Askaris and the Great War. Colonial Troops Recruited in Libya for the War but Never Sent to the Austrian Front

Between January and February 1915 an Ottoman army of 25,000 men tried in vain to invade Egypt. Subsequently the Ottoman Empire gave a hand to any Senussi military activity in neighbouring Cyrenaica (in particular the oases inland of the Libyan-Egyptian border and along the Mediterranean coast). Italy had been at arms with the Senussi resistance since as early as 1914 and had actually been dragged into the world war in Libya way earlier than the official date of 24 May 1915. In light of this, the recruitment policy of Italy and its political and military decisions in the face of war become extremely interesting. This article explores a few key issues: the increased number of soldiers from the Horn of Africa sent to Libya; the Libyan troops sent to Sicily between summer 1915 and spring 1916; and the debate over the use of African troops on the Italo-Austrian front.