined with the former British colony of British Somaliland to create the country as we know it today. And, as we know, Somalia has become the go-to example in the world for a “failed state”, being reduced by poverty, crime and internal warfare to a state of total chaos. When one thinks of Somalia today it is only as a place of anarchy, warlords and a nest of pirates. Somalis have fled their failed independent homeland in huge numbers, going as far abroad as Minnesota and Sweden to get as far away from their nightmarish native land as possible.

Asmara station, Eritrea

In Eritrea, the first Italian colony, the British military ruled the place until 1950 because no one could decide what to do with it. One person who knew exactly what he wanted to do with it was the de-throned Emperor of Ethiopia Haile Selassie who was pushing for Allied support for the Ethiopian annexation of Eritrea even before British imperial forces had set him back on his own throne. The United Nations, in the 1950’s, finally agreed that Eritrea would be joined with Ethiopia in a “federation” with Eritrea officially remaining independent. That charade ended in 1962 when Haile Selassie dissolved the Eritrean parliament and unilaterally declared the country to be part of Ethiopia. Not surprisingly, war broke out immediately as the Eritreans fought the Ethiopians in a brutal conflict that spanned the next thirty years, only ending when the Eritreans made an alliance with a faction of Ethiopian rebels after which the UN stepped in to hold a referendum. This, of course, resulted in the Eritreans voting for their independence in 1993. Eritrea got it, established a dictatorship and haven’t had another exercise in democracy since. Needless to say, thirty years of war, terrorism and finally Marxist dictatorship have left the country an impoverished wreck.

Haile Selassie and one of his lions

Ethiopia, again, is really in a class by itself and cannot entirely be compared to the others. Still, the post-Italian period has not been pleasant for the country, though it would also be worse than the pre-Italian period as well. Haile Selassie was put back in control of the country and money poured in from the victorious Allies through various aid funds. Still, this did not benefit the country overall as serious divisions and problems remained which Haile Selassie struggled to deal with. He championed the cause of pan-African unity and opposition to European colonialism in Africa (even while imposing his own sort of colonial rule over the unwilling population of Eritrea) but this ultimately proved to be not so beneficial to the “Conquering Lion of Judah” as he styled himself. Most of the anti-colonial movements in Africa were communist and after some particularly hard times the communists managed to overthrow Haile Selassie in 1974. This time there was no British Empire to put him back on his throne again and he was murdered the following year. His replacement was a communist dictatorship so vicious and so oppressive that it must rank among the very worst in the entire world. Oppression, murder and misery prevailed to the point that the very name of Ethiopia became synonymous with “starvation” in the rest of the world. Again, even after the communist regime officially fell, the country has still not recovered from the decades of murderous misery the communists inflicted on it.

King Idris

Finally, we have the case of Libya. British military rule gave way to the creation of a new monarchy under the former Emir of Cyrenaica who became King Idris I of Libya in 1951. The British and Americans established close ties with the new regime, built military bases there and in 1959 Exxon discovered vast deposits of oil in the country which changed things considerably. New wealth brought greater resentment and efforts to promote unity failed, mostly because neither the King himself nor any of his people recognized him as a “Libyan” but rather as the Emir of Cyrenaica who had been imposed by western powers over the whole country. He was accused of favoring his own circle when it came to dishing out the oil revenues and of being too friendly with foreign powers and foreign oil companies. This culminated in King Idris being overthrown while on holiday by a military coup led by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi in 1969.

Gaddafi with African chiefs

Gaddafi, as we know, established a brutal and farcical dictatorship over the country, marked by tyranny at home, support for terrorism abroad and for the increasingly bizarre behavior of Gaddafi himself. Whether it was his painfully long orations at the UN, his threats of war against Switzerland or his bevy of buxom female bodyguards, no one could accuse Gaddafi of being boring. He also used the threat of floods of illegal immigrants to extort huge financial benefits as well as groveling apologies from the Italian government. In 2011 the hated dictator was overthrown, with air support from NATO, and given mob justice on the streets of Sirte. Since that time, Libya has fallen into chaos and is increasingly becoming a hotbed of terrorism, economically stagnant, politically unstable and extremely dangerous. Certainly, a far cry from what it had been during the tenure of Air Marshal Italo Balbo to be sure. And this in a country, it is worth remembering, where Italian-born Roman legions marched long before the first Arab ever cross the Sinai or the name of Mohammed was known to the world.

No, the historical record clearly shows that Italians have no reason to feel ashamed of their colonial past overall. Certainly there were unpleasant episodes in a couple of places but, on the whole, these parts of the world often saw their only periods of sustained stability and progress while under the Italian flag and the Crown of Savoy. Without exception, none of them have fared better after Italian rule was withdrawn. On the contrary, their record as independent states has been a record of failure. That does not mean, of course, that anyone in any of these places is nostalgic for the colonial past. National and racial awareness exists today in a way that did not exist in those days, though it is interesting to note that the Albanian government recently requested the return of the Italian military to deal with the influx of illegal immigrants (aka “refugees”) into their country, many of them fleeing former Italian colonies that have since become failed states. That, in itself, rather tells the story doesn’t it? European rule once came to Africa and, now that it is gone, Africans (and others) are now coming to Europe to live once more under their former imperial rulers.

Italy and Albania

Albanian delegation offering the Crown to King Vittorio Emanuele III

King Vittorio Emanuele III visiting Albania

King Vittorio Emanuele III in Tirana

Presenting the flag of the Royal Albanian Guard

The Prince of Naples, Prince Leka II of Albania and Prince of Venice in 2012 when the Prince of Naples made Prince Leka II a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus

Italian Libya

The relationship between Libya and Italy has known equal extremes of good and bad. Since the arrival, or more accurately the return, of Italian power to north Africa there was a period of small-scale but continuous guerilla warfare which was ended only by some fairly harsh measures (though certainly not unprecedented ones). Following that, however, Libya became a model colony with generally good relations between the Italian and non-Italian populations. Modern port facilities, infrastructure and cities were built up and advanced methods of agriculture introduced by Italian settlers improved the local economy. Libyan natives were recruited into the Italian military and even formed some very effective and elite units. After World War II, there would be another round of extreme hostility (though without actual bloodshed) followed by another period of reconciliation, albeit of a tense and often false variety. Although it is not a subject that is that well known, a great deal of what people think they know about it is not entirely accurate. Many have heard only one side of the story of Italian Libya or have seen simply the “Hollywood” version without knowing any of the actual facts. Few people, for instance, probably know that Libya itself was an Italian invention. Prior to the Italian colonial period there was no such country on any map.

Italian sailors landing in Tripoli

The area of northern Africa today known as Libya, which consisted of simply a few coastal cities, had been a part of the Roman Republic after the fall of Carthage and later the Roman Empire, which they joined by request. There is documentation of Christians living in Libia (as the Romans called it) as early as the reign of Emperor Claudius. In time though, the Roman Empire fell, the Arab Muslims swept out of the Arabian peninsula and across North Africa and the area eventually became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire as the three provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan. The Kingdom of Italy, for reasons of both history and geography, had long looked to the region as the national “fourth shore” of Italy and the French and British agreed that Italy should have a legitimate claim to the area in return for Italy voicing no objection to their gains in other parts of northern Africa. Yet, in the race for colonies Italy seemed to be left behind by the other European powers despite previous agreements and Italians were particularly outraged by the French seizure of Tunisia which had a very old Italian community and which Italy (and Piedmont-Sardinia before that) long had an interest in. Under the government of Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti the Kingdom of Italy decided to take action to secure the region before it could be taken by another power.

Italian troops entrenched near Tripoli

An ultimatum was delivered to the Ottoman Empire, which was refused of course, and the result was the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-12. The result was that the Ottoman Sultan ceded Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, Fezzan in North Africa and the Dodecanese Islands off the Turkish coast to the Kingdom of Italy. The “Fourth Shore” had been secured, at least in legal terms. Italy did not have time to do much in the few years before the outbreak of World War I in which the Italian presence in north Africa was drastically reduced. In fact, after initially declaring war only on Austria-Hungary, the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire because of their arming and support of Islamic rebels in north Africa (and east Africa for that matter) in an effort to regain their dominance in the region. This campaign included attacks on the French and British as well, mostly carried out by the Senussi Islamic sect but, though the Italian presence was reduced to a few coastal footholds, they were ultimately defeated and full Italian rule was restored across the colony.

Arms of Italian Libya, EF

However, trouble would arise again, mostly from the Senussi, with guerilla attacks on Italian forces and (more often) the killing of Italian settlers. This was the long small-scale war led by the now famous Omar Mukhtar, a figure who has since become probably the most iconic Libyan patriotic symbol. This was an irregular war and undoubtedly brutal but there are a few facts that should be kept in mind, but sadly seldom are. The first is that Libya was not a country that Italian forces just invaded and conquered, robbing the locals of their independence. There was no such country as Libya at all at the time and it had never been independent. There were three provinces which were ruled by the Turks until, after the war of 1911-12, they were legally signed over to Italy. It was not until 1934 (long after the war was over) that the three provinces were grouped together as one colony and named Libya which was the old Roman name for the region. The local people never had political independence for the Italians (or anyone else) to take away and, in fact, they even gained a great deal more personal freedom and civil rights than they had had previously under Italian rule (after the war was over of course). They had the same rights as the Italians at the time, though this was during the Fascist era. However, even the Fascist Party was open to Arabs, Muslims, Black Africans and all others, with even a special branch specifically for Muslim Fascists.

General Graziani inspecting Libyan troops

The war was never a major problem for Italy but it was a nuisance and ultimately harsh measures were taken by General Badoglio and General Graziani in ultimately breaking the resistance and ending the war successfully for Italy. This included the construction of a barbed wire frontier along the Egyptian border (which is still in use today) and, most controversially, the movement of local populations supporting guerilla activity into concentration camps where many died of disease. An unfortunate event to be sure but no different than what the British had done in South Africa to end a similar insurgency by the Boers. It is also often ignored that this was not done simply out of cruelty but in reaction to attacks on Italian farms and the murder of Italian settlers. It is also often ignored, particularly today, that many Libyans welcomed the Italians and the progress and modernization that came with Italian government. In fact, when the rebel leader Omar Mukhtar was finally taken into custody it was a unit of Libyan cavalry working with the Italians that did the job. The harsh measures employed may be frowned on today but they were taken as a last resort and they got the job done, ending the war and pacifying the colony by 1934.

Omar Mukhtar (left) and General Badoglio (center)

The camps were in operation only from 1931 to 1933 and the cash-strapped Italian government did the best it could for the people there, providing food and medical care as available. After they were closed and peace was restored, Libyans had freedom of religion, freedom of education, freedom to pursue any vocation including working for the government or military. When Air Marshal Italo Balbo was appointed Governor-General, Libya progressed rapidly with the new farming communities established, model villages, for both the Muslim natives and Italian settlers, new port facilities and vast infrastructure improvements in the way of roads, bridges and the first railroads and airports. Many of the buildings, bridges and highways still in use in Libya today were first built by the Italians. Tourism also became a major industry (probably the only time in Libyan history before or since that such has been the case) with people coming to see the archeological digs on the old Roman settlements and the new Tripoli Grand Prix which drew racing fans from all over the world.

The Marble Arch, later destroyed by Gaddafi

Immediately before and during World War II several divisions of Libyan volunteers were organized and put in the field for the first invasion of Egypt. Air Marshal Balbo even formed a special elite corps of Libyan paratroopers before his untimely death. The outbreak of war meant the end for the greatest period of progress and prosperity that Libya had known since, well, the last time it was governed from Rome in ancient times. In the aftermath of the Italo-German defeat in North Africa, Libya was mostly ruled by the British under whose sponsorship a new Kingdom of Libya was established under Idris as-Senussi, Emir of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in 1951. He rule lasted until 1969 when he was overthrown in a military coup by Colonel Muammar Gaddafi who ruled Libya as a dictator until 2011 when he was overthrown and murdered in a popular uprising. Gaddafi had first been extremely hateful toward all Italians, expelling the thousands of Italians who still lived there and even threatening to destroy the bodies of the dead who had been killed fighting for Libya if Italy did not remove them. Later, however, the Italian government made a reconciliation, of sorts, with Gaddafi but it was a shameful affair, a total selling-out of national dignity and slavish pandering in exchange for Libyan oil and Libyan cooperation in stopping illegal immigration. This included servile apologies for past misdeeds and billions in “compensation” for the years of Italian rule, all of which is utterly disgraceful considering that Italian rule had been perfectly legal, agreed to by all the major powers and the former Turkish rulers of the region. In any event, despite the wealth generated by oil reserves discovered after the war, Libya has, as a matter of fact, never known such stability and beneficial development since independence as existed during the years of Italian rule.

Italian Albania

The Italian occupation of Albania is one of the more misunderstood aspects of a period in which a great deal is misunderstood. Italy and Albania had a long history together, going back to ancient times. The old Roman Republic had settled on the Albanian coast even before the north of the Italian peninsula was under Roman control. Italian rule returned in the fifteenth century as the Albanian coast came under the control of the Republic of Venice (as did most of the Adriatic coast) until the Venetians were pushed out, centuries later, by the Ottoman Turks. In 1908 the Albanians revolted against Ottoman rule but were suppressed. However, they were not pacified and it was the defeat of the Ottoman Empire by Italy in 1911-1912 that inspired the last Albanian uprising which forever removed Turkish power from the region and established, at least temporarily, Albanian independence. In 1913 Albania was recognized as an independent country though most countries recognized that Italy had a ‘special relationship’ with the emerging state. Not long after, Albania began to fall apart after the onset of World War I. It was the Kingdom of Italy that came to her rescue.

Italians in Albania, World War I

Austria-Hungary, Serbia and Greece all sent forces to try to claim large pieces of Albanian territory, in the case of Greece, not always with the approval of the central government. The Kingdom of Italy sent a large expeditionary force to Albania in 1915 that pushed the invading Greeks out of southern Albania. The last of the Greeks were expelled in 1916 and a “neutral zone” was established across the frontier to protect Albanian independence which Italy took as its special concern. Greece later joined the Allies and helped in defeating Bulgaria and the Italian army in southern Albania pushed northward, expelling the last occupying forces (Montenegrins) from northern Albania by the end of the war. In the past, the major powers of Europe had, more than once, told Italy to look to Albania as a colony but in the aftermath of the First World War the Kingdom of Italy became the guarantor of Albanian independence, effectively Albania was an Italian protectorate. It was self-governing but relied on Italy for protection and for most of the money which funded the rebuilding of Albania after so many years of war and being an almost forgotten Turkish backwater.

Zog I

In the aftermath of World War I and the coming to power of the self-proclaimed King Zog of Albania, Italy was by the far the largest investor in Albania and loaned vast amounts of money to Albania to keep the country afloat. The sanctions imposed on Italy by the League of Nations over the war with Abyssinia further highlighted the importance of Albania for Italy due to the oil wells there. Italy, particularly Mussolini, was determined to never be at the mercy of an international organization that could starve the country of the resources that were vital to it. So, it should not really have been surprising when, after all of the investment and all of the loans Italy had given to King Zog to develop Albania, only to have him say he would not be paying these back that Italian forces were sent in to occupy the country. It should also be said, in all honesty, that when this actually happened, the occupation of Albania was not something that the bellicose Mussolini had planned out ahead of time. In fact, it could hardly have happened at a worse time for Italy. The default on the loans came the very month that the Spanish Civil War had ended and the Italian economy had already been pushed to the limit by intervention there and the war in Abyssinia along with the international sanctions that went with it. On top of all of that came the announcement from Zog that Albania would not be paying Italy the money they owed and it was only then that action was taken.

King Vittorio Emanuele III

For his part, King Vittorio Emanuele III warned against the occupation because of the destabilizing effect it might have on Italian relations with the rest of Europe. He worried, quite correctly as it turned out, that as Mussolini angered Britain and France it pushed Italy closer to Germany and made the country too dependent on a disreputable regime. But, Italian interests had to be secured, particularly the oil wells at Devoli which Albania had already given Italy access to. There was also the unstable element of the self-proclaimed King Zog. He had fought his way to the top of political power in Albania and, as his biographer Jason Hunter Tomes wrote, “unable and frankly unwilling to have much faith in any group of his people, Zog strove to keep all classes in unstable equilibrium. Through hours of hideously convoluted talk, he obsessively manipulated his assorted underlings (nearly all older than himself) in an effort to exercise personal control from seclusion”. Today he is most remembered for the brevity of his reign and for his place in the Guinness Book of World Records for being the heaviest smoker in history, sucking down 225 cigarettes a day.

Many other powers had been worried about the erratic rule of Zog and most of the Albanian people were kept in discontent and disarray. More liberal minded people were aghast at his promotion of himself to royal status while traditional Albanians were outraged by his abolition of Islamic law and marriage to a Catholic Hungarian-American. His great love of poker did not endear him to the population of a country whose religion forbids gambling. His government was rife with feuds and intrigue, there had been numerous attempts on his life and he maintained power by setting the feudal tribes against each other which meant that he had many enemies but who had little time to strike at him. Nonetheless, he lived a paranoid and reclusive existence, afraid to go out in public. There were also those nationalists in the country who sought to unite with the Albanian populations in neighboring countries to create the “Greater Albania” they had so long dreamed of. All of this made the various foreign ministries of the European powers extremely nervous that the misrule of Zog would cause Albania to be the spark to ignite another powder keg in the Balkans. As a result of all of this, there was little genuine outrage when Italy began to move against Albania which had long been recognized as a de facto Italian protectorate anyway.

Italian troops occupying Albania

Another point to keep in mind was that this was an occupation rather than an invasion. There were only a handful of casualties and hardly any resistance at all as the Albanian police and soldiers scattered pretty quickly after the Italian troops landed. Almost as soon as it happened, King Zog had already fled and was in a fleet of limousines racing for the border loaded down with gold bars, fancy furniture, designer suites and evening gowns, lavish jewelry and, of course, several crates full of cigarettes. Most were glad to see him go and many Albanians came out to cheer in welcome their so-called “conquerors”. Although publicly many countries condemned this action, it is important to note that most of these same powers were privately relieved that Italy had brought a potentially dangerous situation under control. Even the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden, sent Mussolini (a man he despised) a telegram immediately afterwards thanking him for dealing with the situation and promising British support in the future. The only people who were genuinely nervous were the French who feared that, with the Adriatic secured, Mussolini might turn his attentions to recovering Nice, Savoy and Corsica from them.

Nothing of the sort happened of course. The Kingdom of Albania came into personal union with the Kingdom of Italy in the person of King Vittorio Emanuele III. It was an extension of the reign of the House of Savoy, not a political takeover of Albania by Italians, which is an important point to keep in mind. Of course, Mussolini would not have stood for anyone holding power who was opposed to his regime but, unlike most other similar incidents around the world, foreign rule was not imposed on the Albanians. The two viceroys appointed in succession to represent the King in Albania were, of course, Italians but all of the prime ministers of Albania were native Albanians who had been serving in government long before the Italian occupation. The first had even been the prime minister under King Zog, the next was one who had fought on the Turkish side against Italy in the Italo-Turkish War of 1912, yet after Albania was united with Italy even this man was given a seat in the Senate in Rome. The final two prime ministers were also native Albanians and it was the Albanian government, acting on its own, which had voted to depose King Zog (after he fled the country) and themselves voted for union with Italy. Which is not to say, of course, that there were no problems. An Albanian radical attempted to assassinate the prime minister and King Vittorio Emanuele III during a visit to Tirana but was, fortunately, unsuccessful.

Albanian Fascist Party

The military was reformed with 7.000 of the original 10,000 men of the Albanian army forming special Albanian units within the Italian Royal Army. There were six Royal Albanian Army Battalions, two fortress machine gun battalions, a Royal Guard battalion, two legions of Carabinieri and one Albanian MVSN legion. These forces would later take part in the Greek war and the war in Yugoslavia. A customs union with Italy was established along with a tariff union, more subsidies were sent to develop the country and Italian companies began investing heavily in the region. Further development would certainly have followed had it not been for the outbreak of World War II. During the war Albania received reward as well as unfair ridicule. After the initial setbacks of the invasion of Greece, Mussolini primarily blamed the Albanian units for the early defeats and while it is true that the Albanian forces performed quite poorly (some firing on their own men) this was an unfair effort by Mussolini to shift the blame away from his own mismanagement and ill-advised attack. After that, morale -not surprisingly- fell and many Albanians deserted and many units were disbanded.

Italian occupation lasted only a little while longer, until 1943, when Italy withdrew from the Axis. King Vittorio Emanuele III formally abdicated as King of Albania on September 8, 1943 by which time Albania had already been occupied by Nazi Germany with, as before, some Albanians collaborating and others resisting. Yet, it was only during that brief period of union with Italy that the long-held dream of a “Greater Albania” was achieved when the map of the Balkans was re-drawn to include most of Montenegro, parts of Serbia, Greece and other areas in a greatly expanded Kingdom of Albania. Sadly, that was a triumph that was very short-lived. After World War II Albania came under communist control and the rule of the brutal dictator Enver Hoxha, so radical a Stalinist that eventually he alienated Soviet Russia, Red China and Yugoslavia because of his murderous and self-destructive rule. Albania had the lowest standard of living of any country in Europe, yet, hope remains for the future as things have slowly began to recover from the communist era.

Italian Somaliland - A History

Prior to the era of Italian administration, Somalia did not exist as a single country. The region was divided between numerous small sultanates who had recognized various distant overlords throughout history such as the Ottoman Sultan. By the time Italy began to take a serious interest in the region much of it was under the nominal sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar who had extensive holdings down the east African coast. Italians had explored the area of the Somali coast and a few had moved there over the years. In 1879 Italians in Somalia formed the “African Society of Italy” with private support from the home country. Italian involvement began with an alliance with the Sultan Kenadid of Hobyo, one of the major Somali local rulers. In 1888 he signed a treaty which made his domain a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. This gave him an advantage and other chieftains were anxious to keep up. In 1889 the Sultan of Majeerteen signed a protectorate treaty as well. Both used their special friendship with Italy to press their long-standing conflicts with the Sultan of Zanzibar and each other. The Italian government was mostly interested in the ports and guarding the sea lanes through the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal and not terribly concerned with the inland areas.

The Ethiopian victory in 1895 confined Italian influence to Eritrea on the north coast of the Horn of Africa and this prompted Rome to look to other areas for immigration and development. Somalia was one of those areas. Land was purchased from the Sultan of Zanzibar and Italians were encouraged to settle there. Private companies held a tenuous hold on the area until the government in Rome began taking charge of administering the area. On April 5, 1908 a law was passed which formally united the region into the single colony of “Somalia Italiana”. Trade was established, agriculture where possible, local industries and conservation. The infrastructure began to be built up but the Italian influence remained limited to the coast due to the growing power of a renegade Muslim leader named Muhammad Abdullah Hassan. Better known as the “Mad Mullah” he was neither mad nor a mullah, simply a poet who inspired a following with ambitions to become the master of the entire region. When World War I broke out, the “Mad Mullah” saw his chance for a great victory.

Using weapons smuggled by the Turks from the southern end of the Arabian peninsula, and in cooperation with the Emperor of Abyssinia who had converted to Islam, the “Mad Mullah” began waging a war of conquest to drive out the Europeans and their Allies and take control of the whole of Somalia. Fighting broke out in 1914 before Italy entered World War I but escalated rapidly in 1915. In 1916 Turkey, Ethiopia and the “Mad Mullah” came together in an alliance against the Italians, French and British and Italy was forced to send reinforcements to the colonial corps in East Africa to deal with this problem. Not long after the Muslim Emperor of Abyssinia was deposed but civil war continued to rage in Abyssinia with those siding with the former Emperor still allied with the Somali rebels. In February of 1917 the rebels attacked Sultan Uthman of Obbia who was an Italian ally, however, they were ultimately defeated and in the summer the Sultan of Obbia launched his own attack against the “Mad Mullah”. British forces cooperated in the campaign against the “Mad Mullah” (who was just as opposed to their presence as he was the Italians) but when the Sultan of Hobyo refused the British permission to move through his territory Italy intervened to have him deposed and exiled. By the end of the war the Anglo-Italian forces (which included many indigenous troops) succeeded in suppressing the rebel forces and restoring peace to the region.

Duke of the Abruzzi in Mogadishu

Italian Somalia was further developed after the war with Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi founding the Societa Agricola Italo-Somala to explore the country and study the prospects for agricultural development there. In 1923, a year after the “March on Rome” Fascism came to Italian Somalia with the appointment of Cesare Maria De Vecchi di Val Cismon as governor. He enacted a campaign of development and regimentation as well as subduing the last rebel holdouts in the south which was fully pacified by 1926 in no small part thanks to the Dubats, the indigenous Somalis fighting in the employ of Italy. Over the next decade more Italians moved to Mogadishu and the Somali tribes were catalogued and organized. Trade was built up, local industries were established, agriculture became a major part of the economy and new roads and railroads were built. Many Somalis were also enlisted in the colonial units of the Italian army and these, along with the armies of the local sultans, played a significant part in the southern front of the second war with Abyssinia. Following the successful conclusion of that war seven months later, Italian Somalia was developed even further as road and rail links were established all across Italian East Africa from Eritrea, through Ethiopia to Somalia.

The rule of Italy over Somalia was careful to respect existing native institutions. Friendly rulers maintained their traditional positions, the clan structure of native society was kept in place and Islam remained upheld as the dominant religion of the colony. Some Somali warriors earned great fame during this period and a unit served as the escort of the Italian Viceroy of East Africa. The Sultan of Olol Dinle, for example, led his Somali troops in several victories on the southern front in the war in Ethiopia. During World War II they were among the last Italian forces still holding out in Ethiopia against the Allied invasion and put up such a heroic fight against impossible odds that when finally forced to surrender the British received them with full military honors. They had earlier participated in the conquest of British Somaliland which was particularly important to them as it was the first time that all the Somali tribes became united under one flag. Of course, the war brought the end of the colonial period but in terms of the local economy and the standard of living of both the Somalis and the Italian settlers, Somalia under Italian rule had been one of the most advanced and successful parts of Africa.

Princess Maria in Mogadishu

At the end of the war, King Umberto II, like his father, had hoped that Italy would be able to retain those colonies, like Somalia, which she had gained prior to the Fascist era but the Allies would not allow this. Britain controlled the region until 1949 after which time Somalia became a United Nations Trust Territory, administered by Italy which had the most experience in the region from 1950 to 1960. In 1960 the country was united with the former British Somaliland to create the country which exists today. During the last period of Italian administration, Somalia continued to make rapid progress thanks to Italian supervision and the large amounts of money given to the region by the United Nations. The University of Rome set up schools in Mogadishu to prepare the people for independence by offering classes in economics, law and social studies. Even in the first couple of years after independence, Italian remained an official language in Somalia.

Unfortunately, since becoming totally independent as the Somali Republic in 1960 the condition of Somalia has deteriorated rapidly. Within a decade a brutal communist dictatorship seized power, erecting the “Somali Democratic Republic” which held power until 1991 when it was toppled in the Somali Civil War. The Italian Republic dispatched troops to try to keep the peace but the effort was minimal and the country has all but fallen apart completely. No government or faction has held control over the whole of Somalia since 1991 and the country has fractured with warlords fighting each other for power and position while the people starve, are murdered or forced into rival tribal gangs. In more recent years Somalia has also become known as a nest of piracy and a place of complete anarchy and chaos. Attempts by the international community to intervene have met with little to no success and, after such a promising start at development and modernization during the colonial period, since independence Somalia has become the classic definition of an utterly failed state.

Royals in the Colonies

The Italian Presence in China

Most of those familiar with Italian history will be aware of the Italian presence in places such as Eritrea, Libya and Somalia but relatively few are aware of the Italian presence in the Far East. Early on there were high hopes and some preliminary proposals for Italian colonial expansion in southeast Asia, mostly in Burma and Thailand. Nothing ever came of such plans but the Kingdom of Italy did establish a foothold in China. Italy had for some time been working with China and the other European powers to obtain a coaling station on the Chinese coast for her trade traffic. However, Italian aspirations depended a great deal on the goodwill of the British whose Royal Navy ruled the waves and who held a stronger position in China than any other European power. However, the British were reluctant to take any risks, diplomatic or otherwise, on behalf of Italy which might jeopardize her own position. This was not immediately clear, however, and in early 1899 an Italian expedition was dispatched to China with the goal of establishing a coaling station in the bay of San Mun, near Ningpo south of the Chusan islands.

The effort was hampered, however, by opposition from the other powers and by division amongst the Italians at home. The British were not supportive, nor were the Germans (supposedly Italy’s ally at the time) who advised against it and at home leftists opposed such efforts to expand Italian trade and influence, feeling instead that Italy should be content to be a ‘second-rate’ power. King Umberto I was supportive as was Admiral Canevaro, the Foreign Minister, but the political establishment in Rome refused to make a definite commitment. The situation was exacerbated when the Chinese government, which had previously seemed open to the idea, suddenly refused the Italian request when it was presented. Admiral Canevaro was outraged at this turnaround, broke off diplomatic relations between Rome and Peking and resigned from office to be replaced by Senator Visconti-Venosta. The plan was dropped and the British breathed a sigh of relief as they had feared Italian competition in the Yangtze basin. German and Russian advanced were also of concern but these were far enough removed not to cause undue difficulty to the “Yangtze First” policy advocated by British statesmen such as Salisbury and Balfour.

However, Great Britain and Germany had made a serious mistake in not supporting the Italian effort. When Italy backed down this provided a major morale boost to the anti-foreign element in China which was rising already and would soon give birth to the so-called “Boxer Rebellion”. Anti-foreign Chinese elements pointed to this turn of events as proof that the foreign powers would retreat in the face of opposition, that they were not united in their common interests and that if the Chinese moved against them with sufficient boldness and fervor they could wipe out all the foreign elements in China. It must be remembered that these “foreign elements” consisted largely of European missionaries and those Chinese who had converted to Christianity were also included amongst the enemies of this new movement. A terrible famine had also struck China and the suffering this caused aroused immense discontent. The foreigners were a convenient scapegoat for Chinese suffering and in the summer of 1900 this powder keg erupted as the Boxers unleashed a bloodbath against Christian missionaries and Chinese converts. Boxers besieged the foreign legation in Peking and eventually Chinese Imperial forces were drawn in as well as the ruling Empress-Dowager decided to take a chance on the Boxers being victorious.

Italians to the rescue! From the film "55 Days at Peking"

Italian troops were dispatched to meet this threat, put down the rising and rescue the besieged foreign legation in Peking where Italians were being held under threat along with Americans, French, British, German, Austrian, Russian and Japanese. Along with the others, Italian military forces on hand to guard their legation helped hold off the Boxer hordes for 55 days when the combined forces of the “8 Nation Alliance” arrived to save the day. The Boxers were suppressed and in the subsequent peace agreement the Kingdom of Italy was granted a concession in Tientsin on September 7, 1901. The following year the Italian government took control of the concession and appointed a consul to administer the area. Following World War I the former Austrian concession was added to the Italian concession, doubling its size. The Italian concession in Tientsin also served as the base of operations for the Italian Legion “Redenta” who were sent to the Far East as part of the effort of the Allies to aid the White forces against the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War. Their name came from the fact that the legion was made up of Italians from the “unredeemed” areas previously under Austro-Hungarian rule. They fought against the Russian communists in 1919 throughout large parts of Siberia and Manchuria, keeping the Trans-Siberian Railway open to friendly White Russian forces.

The Italian foothold in China remained unchanged until 1943 when the Kingdom of Italy agreed to an armistice with the Allies prior to declaring war on Nazi Germany. When this happened Imperial Japanese forces occupied the Italian concession, taking prisoner the 600 Italian troops stationed there. Later in the year the puppet Italian Social Republic in the Nazi occupied north of Italy under Mussolini agreed to sign over the Italian concession to the Republic of China government under Wang Jingwei. This was not the officially recognized “Republic of China” but was the Chinese regime allied with Japan. The Kingdom of Italy did not recognize this government nor that of the Italian Social Republic which claimed to have handed the concession over. However, nothing would ever come of this dispute. King Umberto I had been one those who believed that great opportunities would come from the Far East in the future and he had pushed for a greater Italian role in the region. King Vittorio Emanuele III had never had much interest in the Far East (though he knew a great deal about it). After he abdicated and the Italian monarchy came to an end the new republican government formally surrendered the Italian concession in Tientsin to the Republic of China government under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek on February 10, 1947.

The Italian Colonial Empire

It would be easy for modern Italian monarchists to try to dismiss anything to do with imperialism by associating it solely with the Fascist era and thus condemned in unison with the popular majority. That would not be entirely true of course, nor would it be feasible for those of us who do not see imperialism as something to be condemned as inherently terrible at all. The period of Italian colonial expansion long pre-dated the rise of the Fascists though it certainly reached its peak during the Fascist era when the Kingdom of Italy held sway over all of modern Italy, Libya, the Dodecanese Islands, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Albania, Montenegro, Dalmatia, southern Slovenia, Kosovo, most of Greece, Corsica, Tunisia, Nice, Savoy and other areas. Wider aims were hinted at by Mussolini, and others, but as we know, never came to fruition. However, this was nothing new and, in fact, the areas where Italian power expanded during the Fascist era were all areas which Italy had long had interests in prior to Mussolini coming to power. Ethiopia, Albania and even Spain and Greece were areas Italy had extended or tried to extend influence over in various forms since Italian unification.

This should not be surprising given the nature of the birth of the modern, united Italy, which was always pushed forward by a drive for a more great, cultural revival and restoration of Italian glory. From the very beginning, along with the drive to unite all Italians into one nation also came the ambition to recover all lands that had once been ruled by the Italian people. This only later seemed outrageous because of, frankly, historical ignorance on the part of many who overlooked the vast influence held by Italians long before the creation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 by the House of Savoy. For instance, one of the major sources of pride and inspiration for Italians fighting for reunification was the glories of the Italian Renaissance. That included the magnificent cultural-artistic accomplishments most are aware of but also the political and economic influence of the Renaissance Italian city-states which many are not familiar with. The most obvious example was the city-state of Venice which ruled an empire of islands and coastal enclaves that stretched down the Adriatic, across much of southern Greece, including Cyprus, holdings in the Middle East and even the Black Sea.

Imperial aspirations were thus present from the very beginning, even if much of the rhetoric could easily be taken out of context such as talk of “setting fire to the four corners of the world” or the boast that, “we Italians have conquered the world before and can do so again”. Such phrases were certainly not meant to be taken literally but were simply an effort to inspire the Italian people to pursue greatness for the nation. There were, though, very real and concrete aspirations for expansion, both in terms of territory and influence. King Vittorio Emanuele II sought to have a prince of the House of Savoy on the throne of Greece, which did not come to fruition, and later to have an Italian King of Spain, an ambition which was achieved, albeit only briefly, in the person of his second son King Amadeo I, previously (and afterwards) Duke of Aosta. It is also significant to note that Italy, not exclusively but for the most part, was quite different from the other colonial powers in the lands she set her sights upon for expansion and development. Italy was intent on re-taking rather than taking and must be set apart from the rest of the imperial powers.

Whereas the venerable empires of Portugal, Spain, France, England, Belgium, Holland and Germany reached out across the globe to control lands totally unknown to their people, indeed often where no European foot had ever trod before, Italy focused on areas that had a long history of Italian association. One of the earliest areas of interest was Tunisia, which was closer to Italy geographically than to any other European power, which had a sizeable Italian community already living on its shores and which had been the target of an Italian naval expedition in 1825 under King Carlo Felice of Piedmont-Sardinia. However, to the outrage of Italy, France beat them to the prize and Italy was left out of the “scramble for Africa”, being advised by the other great powers to look to Albania for a potential colony. Here too Italian roots ran deep. In the days of ancient Rome, Albania was actually brought under Roman rule even before the same could be said of the extremes of the Italian peninsula. The famous Italian Prime Minister (and ardent imperialist) Francesco Crispi had been born in Albania and, many years later, it was the intervention of Italian troops which kept Albania out of Greek hands during the First World War (before Greece joined the Allies). Today the fact is often ignored that when Italian forces occupied Albania in 1939 the annexation was little more than a formality since Albania was already an Italian protectorate and, in fact, had been dependent on Italian aid for some time previously. It is also worth noting that the occupation was carried out with hardly any loss of life at all.

The most far-flung Italian expansion came in East Africa and also began peacefully through purchase and diplomatic negotiation with the local chieftains, first in Eritrea and then in Somalia. A protectorate over Ethiopia was arranged at that time as well but, of course, the defeat at Adowa set that effort back for a few years. The biggest single piece of expansion, prior to the conquest of Ethiopia, was the addition of Libya and the Dodecanese Islands after the Italo-Turkish War of 1911. The islands were held mainly for their strategic naval importance and as a foothold in the event that some opportunity for further expansion could be found in Asia Minor (which was almost realized in the aftermath of World War I when the partition of Turkey was drawn up but never realized). Libya was the focus of much greater attention, being hailed as the national “fourth shore” and it was, in fact, the Italians who “created” Libya. Previously it had been merely a collection of remote Ottoman provinces. Italy grouped these provinces together and named the colony Libya, resurrecting the old Roman name for the region and thus establishing what became the country of Libya we know today.

Here again was Italy re-gaining rather than gaining a colonial territory. The sands of Libya had heard the march of Roman legions and lived under Roman law long before the first Arab ever set foot in North Africa, many hundreds of years before the Prophet Mohammed was ever born. Whereas the British who raised their flag over North America, India or Australia were operating in environments totally alien to them and their people, the Italians who extended the rule of Rome over Libya were simply returning to lands their distant ancestors had occupied, ruled and developed long ago. One would be hard pressed to argue that the peoples who arrived and conquered the region much later would have had a better “right” to Libya than the Italians whose forebears had held the region long before anyone else ever had. The point could also be raised as to what “right” any might have to land they do nothing with. This was something well understood by the colonial powers of their era, be it the “White Man’s Burden” of Great Britain or the “Mission of Civilization” of France.

Here again, Italy cannot be held to quite the same standard as the other colonial powers. Italy was the last to gain a colonial empire and the first to lose it, however, even then, the record of Italian accomplishments compares favorably even to that of Portugal who, contrarily, were the first to have an empire and the last to relinquish it. In the minor clashes and pacification campaigns that accompany colonialism usually, in the case of Italy being confined mostly to Libya, outsiders often criticize Italian forces for having so many unfair advantages over their enemies. This is no different than any other colonial power of course, but the fact that Libyan rebels rode horses while Italian troops made use of trucks, armored cars and airplanes does serve to prove the point of how backward these territories were prior to Italian rule. In terms of social and technological advancement these areas were virtually stagnant. However, as part of the Italian colonial empire the foundations were set down for the first modern infrastructure in any of these lands. Sticking with the example of Libya, it was the Italians who built the first roads, the first modern ports and schools and hospitals, model farms and spread such things most take for granted such as electric lights, telephones, hygienic standards and disease control. Even to this day many of the structures still in use in Libya, from roads to airfields, were actually built by the Italians during the colonial period.

The case of Ethiopia is usually the one most used to criticize and shame the Kingdom of Italy, yet, here again, the situation was not so simple as most are led to believe. The “incident” which sparked the conflict was a battle over that minor dot on the map called Wal Wal. It is usually stated, or at least implied, that Mussolini provoked this clash in order to obtain a pretext for invading Ethiopia. The facts, however, do not support such a conclusion. Although victorious, the small Italian force at Wal Wal was outnumbered by the Ethiopians by at least 4-to-1, hardly the sort of odds one would favor to provoke a fight with anyone with. Wal Wal had been held by the Italians for many years at that point and Ethiopia had never claimed the area nor made any hint of doing so prior to the battle that started the ball rolling toward war. The Ethiopians had also been building up, enlarging and modernizing their armed forces for some time prior to the conflict, something which Italy had not done as is evidenced by the fact that so many Italian divisions had to be rushed to East Africa from Italy when the fighting broke out and even then were vastly outnumbered by their Ethiopian enemies. It was easy for people in Italy to believe that the Ethiopian ruler Haile Selassie had been planning a war against them for dominance of the horn of Africa for some time considering how rapidly he carried out this military build-up, after seizing power by force and, it must be said, eliminating his own tribal enemies in the traditional fashion for that part of the world in doing so.

Criticism over how the war was conducted is another story. Italy was roundly condemned for using weapons which gave them an unfair advantage in the eyes of the world. The fact that every country, in every war always seeks to use any advantage they may have over an enemy is often ignored. Accounts of attacks against peaceful posts can also not always (and I say not always) be taken at face value. It is known, for example, that some of the missionaries (mostly Scandinavian Lutherans) were importing rifles hidden in crates of Bibles and that some things, like air attacks on hospitals, were exaggerated or outright fabrications. Noted English Catholic author Evelyn Waugh wrote as much in his own first-hand account of visiting Ethiopia. He noted how bored journalists were quick to inflate the most minor occurrence into something sensational in the hope of advancing their careers.

Waugh also notes the look of Ethiopia in the immediate aftermath of the 7-month war. In Harar he sees the local market doing good business, roads being built and sees a school in Asmara freshly built by the Italians as well as noticing Italian soldiers happily playing with Ethiopian children. Waugh wrote in his book, “The Italians had accomplished in six months a task which they had expected to take two years. They now found themselves faced with opportunities and responsibilities vastly greater than their ambitions at the beginning of the war…It was a severe test of morale and they stood up to it in a way which should dispel any doubts which still survive of the character of the new Italy.” During the period of Italian rule some 11,678 miles of the first modern asphalt roads were built in Ethiopia, connecting the major cities of Italian East Africa. Additionally, 559 miles of railroads were built, new dams and hydroelectric plants were constructed, many new schools and rural clinics and many new industries were established in addition to the expansion and modernization of agriculture. Plans to update and expand Addis Ababa were only halted by the outbreak of World War II.

HM King Umberto II had hoped that, after joining the Allies against Nazi Germany, Italy would have at least been permitted to keep those colonies she had held long before the Fascists ever came to power but this was not to be. It is also important to note that those colonial Italians had their voices suppressed in the pivotal referendum on the future of the monarchy. In any event, when assessing the history of the Italian empire is it revealing to see what happened to those territories after the Italians were gone and their independence was achieved. The oldest colony, Eritrea, was annexed by the Ethiopians under Haile Selassie. Their language was suppressed as were all signs, symbols or expression of national distinction. This resulted in a long and ugly war for independence, guerilla bands of Eritreans fighting Soviet-backed Ethiopians with final independence not coming until 1993. Even since then violence has been almost constant, poverty crippling and social problems persist ranging from HIV to female genital mutilation. The years of Italian rule would seem a paradise in comparison.

The most stark example is surely Somalia which, under Italian rule had law, order, religious liberty, growing industries and model plantations. Since independence Somalia has been through a communist dictatorship, massive famines, brutal civil war, religious killings and terrorism. Today it is perhaps the most cited example of a failed state, existing in near total anarchy with terrorist gangs controlling most of the country and the coast being the best known haven for pirates in the world. Any Somali who is able flees the country at the first opportunity. Then there is Libya which, only shortly after becoming an independent kingdom, fell under the rule of the dictator Qaddafi who staged a military coup to seize power. He ruled for decades after with an iron fist, massacring any who opposed him and fomenting terrorist attacks around the world. When his own people finally rose up against him, he turned his military on them and was only finally overthrown with the intervention of the U.S. and E.U. (with the Italian Republic being a hesitant partner despite Qaddafi having a long history of blackmailing Italy). Today much of the country is in ruins and it remains to be seen whether things will get better or worse under the new administration.