Menu
Home
People
Places
Arts
History
Plants & Animals
Science
Life & Culture
Technology
Reference.org
Libyan resistance movement
open-in-new
<h2 id="history">History</h2> <h3>First years</h3> <p class="note">Main articles: <a href="/facts/Italo-Turkish_War/bmQ0fWc5">Italo-Turkish War</a> and <a href="/facts/Senussi_Campaign/WT5Wkfrx">Senussi Campaign</a></p> <p>The Libyan resistance, associated with the Senussi Order, was initially led by <a href="/facts/Omar_Mukhtar/pQeGbeKF">Omar Mukhtar</a> (<a href="/facts/Arabic_language/A1e66hVV">Arabic</a> عمر المختار <i>‘Umar Al-Mukhtār</i>, 1862–1931), who was from the tribe of Mnifa. The <a href="/facts/First_Italo-Senussi_War/R4fn3rCC">First Italo-Senussi War</a> had two main active phases: the <a href="/facts/Italo-Turkish_War/bmQ0fWc5">Italo-Turkish War</a> (1911–12), when <a href="/facts/Italian_invasion_of_Libya/4RhaX9Cs">Italy invaded Libya</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Senussi_Campaign/WT5Wkfrx">Senussi Campaign</a> (1915–17), part of <a href="/facts/World_War_I/vITTUanQ">World War I</a>, in which Italian and British forces fought the Ottoman and German-supported Senussi.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1"><sup>1</sup></a> The Libyans were eventually defeated. After a period of relative peace, the <a href="/facts/Second_Italo-Senussi_War/QUQHeHj3">Second Italo-Senussi War</a> broke out in 1923 and lasted until 1932. </p> <h3>Second Italo-Libyan War (1923–1932)</h3> <p class="note">Main article: <a href="/facts/Pacification_of_Libya/QUQHeHj3">Pacification of Libya</a></p> <p>Later <a href="/facts/Idris_of_Libya/F3XRIxIa">King Idris</a> and his <a href="/facts/Senussi/gT0XydQN">Senussi</a> tribe in the provinces of <a href="/facts/Cyrenaica/w624AyBA">Cyrenaica</a> and <a href="/facts/Tripolitania/1hvEXyjN">Tripolitania</a> started to become opposed to the Italian colonization after 1929, when Italy changed its political promises of moderate "protectorate" to the Senussi (done in 1911) and—because of <a href="/facts/Benito_Mussolini/q8UPaBlm">Benito Mussolini</a>—started to take complete colonial control of Libya. Hundreds of Libyans fought in the Italian colonial corps, including the <a href="/facts/M%25C3%25A9hariste/TDLRpqzu">Meharists</a> and <a href="/facts/Savari/TvtUMdY4">Savari</a> troops. </p><p>The Libyans suffered between 40,000<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2"><sup>2</sup></a> and 70,000 deaths<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3"><sup>3</sup></a> due to battles, deportation and starvation, while the Italian colonial troops lose 2,582 men<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4"><sup>4</sup></a> Estimated 100,000 to 250,000 indigenous Libyans also immigrated or went into exile during the period from the start of the Italo-Turkish war in 1911 to the end of Italian governance in 1943.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5"><sup>5</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="aftermath">Aftermath</h2> <p>Resistance was crushed by General <a href="/facts/Rodolfo_Graziani/6p0xo2SA">Rodolfo Graziani</a> in the 1930s and the country was again controlled by the Italians with the help of Libyan collaborators, to the point that many Libyan <a href="/facts/Royal_Corps_of_Colonial_Troops/BqTBGKXo">colonial troops</a> fought on the side of Italy between 1940 and 1943: two divisions of Libyan colonial troops were created in the late 1930s and 30,000 native Libyans fought for Italy during <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>. <a href="/facts/Tripolitania/1hvEXyjN">Tripolitanian</a> nobles in <a href="/facts/Egypt/8Ttg0JwB">Egypt</a> established the <a href="/facts/Libyan_Arab_Force/Gt3XoEgl">Libyan Arab Force</a> to fight alongside the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allies</a>.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6"><sup>6</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7"><sup>7</sup></a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8"><sup>8</sup></a> </p> <h2 id="see-also">See also</h2> <ul><li><a href="/facts/Gasr_Bu_Hadi/glM1yozW">Gasr Bu Hadi</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Fourth_Shore/pjs2Kvem">Fourth Shore</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Italia_irredenta/hgyn0jlo">Italia irredenta</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Italian_Mare_Nostrum/hmAs3EwU">Italian Mare Nostrum</a></li> <li><a href="/facts/Resistance_during_World_War_II/vPzNDRjP">Resistance during World War II</a></li></ul> <h2 id="references">References</h2> <ol> <li id="fn:1"><p>Rickard, J. (9 September 2007). "Senussi Uprising, 1915–1917". Military History Encyclopedia on the Web. Retrieved 25 February 2015. <a href="http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_senussi_uprising.html" target="_blank">http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/wars_senussi_uprising.html</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:2"><p>Mohamed Fekini and the Fight to Free Libya - Angelo Del Boca,Antony Shugaar [1] <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=rcjGAAAAQBAJ&dq=conquest+libya+70,000&pg=PA5" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=rcjGAAAAQBAJ&dq=conquest+libya+70,000&pg=PA5</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:3"><p>A Historical Companion to Postcolonial Literatures – Prem Poddar, Rajeev Shridhar Patke, Lars Jensen [2] <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=Ghah5S3usnsC&dq=conquest+libya+casualties&pg=PA301" target="_blank">https://books.google.com/books?id=Ghah5S3usnsC&dq=conquest+libya+casualties&pg=PA301</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:4"><p>John Gooch: Mussolini’s War: Fascist Italy from Triumph to Collapse, 1935–1943. o. O. 2020, S. 9. <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:5"><p>John L. Wright, Libya, a Modern History, Johns Hopkins University Press, p. 42. <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:6"><p>John, Ronald Bruce St (2015-05-15). Libya: Continuity and Change. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-135-03654-6. <a href="978-1-135-03654-6" target="_blank">978-1-135-03654-6</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:7"><p>Peters, Emrys L. (1990). The Bedouin of Cyrenaica: Studies in Personal and Corporate Power. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-38561-9. <a href="978-0-521-38561-9" target="_blank">978-0-521-38561-9</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> <li id="fn:8"><p>Pollard, Tony; Banks, Iain (2008). Scorched Earth: Studies in the Archaeology of Conflict. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-16448-2. <a href="978-90-04-16448-2" target="_blank">978-90-04-16448-2</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></p></li> </ol>