Fascismo

After the end of World War I, Italy entered a period of social and political discomfort due to the economic and human costs of the war. When Benito Mussolini was appointed as prime minister amid this unrest, he immediately sprang into action to resolve territorial disputes and solidify Italian holdings abroad, including in Africa. The Treaty of Versailles, which ended World War I, did not fully satisfy the Italian government; Italy had wanted more compensation for the sacrifices her people had made during the war. In an effort to mollify the Italian government, the British offered a portion of its holdings in Somalia as recompense; however, the transfer of the land was put on hold, as the British wanted Italy to trade part of its territory to Greece in return.

Mussolini would have none of this. Within a year of taking office, he settled the matter of the Greek claim to land; his strong-armed approach to the matter, which included the invasion of Greece, would directly lead to the acquisition of the portion of Somalia formerly offered by Great Britain in an effort to appease Mussolini.

The objectives of Italian imperialism in general were greatly facilitated by the rise and tenure of Mussolini. He desired the lands of North Africa, which had ties to Italy dating back to the Roman Empire and before, as the rightful property of the Italian people and necessary for the surplus population of the nation. He put pressure not only on the nations he directly invaded or considered invading, but on the other European powers with territory he saw as Italian. It was this atmosphere that carried the Italian Empire into the 1930s and prepared it for the violence of World War II.

I've included a map with my best attempt at a visualization of Italian holdings in Africa by 1930. The following decade would only see an increase in the green you see across the continent.

- Nick