Everything about The Italian Empire totally explained
The
Italian Empire (
Italian:
Impero Italiano) was a
19th and
20th century colonial empire, which lasted from
1889 to
1943. It was composed of three different entities - the
Kingdom of Italy, the
Kingdom of Albania, and the
Ethiopian Empire - united by the leadership of Italian King
Victor Emmanuel III. Some nationalist and especially fascist supporters of an Italian Empire believed that such would effectively constitute a "
New Roman Empire" (
Italian:
Nuovo Impero Romano,
Latin:
Novum Imperium Romanum)
Early colonial empire
From
1889 to
1912, Italy proceeded on a course of colonialism in the remaining uncolonized portions of
Africa which led it to taking
Eritrea, creating the colony of
Italian Somalia in the early years of its colonization of Africa. Italy failed in the
First Italo-Abyssinian War in the 1880s in which it attempted to take Abyssinia (present day
Ethiopia) as a colony. Italy was too late by the late 19th century and early 20th century to be able to compete with the major European powers in establishing significant colonies in
Asia, but did manage to get a very small concession in the Chinese city of
Tianjin in
1902.
In the
Italo-Turkish War of
1911 to
1912, Italy gained the former Ottoman African territories of
Cyrenaica and
Tripolitania (these territories would later merge into the
Italian colony of Libya). Italian claims to Cyrenaica and Tripolitania were based on the
Roman Empire's holding of the two regions centuries earlier, and a supposed cultural presence in those territories with a number of Roman landmarks still remaining.
For years the region of
Fezzan was in dispute between Italy and the
United Kingdom, which would be settled years later.
Late colonial empire
From the end of World War I through the era of
Italian Fascism, Italy quickly expanded its colonial holdings. Italy had gained a minuscule portion of
Dalmatia from the former
Austria-Hungary as well as a number of Adriatic islands along the coast of present-day
Croatia. In
1923, Italian forces invaded and occupied the
Greek island of
Corfu and in
1929, Italian North Africa was simplified by merging Tripolitania, Cyrenaica, and Fezzan into
Italian Libya (
Libia Italiana in
1929).
In
1935, the
Second Italo-Abyssinian War occurred in which Italy captured Ethiopia in
1936, and merged Italian Eritrea,
Italian Somalia and newly captured Ethiopia into
Italian East Africa (
Africa Orientale Italiana, A.O.I.).
In
1939, Italy invaded and captured
Albania and made it
protectorate, the region of modern-day Albania had been an early part of the
Roman Empire, which had actually been held before northern parts of Italy had been taken by the Romans, but had long since been populated by
Albanians and out of Italian control.
Modern Italy, by the time of
World War II, possessed various overseas territories in the
Mediterranean and
East Africa, reaching its greatest extent in 1940.
Fascism and the Italian Empire
After 1929 imperial expansion became a favourite theme of
Mussolini's speeches. He argued that colonial settlements were a demographic and economic necessity for a country like Italy.
Imperial expansion was also a key component of Mussolini's attempts to replace
Britain and
France as the dominant powers in the Mediterranean.
During WWII nearly 2/3 of the Mediterranean shores were controlled or occupied by
Italy. In the fall of 1942
Mussolini controlled the European Mediterranean sea from
France to
Greece and the African Mediterranean sea from
Tunisia to
Egypt.
Italian colonial possessions
Italian East Africa
A number of colonies made up the territory known as
Italian East Africa:
Italian Somaliland
The Italian colony in the southern part of
Somalia known as
Italian Somaliland was established in 1889–90. In 1925 Italy acquired
Jubaland from the British colony of
Kenya.
In 1940
Italy, with the
Italian conquest of British Somaliland, annexed to his colonial possessions even the British Somalia, but after one year lost it.
Eritrea
Italy's colony in
Eritrea was established in 1889. The colony was treated as a prestige project during the
Fascist era and to this day the capital,
Asmara, retains some fine buildings and monuments dating back to the period of Italian rule. Because of this striking architectural legacy, Asmara may become a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Ethiopia
Italy was defeated in its first attempt to conquer
Ethiopia (called
Abyssinia by Europeans at that time) in the
First Italo–Ethiopian War in 1895-96, but the Italians were able to occupy Ethiopia in the
war of 1935-1936 after seven months of fighting. Victory was announced on 9 May 1936, and the Italian King
Victor Emanuel III proclaimed himself
Emperor of Ethiopia.
Benito Mussolini dreamed of sending millions of Italian settlers to Italian East Africa, and Italians had high hopes of turning the area into an economic asset. However, by overrunning Ethiopia, a member of the
League of Nations, Italy attracted widespread international hostility. Italy lost its new colony to an invasion of British Commonwealth forces and Ethiopians almost exactly five years later during
World War II.
Viceroyalty
Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somaliland were also known, together, as
Italian East Africa.
Libya
Italy acquired the North African territories of
Tripolitania and
Cyrenaica under the terms of the
Treaty of Lausanne in 1912 following
a short war with
Turkey. Italy's claim to the area was based partly on proximity and helped by an unofficial agreement with France to divide the North African coast between them. Those Italians who indulged in imperial rhetoric referred to North Africa as Italy's
Fourth Shore. In reality Italy spent a large part of the 1920s attempting to 'pacify' her latest colony.
In 1934 Tripolitania and Cyrenaica were united to form the colony of
Libya, a name previously used 1500 years earlier by
Diocletian to refer to the area.
Italy lost control of Libya when German and Italian forces
withdrew into Tunisia in 1943.
Tientsin, China
In
1901 Italy, along with several other European countries, was granted a
concession in the trading city of
Tientsin (now Tianjin) in
China following the
Boxer Rebellion. The Italian concession, at 46
hectares, was one of the smallest of the European concessions in that city. The concession arrangement ended by agreement between Mussolini's
Italian Social Republic and Japan's
puppet government in China in 1943.
Italian possessions in Europe
Albania
Italy occupied
Albania as an aftermath of
World War I. As Italian troops evacuated the country, according to provisions of the protocol signed on 2th September 1920,
Saseno Island was ceded to Italy.
Albania was already firmly within Italy's
sphere of influence for twenty years when, in 1939, Mussolini decided it should formally be brought under Italian control. It is possible the Italian dictator simply wanted a spectacular success over a smaller neighbour to match Germany's
absorption of Austria and
Czechoslovakia. The
Italian invasion of Albania began on
7th April 1939, and resistance ended five days later. Albania's
King Zog fled to
London.
Italian King
Victor Emmanuel III took the Albanian crown, and a fascist government under
Shefqet Verlaci was established. The Albanian armed forces were subsumed into Italian units.
In 1941, following the fall of
Yugoslavia in the
Balkans Campaign,
Kosovo and western parts of
Vardar Macedonia were incorporated into Albania. In may 1941, after the Italian final victory in
Greece, done even with the help of Albanian troops, the Italian government allowed northern Greek Epirus to be administered by Albanian fascists.
Resistance to the Italian occupation grew rapidly at the end of 1942 and in 1943. By the summer of 1943, most of the mountainous interior was controlled by resistance fighters. The German Army and Albanian collaborators completed the seizure of Albania by the end of September 1943, three weeks after Italy signed an armistice with the Allies.
In Greece
Dodecanese
The islands of the
Dodecanese were a territorial gain Italy was able to make at the expense of the enfeebled
Ottoman Empire with the
Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912. Control of
Rhodes and the surrounding islands was considered an important part of Italy's challenge to British dominance in the Mediterranean.
With the World War I victory, Italy was able to consolidate her position in the area. While the
Treaty of Sèvres in 1919 called for most of the smaller islands to join with Greece, with Rhodes and several other islands remaining Italian, later, in 1923, the
Treaty of Lausanne gave international recognition to the continued Italian administration over the whole group. For nearly two years after WWI, Italian troops occupied the southwestern part of Anatolia around
Antalya, until
Mussolini reached an agreement with the Turk president
Kemal Ataturk.
Two days after the Italian Government reached an armistice with the Allies on September 8, 1943, German forces attacked the Italians on Rhodes, forcing a surrender the next day. Despite the landing of British troops, the Germans seized
Kos on October 4 after a day of fighting, and
Leros fell to the Germans on November 16 after five days of fighting. With the loss of Leros, Italian and British forces on the other islands of the Dodecanese escaped.
In Yugoslavia
Montenegro
In 1941,
Montenegro was reestablished as a
constitutional monarchy (with a vacant throne, after it was refused by the Titular
King of Montenegro and a prince of
Romanov dynasty) and declared an Italian
protectorate.
In September 1943, Germany seized control of Montenegro from the Italians.
Dalmatia
From April 1941 to September 1943 Italy occupied all the Dalmatian coast of Yugoslavia. Most of Dalmatia was annexed to the
Kingdom of Italy as the
Governatorato di Dalmazia. The western half of the fascist Croatia of
Ante Pavelic was under Italian control.
In France
Upon Italy entering the war in 1940 with France collapsing from invasion by Germany, the Italian army moved to take back territories lost from Italy to France in the 1850s, specifically, the province of
Savoy, the ancestral homeland of the Italian monarchy and a province which had a mixed population of Italians and French. However Italy made little territorial gains but managed to take Grenoble and Nice from France before the remainder of unoccupied France made an armistice with Germany which resulted in the creation of
Vichy France.
Nice and Corsica
In November 1942 with the internal collapse of Vichy France, Germany invaded the country and the Italian army occupied southern France, from the delta of the
Rhone river to
Corsica, far beyond the furthest extent of previous Italian control in the province of Savoy of the 1850s. Specifically
Nice and
Corsica were to be annexed to Italy, but this wasn't done because of the Italian surrender to the
Allies in September 1943.
Idea of a New Roman Empire
New Roman Empire (
Italian: "Nuovo Impero Romano",
Latin: "Novum Imperium Romanum") was the new "state" created by Mussolini to describe the Italian colonial empire, especially following Italy's occupation of Ethiopia. It was born during the height of Italian nationalism in the pre-WWII days, and contained references to the
Roman period:
- The Adriatic Sea was called "Mare Nostro" (Italian for "Our Sea") after the Italians invaded Albania and thus gained almost complete control over the Adriatic. It is a direct reference to the Roman name for the Mediterranean, which was called "Mare Nostrum" as the Romans had complete control over the sea.
- Mussolini hinted at the creation of an Italian Mare Nostrum during WWII, in reference to the Italian control (directly and indirectly) on most of the Mediterranean shores in 1942.
- The name of the Italian regime's politics — "Fascism", comes from the Roman fasces, the Roman symbol for power.
- The capital of the Italian state was Rome, just as in the early and middle Roman Empire, before power had shifted to Ravenna.
- King Victor Emmanuel III was crowned emperor (albeit of Ethiopia, and he never had the title of "Caesar").
Imperial ambition
Italian armies were also able to briefly
occupy British Somaliland. In 1941,
Dalmatia, parts of present-day
Slovenia, and
Gulf of Kotor were annexed. Mussolini dearly wished to extend the Italian empire to include those territories, as well as
Malta,
Tunisia,
French Somaliland and
Corsica. Contemplating the
fall of France and victory over Britain, Mussolini and foreign minister
Ciano discussed seizing
Algeria,
Egypt and
Sudan but these ideas were coolly received by their German counterparts.
End of Empire
The Italian Empire effectively came to an end by 1943. The surrender of
Axis forces in
Tunisia on May 7, 1943 led King Victor Emmanuele III to plot the downfall of Mussolini, who was arrested on July 25. The new government began secret negotiations with the Allies, and on the eve of the American landings at
Salerno, Italy announced an armistice with the Allies. In Albania and the Dodecanese, Germany's successful attacks on its erstwhile Italian allies ended Italy's rule.
Italy formally lost all her overseas possessions as a result of the
Treaty of peace with Italy (1947). In November 1949
Italian Somaliland was made a
United Nations Trust Territory under Italian administration until
July 1,
1960 when it was granted its independence along with
British Somaliland to form
Somalia.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Italian Empire'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://italian_empire.totallyexplained.com">Italian Empire Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
