The decline of the Ottoman Empire was not a single event but a slow, agonizing process of attrition. Throughout the 19th century, the “Sick Man of Europe” lost territory piece by piece—Algeria to France, Egypt to Britain. But the final act began in 1911, not in the Balkans or the Caucasus, but on the sands of North Africa.

In this week’s podcast, I explored the Italian invasion of Libya, a conflict that is often overlooked but was pivotal in setting the stage for the First World War.

The Latecomer to Empire

Italy, unified only in 1871, was desperate to join the club of European imperial powers. Blocked from expansion in Europe and beaten to the punch in much of Africa, Rome turned its eyes to the Ottoman provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica (modern-day Libya).

As I discussed in the episode, the invasion was an act of naked aggression by a supposedly liberal state. It mirrored the “mountebank nationalism” that would later characterize Mussolini’s fascism—a desire to channel domestic energy into foreign conquest.

The Young Turk Resistance

The Ottoman government, weak and overstretched, wanted to write off Libya to avoid a costly war. But the “Young Turks”—the nationalist officers who had seized power in 1908—refused to accept another humiliation.

Among them was Major Enver (later Enver Pasha), who travelled incognito to Libya to organize a guerrilla resistance. Enver, a secular modernizer, found himself in a strange position: leading Bedouin tribesmen and the deeply religious Senussi Brotherhood in a jihad against a Christian invader.

This experience transformed Enver. He adopted Arab dress, lived in the desert, and witnessed the power of Islam as a mobilizing force. As Eugene Rogan notes in The Fall of the Ottomans, Enver realized that “there is no nationality in Islamism.” This insight would shape Ottoman strategy during the First World War, where the call to jihad was used to try and incite rebellion among the Muslim subjects of the British and French empires.

The Domino Effect

Despite the success of Enver’s guerrilla tactics, which pinned the Italians to the coast, the war was lost elsewhere. Italy expanded the conflict to the Aegean, bombarding Beirut and occupying Rhodes. Finally, they played the “Balkan Card,” encouraging Montenegro, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Greece to attack the Ottomans in Europe.

Faced with a war on two fronts, the Ottomans had no choice but to surrender Libya to Italy in October 1912. The officers in the desert, including the future Kemal Atatürk, rushed back to Istanbul to fight for the survival of the empire in the Balkans.

The loss of Libya was the first domino. It exposed the Ottomans’ weakness, emboldened the Balkan states, and accelerated the series of crises that would explode in Sarajevo in 1914.

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Transcript
Nick: Hi there and welcome again to the Explaining History podcast.

Today I’m going to look again at the decline of the Ottoman Empire, focusing on an angle that is sometimes overlooked: the loss of Ottoman North Africa.

We’re diving back into Eugene Rogan’s The Fall of the Ottomans. Last time we looked at Anatolia and the Armenian massacres. Today, we turn to the Mediterranean.

Rogan writes that while the Ottomans struggled in Anatolia, they faced a fresh crisis in North Africa. The provinces of Benghazi and Tripoli (modern Libya) were the last Ottoman possessions on the continent, following the loss of Algeria, Tunisia, and Egypt to France and Britain.

Italy, a new state unified in 1871, aspired to an empire. Blocked in Europe, the government of King Victor Emmanuel III turned to Libya.

It is interesting to note how illiberal these “liberal” governments were. The seizure of Libya was extremely violent, an act of “mountebank nationalism” designed to channel the energies of the Risorgimento into expansion.

In September 1911, seizing on the pretext of an Ottoman arms shipment, Rome declared war. The Ottoman position was untenable—4,200 soldiers with no naval support against an Italian invasion force of 34,000. The coastal towns fell quickly.

The Ottoman government wanted to write off the territory to avoid a wider war. However, the ultra-nationalist Young Turks, particularly the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), refused to accept this.

Major Enver (later Enver Pasha) persuaded the CUP to launch a guerrilla war. He travelled incognito to Libya via Egypt, followed by dozens of other officers, including Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk). They called themselves Fedayeen—fighters willing to sacrifice their lives.

Enver threw himself into the conflict with passion. He donned Arab robes, rode camels, and recruited Bedouin tribesmen and the powerful Senussi Brotherhood. Despite being a secular modernizer who spoke no Arabic, he bonded with the tribes through the shared identity of Islam.

This experience shaped Enver’s worldview. He wrote: “There is no nationality in Islamism… Just take a look at what is going on around the Islamic world.” He realized that religion could be a potent tool against European imperialism—a lesson he would apply during World War I.

The guerrilla war was remarkably successful. For a year, Italian troops were pinned to the coast, unable to penetrate the interior. But Italy knew the war had to end with a treaty. To pressure Istanbul, they expanded the conflict, bombarding Beirut and occupying the Dodecanese islands (including Rhodes). They even sent torpedo boats to the Dardanelles, alarming the Russian Tsar.

Finally, Italy played the “Balkan Card.” They encouraged Montenegro to declare war on the Ottomans in October 1912, knowing other Balkan states would follow. Faced with a war in its European heartland, the Ottoman government capitulated, ceding Libya to Italy.

The Young Turk officers, ashamed to abandon their Libyan comrades, rushed back to Istanbul to fight the First Balkan War.

This conflict illustrates the cynical nature of European imperialism and how the weakness of the Ottoman state invited aggression that would eventually lead to the catastrophe of 1914.

I’ll leave it there. Join us on Sunday, January 25th for our Russian Revolution Masterclass. It starts at 3pm UK time. If you’re an A-level student (or equivalent), don’t miss it!

Take care everyone. All the best. Bye-bye.