The Italo-Turkish War:
Propaganda’s Words, Images and Sounds

September 26th 1911, Ultimatum of Italy to Turkey – October 15th 1912, Peace of Ouchy

Besides representing the first actual phase of Italy’s belated colonial expansion, the Italo-Turkish War was a mass event. The materials presented here reconstruct how the war was narrated to the Italians and to the world, through a series of press releases, newspapers, magazines, postcards, photo albums, literary manifestos; that is, through the filtered voice of the institutions and of the mass media, whose catchwords were those of a short and glorious conflict, a mission of civilization, and easy land appropriation. Central, in this sense, was the use of illustrations and especially of photography, which in that era came to be used for new propaganda purposes. The critical aim is to retrace and investigate – with one eye firmly open to the reality of the war and to the falsity of certain colonial myths – the descriptive procedures of propaganda, mainly focusing on the epic chronicle of the war. Here one should note the contradiction of the phrase which associates the word chronicle, a term that indicates an accurate realism, with epic, a concept that implies an instrumental reading.

On the fiftieth anniversary of the Italian Unification, after a long setback that followed the defeat of Adwa (1896), Italy’s Prime Minister Giovanni Giolitti re-launched the colonial adventure and declared war against the Ottoman Empire, which controlled Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. It was referred to as the Italo-Turkish War or the war of Libya, even though, in 1911, Libya did not exist on the maps.

In 1911, the race for the division of the world had been accomplished. There were only a few free territories, including Libya, whose conquest Giolitti considered crucial to ensure to Italy the international prestige which the country still lacked. In an intense propaganda campaign conducted to broaden consensus and to fuel the enthusiasm of the public, Libya was presented as a fertile land, filled with water, trades and mines: a “promised land" which could absorb Italian unemployment that, in the first decade of the century, had already caused the emigration of six million workers. In reality, Libya was an immense sandy and poor region (oil would be discovered only after 1950) and sparsely populated. The propaganda themes promoted by nationalist and colonialist circles, spread by almost all of the Italian press and summarized by Giovanni Pascoli in his famous speech La grande Proletaria si è mossa (The Great Proletarian has moved), included the following: the ability to provide a solution to the problem of migration; the right of Italy to conquer in the name of geographical proximity and of historical Roman domination; the legitimate aspiration to become a great nation; and war as a civilizing mission and as a proof of national unity. The press also fed the idea of ​​a quick victory by presenting the conquest as “a walk" free of obstacles, due to the inconsistency of the Turkish military system and the desire of Libyans to get rid of Ottoman oppression.

To a first historical and informative level, the exhibit brings a second narrative level, focused on different types of propaganda images. First on display are trade cards depicting the war, produced by a chocolate factory in Spain. There follow three unique photographic memories from the Italian front of the conflict: the album of General Caneva, commander of the armed forces in Libya; that of Count Pompeo Campello, a Roman nobleman, as well as a professional photographer and an officer in the higher echelons of the army; and that of Angelo Cormanni, a humble soldier serving as a telegraphist. Three testimonies, very different from each other in the quality and quantity of the materials, nevertheless show a substantial homogeneity in accepting the national propagandistic clichés. Finally, a large number of Italian postcards (often belonging to numbered series) are presented. Destined both for local and foreign circulation, these images are all much more self-justifying, if compared to those made in other countries. The disturbing confrontation which results from the overlapping of the different areas of the postcards’ production and distribution (domestic vs. international), gives the modern observer an opportunity to glimpse some partial truths in the interstitial spaces between the various propagandas. And it also raises the following question: what sort of reaction was there, especially in the European context, to the Italo-Turkish War?

The Italo-Turko Series
CHOCOLATE JUNCOSA’S CARDS – 11 x 15 cm

One near complete series of 50 trade colored cards (only n. 29 and n. 33 are missing), entitled “Guerra Italo-Turca" and issued by the Barcelona chocolate manufacturer Juncosa, between 1911-1913. All cards are indicated by the letter A (Series A) – which suggests that other series might have been printed. They also show the heading “Guerra Italo-Turca" in the center, on the top margin, except for the first card, where the words stand at the center of a red frame: this is because it functions as a cover, so to speak, of the entire series. Eventually, on the back of each card there is the name of the brand with the famous Juncosa label containing 4s of cups.

FIVE BLACK AND WHITE POSTCARDS dedicated to the Italo-Turkish War and numbered (we have n. 4/5/10/24/49), thus belonging to a larger set. The cards show Italian military personnel and facilities as well as combat. At the bottom edge of the rectangle appears a brief description of the photo, reproduced in three languages: Italian, French and English. They look like postcards that could really be mailed and on two of the five, the back provides printing indication: Traldi & C. – 16 VIA FONTANA – MILAN. Traldi was known at the time as a printer of historical postcards (there are, for example, later series on Istria, Dalmatia etc.).

These PHOTOGRAPHIC POSTCARDS are clearly part of an unnumbered series: “Guerra Italo-Turca". They are realistic and focused on the desert and artillery pieces. The basic theme is military operations. The appearance and quality of the photos, which are identical to those produced by Traldi in three languages, suggest the same printer (but these pictures are for national use only).

TWO POSTCARDS are related to the railway theme: the first represents in bright colors the first Italian locomotive crossing the Libyan soil and the Arabs’ curiosity and astonishment; the second is a postcard produced by the Associazione Ferrovieri Italiani in favor of the families of those killed and injured in the war.

VARIOUS POSTCARDS in cartoony style for the most part some (as those featured here) actually mailed showing crucial military events of the Italo-Turkish War.

Although the first photographic departments of the army were established in 1896, the Italo-Turkish War represented the first great opportunity to apply all of the possibilities of photography to military situations. The Photographic Military Section initially located its headquarters in Tripoli; later on, two other teams were created in Benghazi and Zuara. Photographers produced snapshots of tactical importance, working from dirigibles and airplanes to provide the Italian command with accurate data on the military equipment of the Arabic-Turkish forces. Photos of the battlefield were also taken by newspaper correspondents and by professional photographers, such as Luca Comerio, who aimed at documenting the weapons at the disposal of the Italian troops and at celebrating their superiority. These images were soon transformed into large series of postcards. Photography was thus a fundamental means of creating the imagination of the war, emphasizing the experience of the conflict as a heroic adventure, in contrast with the reality of the bloody combats that were taking place. Many photographs were reproduced in illustrated journals. In 1913 the publishing house of the Treves brothers released a Portfolio of the Italo-Turkish War for the conquest of Libya 1911-1912, which consisted mainly of epic photos that had previously appeared in the periodical L’Illustrazione Italiana.

Eventually, photography was also used for subversive and polemic means to denounce the horrors of the war and the abuses perpetrated by Italian soldiers against the indigenous population. As early as 1911, the socialist journalist Paolo Valera published the pamphlet The days of Shara Shatt photographed, which collected pictures of the cruel Italian reprisal against civilians at Shara Shatt, after the Arab rebellion, and sold 100,000 copies.

Album belonging to General Carlo Caneva, the supreme commander of Italian forces in Libya during the 1911-1912 Italo-Turkish War. It contains 26 large-format photos (most of them taken in Benghazi), all well described, which convey a mix of ethnographic and military information. Photos include: rare pictures of the first locomotives sent to Libya; the Italian base of operations at the new Grand Palazzo; street scenes with streets shown by name; the funeral of a local notable; several shots of the interior of a synagogue during prayer; extinguishing a fire at al-Suk el-Dlam (“the Dark Market" bazaar in the coastal town of Derna); farming; a Sudanese village in Benghazi; building homes for the Italians; Customs House; building homes for Italian Customs officials under military supervision; a military radio station in Merg; Sudanese costumes.

Album belonging to Count Pompeo di Campello, a cavalry officer during the Libyan Campaign (October 9th – May 28th 1912). Count Pompeo di Campello (1874-1927) was the son of Marie Bonaparte (daughter of Napoleon’s nephew, Charles Lucien Bonaparte) and the Roman nobleman Count Paolo Campello della Spina. Given the quality of the photos (247) and the fact that they were done with different format cameras, we can assume that Campello was a very good photographer. At the same time it is very likely that, like General Caneva, he collected in his album photos taken by professional photographers following the campaign. All the photos – which track the war from the very first day the troops landed, though the major battles – are also legibly described in detail and some are presented full-page. The Count himself appears in numerous pictures: at the beginning, for instance, he is shown with Captain Badoglio (the future conqueror of Ethiopia) in Naples, the day he embarks for Libya. He boards with his two horses, Glaspi and Melso, and reaches Tripoli on October 14th. He accompanies the 6th Infantry Regiment and reaches the front at Al Gurgi on the 18th.

An Insight into the Shara Shatt Massacre

THE MILITARY FACTS – In contrast with the Italians’ expectations, the Libyan population not only did not welcomed Italians but resisted, joined the Turks and rose up, as in Shara Shatt, a suburb of Tripoli (October 23rd), where more than 500 Bersaglieri were massacred. The most critical situation for the Italian army stemmed from the 27th Battalion which, deployed around Shara Shatt, soon found itself in serious trouble, because of attacks suddenly perpetrated at its back by the local population: the 4th company was forced to retreat to the cemetery of Rebab, where the soldiers barricaded themselves until they surrendered. The 5th company instead retreated to Tripoli, being constantly hounded by the attackers and under fire, since the local population was shooting from every house; they reported heavy casualties. Prisoners of both the 4th and 5th companies were interned in the cemetery of Rebab and massacred: Italian soldiers were crucified on the ground, left dead and unburied; many of them had their eyes sewn closed or were buried alive or had their genitals cut off.

A REBELLION TURNED INTO TREACHERY – When the Italians reconquered that area and discovered the massacre (October 24th), their reaction was fierce. They started to check every single Arab house and then to survey the whole oasis. Whoever was found in possession of weapons was immediately killed and individuals considered dangerous were arrested and escorted to Tripoli; during the three following days (October 25th-27th) a real manhunt against the Arabs took place, followed by rapes, shootings, burnings, more than 4,000 summary executions of civilians (men, women and children), and deportation.

PUBLIC OPINION – These events consolidated Italian public opinion behind the view that in Libya it was permissible to resort to repression against the insurgents; while the international press, especially Anglo-American, condemned the Italian reaction: the voices of Bennet Burleigh from the Daily Telegraph, McCullagh from the New York World, Grant from the Daily Mirror, or Davis from the Morning Post, were particularly harsh. In Italy, only the socialist journalist Paolo Valera printed, in a hundred thousand copies, a pamphlet entitled Le giornate di Sciara Sciat fotografate (The days of Shara Shatt photographed), which represented an indictment against Giolitti and General Caneva. In the thirty-two pages that made up this lost volume, in fact, were collected pictures of the most atrocious repression perpetrated against the local population.

CAMPELLO, PHOTOS FROM THE MASSACRE – Unfortunately, the surviving images of the massacre of the Bersaglieri, as well as those documenting the Italian reprisals against the civilians, are few and difficult to find: despite the fact that many images of these facts began to circulate in Italy, often through the postcards sent by the soldiers, they were soon prevented by censorship. Images of dead Italian soldiers and of their misdeeds were not tolerated by the Italian government. On the other hand, other kinds of photos and postcards started to be widely distributed, photos whose iconographic message emphasized the order that the Italian troops were bringing to the colony after the critical moment of Shara Shatt. The pictures of Count Campello make no exception: in some of them, the firing squad seems to have struck a pose specifically for the photographer, with the bodies of civilians just shot lying at their feet.

Album by Angelo Cormanni, with the “3° Genio Telegrafati" during the Italo-Turkish War.

About the Battle of March 12th 1912:
An example of propagandistic misinterpretation, from the perspective of a simple soldier

The battle of March 12th referred to in this page as a “glorious fight" for the Italian army was, in truth, a negative moment of the Italian’s army’s Libyan campaign. Indeed, it was one of the first engagements of the newly formed Ottoman-Sanusi joint staff, which effectively stopped the Italian advance into the interior. The help of the Libyan Sanusi order (an Islamic mystical brotherhood based in the Cyrenaica) was so valuable in fighting the Italians that the Ottoman government dispatched the Young Turk officer Enver Pasha to Cyrenaica as an advisor to the Sanusi resistance. Other important Turkish officers followed (including Mustafa Kemal, the future leader of Turkey) and contributed to the reorganization of the Sanusi order and of the local Bedouin tribes into the Ottoman military system.