Mustafa Kemal
and Libyan bedevis
The Young Turks' transition to Turkish
nationalism had only begun, however, when it was given a final thrust forward
by a new wave of foreign attacks on the empire starting with that of the
Italians in Tripoli and Bengazi late in 1911. The kingdom of Italy dreamed of
an empire that would revive the glory of the old Roman Empire. Most of the
African territories contiguous to the Mediterranean had been already taken by
Britain and France, and only Tripoli seemed reasonably available. Ottoman rule
there was nominal. The garrisons were weak, the government limited and
inadequate, and the economic situation poor. The interior, inhabited by
bedouins, had recently come under the control of a Muslim pietistic movement
led by the Senusis, further undermining the sultan's suzerainty. On the other
hand, Tripoli was close to Italy. Italian merchants had been active there for
some time, and their complaints about mistreatment as well as the difficult
conditions in the country provided a pretext for armed intervention. Nor were
the Italian ambitions particularly secret. In 1900 France had agreed to allow
it to take Tripoli in compensation for the expected acquisition of Morocco. Two
years later Austria had followed suit in return for Italian support of its
ambitions in Bosnia- Herzegovina. Britain joined the agreement as part of its
effort to gain Italian participation in the emerging Triple Entente. In 1909
Russian approval was secured in return for Italian support of its ambition to
force the Porte to open the Straits to its warships. Though Germany and Austria
feared Italian aggression into the Ottoman Empire might cause a major new
crisis, they did not wish to alienate Italy and push it even closer to Britain
and France. Thus once the French position in Morocco was secured and the
Italian press and public agitated for compensatory action in Tripoli, the
Italian government decided to go ahead.
The Italian government for some time had
complained about "mistreatment" of its subjects in Tripoli and
Bengazi, and the Ottomans had tried to satisfy them with guarantees and other
promises in order to avoid a war. The Italians, however, who had already
decided to attack, rejected the Ottoman offers. On September 29, 1911, war was
declared. A day later Tripoli was put under naval blockade. Britain declared
its neutrality. On October 4 Tripoli was bombarded and an Italian expeditionary
force landed at Tobruk. The Ottoman garrison in both provinces numbered only
15,000 men at best. Because of the situation in the Balkans the government in
Istanbul decided to send only limited reinforcements, but these were put under
the command of two of its brightest young officers, both CUP members, Enver
Bey, recently married into the imperial family, who was made commander at
Bengazi, and Mustafa Kemal Bey, placed in command at Tripoli and Derne. Even
before they arrived, however, the Italians overran the entire coastal area;
Kemal and Enver landed their forces and took them into the interior, where they
took command of the remaining Ottoman garrison and joined the Senusi tribesmen
in preparing to resist the infidel in a Holy War. On November 4 Italy
officially proclaimed its annexation of both Tripoli and Bengazi, but its
control remained limited to the coast while the Ottomans and Senusis began an effective
guerrilla resistance from the interior. In response the Italians began to send
arms and ammunition to Montenegro and Albania and encouraged new adventures
against the Porte.
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