‘The Red Sea is the key to the Mediterranean’. The Italo-Ottoman war and the Red Sea region (1911–1912)

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article examines the relationship between the Italo-Ottoman War of 1911–1912 and the Red Sea region. Italy, having failed to obtain a decisive victory in battle, decided in late 1911 to pressure the Ottoman Empire by extending the conflict to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea. While scholars have focused mainly on the conquest of Rhodes and the Dodecanese islands, this article maintains that greater attention needs to be paid to the involvement of the Red Sea area in operations in Libya. It was from this region that the tens of thousands of askaris were recruited, contributing over the years to shifting the balance in combat, and it was also from this region that attempts were made to get the support of some brotherhoods linked to the teachings of Sheykh Aḥmad Ibn Idrīs in a vain attempt to convince the Sanūsī order to de-escalate resistance. Consequently, this work looks at the Italian-Ottoman War also from the angle of its intense, dynamic link with the Red Sea region.