Introduction

Italy’s First World War is usually remembered and studied as a national conflict from 1915 to 1918. Instead, this book proposes an imperial framework to examine Italian aims, policies, and actions from 1911 to 1923. In particular, it traces four key strands through this period: Italy’s imperial and colonial aims in its wars against the Ottoman Empire and Austria-Hungary; combat operations within its colonies; the global war effort including Italian emigrants around the world; and the Italian racial and colonial mentalities which underpinned these war efforts. After summarizing the key historiographical debates, particularly over liberal and fascist foreign policy and imperialism, this chapter outlines the structure and organization of the book.

Post-war Settlements in the Adriatic and the Balkans

The rejection of the Italian demand for Fiume led to much anger in Italy; interventionist poet Gabriele D’Annunzio spoke of a ‘mutilated victory’. Capitalizing on nationalist fury he independently led a small group to seize the city directly, creating serious tensions with Yugoslavia. Italian military occupations in neighbouring areas of Dalmatia sought to lay foundations for Italian possession but were unpopular with locals; Italian forces showed signs of growing radical nationalism. By the end of 1920 Italy had been forced to renounce most of its claims and D’Annunzio was forced out of Fiume. Further south in Albania Italy hoped to create a long-lasting protectorate building on its wartime occupation, but here too its colonial approach was unpopular and by August 1920 it had to admit its failure.

Conclusion

Italy fought the Great War in pursuit of a Greater Italy; to that end, all the resources of nation and empire were mobilised. The end of the First World War saw the demise of the liberal emigrant model in Italy, in which diaspora communities were still colonies, in favour of a more conventional vision based solely on direct territorial control. Tracing the growth of Italian colonial ambitions from 1911 through to 1923 as against the objective decline and weakening of its real empire highlights the extent to which it was an empire of fantasy as much as reality. Nonetheless, though in many ways insubstantial, empire and above all the idea of empire exerted enormous influence on Italian attitudes, policies, and priorities in the era of the First World War, with devastating long-term consequences.

The War Beyond Italy

Italy entered the war to cement its great power status. To convince its Entente partners it was actively contributing to the global struggle, it sent troops first to Albania and later Macedonia, both in pursuit of territorial goals and to support the allies. As the conflict expanded in scope and scale, Italian war aims grew correspondingly: in 1917 a new allied agreement promised Italy territorial compensation in Asia Minor. The St Jean de Maurienne Agreement also enabled Italy to send a tiny expeditionary force to Palestine. By 1918 the need to demonstrate a global commitment led to even more overseas deployment for Italian forces: units were sent to France to the Western Front and to both Murmansk and Manchuria to fight in the Russian Civil War. Despite all these far-flung missions, however, only in Albania was there any intention to remain after the war’s end.

War in the Italian Colonies

In August 1915 Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire. While it sent no troops to the main Allied fronts against the Ottomans, it fought this enemy both at sea and on land, in a form of proxy conflict. Turkey, Germany, and Austria sent funds and army officers to support anti-Italian insurrections both in Cyrenaica and Tripolitania, with varying results; a combination of religious and political motives encouraged the indigenous peoples of Libya to resist Italian control vigorously, in what should be understood as another theatre of the First World War. Examining the actions and objectives of anti-colonial leaders as well as Italian policies and practices help explain the weakness of Italian colonial control in Libya. At one stage Italy feared an Islamic insurrection might also break out in their East African colonies. Anti-colonial resistance, real or feared, placed a great strain on relatively scarce Italian resources which were needed in other theatres.

From Neutrality to Intervention, 1914–15

When the July Crisis erupted, Italy was allied to its neighbour Austria-Hungary, but most Italians had little interest in fighting for it. On 3 August 1914 Italy declared its neutrality with the support of most of the population. However, the prospect of joining the war on the other side was soon raised, and both the Entente and the Central Powers began to court the Italian government in hope of securing its allegiance. A small but vocal interventionist movement emerged as public opinion evolved. Irredentism motivated some interventionists, while others adopted pragmatic positions or embraced the rhetoric of a war for democracy; some placed the war in a wider imperial context right from the start, hoping to acquire as yet undefined territories beyond national borders. At last, in April 1915, Italy signed the Treaty of London, committing to join the Entente in pursuit of expansionist aims: it hoped both to complete national unification and to receive territorial compensation elsewhere.

The Paris Peace Conference and Beyond

When the war ended, the domestic political situation was tense and the economy rapidly entered a crisis. Public opinion required that Italy’s huge sacrifices be vindicated by the war’s outcome, leading Vittorio Orlando’s government to request even more territory than had originally be agreed by the Treaty of London. Foreign minister Sonnino, an ambitious imperialist, demanded Fiume and also sought expanded colonial compensation. But Woodrow Wilson refused to accept Italian possession of Slav-inhabited lands, which he wished to see allocated to Yugoslavia. Diplomatic errors, Wilson’s opposition, Greek rivalry, and above all the changed international landscape meant that Italy’s leadership failed utterly to achieve its goals in Paris.

Race, Nationality, and Citizenship

As a relatively new nation-state, which considered itself to be territorially incomplete, Italy faced a challenge in defining Italian identity. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, italianità—Italianness—became understood in increasingly racialized terms. Eugenics thrived in Italy and race theory underpinned attitudes not only to colonialism and colonial subjects but also to the conduct of war, among the general public and particularly in military circles. The results can clearly be seen in the conduct of the Italian army in Libya, both in 1911–12 and during the First World War, and in Italy’s treatment of Slav and German civilians under military occupation. Racial definitions of italianità also shaped attitudes to the rights, duties, and delimitation of Italian citizenship, especially under the pressures of war.

Imperialism and Irredentism in Liberal Italy

For Italian nationalists, the nation was still incomplete after unification in 1861; they embraced the irredentist goal of incorporating Trento and Trieste, still in Austrian hands. The Triple Alliance which tied Italy to Germany and Austria-Hungary in a defensive pact made it hard to directly pursue this objective. Meanwhile, Italian ambitions to build a colonial empire began in the 1870s with the acquisition of Eritrea and Somalia in East Africa, before meeting a set-back with the crushing defeat by Ethiopia at Adwa in 1896. Liberals embraced an alternate, uniquely Italian vision of empire, built on emigrant colonies around the world. Advocates of traditional settler colonialism instead turned their attention to the Mediterranean and specifically to the so-called ‘Fourth Shore’ of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. Considerable consensus emerged around attacking the Ottoman Empire in 1911; after a year of war, Italy officially acquired Libya and the Dodecanese Islands. But irredentist hopes, and ambitions in the Balkans, were not sated by this expansion.

Societies at War

With the mobilization of Italy’s society and economy for war, the lives of millions of men, women, and children were transformed. Whether emigrants, colonists, or mainland residents, Italians raised funds, worked in war industries, supported family members at the front, prayed for victory, and engaged in patriotic activities—or, alternatively, in anti-war politics. Anti-war sentiment, both real and imagined, encouraged the government to adopt increasingly harsh repressive measures—which in turn further alienated some sectors of the population. Socialists were particularly the object of official suspicion, while by contrast Catholics built an unprecedented bond with the nation. As the state sought to mobilize all available manpower, Italians overseas and in the colonies had a vital part to play. The authorities also sought to maximize the economic contribution, whether in money or materials, that Italy’s empire could make to the war effort—though with limited results.