"First Italo-Sanusi War - 1914-17" Topic

"For many Arabs, Turkey's surrender in Libya was a betrayal of Muslim interests to the infidels. The 1912 Treaty of Lausanne was meaningless to the beduin tribesmen who continued their war against the Italians, in some areas with the aid of Turkish troops left behind in the withdrawal. Fighting in Cyrenaica was conducted by Sanusi units under Ahmad ash Sharif, whose followers in Fezzan and southern Tripolitania prevented Italian consolidation in those areas as well. Lacking the unity imposed by the Sanusis, resistance in northern Tripolitania was isolated, and tribal rivalries made it less effective. Urban nationalists in Tripoli theorized about the possibility of establishing a Tripolitanian republic, perhaps associated with Italy, while Suleiman Baruni, a Berber and a former member of the Turkish parliament, proclaimed an independent but short-lived Berber state in the Gharyan region. For the beduins, however, unencumbered by any sense of nationhood, the purpose of the struggle against the colonial power was defending Islam and the free life they had always enjoyed in their tribal territory.

In 1914 the Sanusis counterattacked in Fezzan, quickly wiping out recent Italian gains there, and in April 1915 they inflicted heavy casualties on an Italian column at Qasr Bu Hadi in the Sirtica. Captured rifles, artillery, and munitions fueled a subsequent Sanusi strike into Tripolitania, but the success of the campaign was compromised by the traditional hostility that existed between the beduins and the nationalists…."
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Amicalement
Armand

This is a great article. I wish I had seen it when I was doing the series of articles about post- Great War Called the war that never ended.

Very interesting and another little discussed conflict … You really don't have to look too deeply to see certain aspects of that conflict(s) has not changed even today throughout that region and Afghanistan, etc.

E.g. :

Lacking the unity imposed by the Sanusis, resistance in northern Tripolitania was isolated, and tribal rivalries made it less effective.

For the beduins, however, unencumbered by any sense of nationhood, the purpose of the struggle against the colonial power was defending Islam and the free life they had always enjoyed in their tribal territory.

but the success of the campaign was compromised by the traditional hostility that existed between the beduins and the nationalists…."

Religious, tribal, ethnic and leader affiliations overrides most everything otherwise. Names and locations may have changed … but little else in many cases it appears.

Glad you enjoyed it my friends!. (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

There's a brief description on Wiki too:
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