Forgacs, David. “Two Italian Colonial Massacres”

In the chapter “Two Italian Colonial Massacres”, historian David Forgacs analyses two forgotten events of Italian Colonialism: the massacre of Tripoli in 1911, and the Massacre of Addis Abeba in 1937. He identifies the similarities and differences in the dynamics of the two massacres.

First, Forgacs examines the genocide perpetrated by the Regio Esercito, the royal army, in Libya, against the Arab population, during the invasion of Ottoman Tripolitania in 1911. Given the Ottoman presence, Italians envisioned themselves as liberators for the Arabs, expecting strong support from them. However, on October 23rd, 1911, the Arabs fought alongside the Turkish army. This led to a massive and extremely violent reprisal by the Italians. Forgacs explores the vastly different press reports about the massacres that were provided by the Italian media versus the international media. While the Italian press reported around 100 dead, amongst which only armed men, the foreign press reported around 1000 deaths, including civilians. The killing methods were brutal, with mass executions into ditches. Moreover, many people were deported to Italian islands. Forgacs interrogates the enabling factors of the massacre, such as feelings of anger and betrayal, the dehumanization of the Arab population, and the sense of power and pleasure in killing without rules and social taboos. Forgacs underlines how the international press justified the violence, casting it as a seemingly legitimate response in the context of the war.

For what concerns the Addis Abeba massacre, the dynamics were different, as Forgacs shows. The fascist occupation of Ethiopia was precarious, since there was a very active resistance movement. On February the 18th 1937, the assassination attempt against marshal Rodolfo Graziani created the excuse for a reprisal that lasted 3 days. Communications were cut in order to hide the massacre, but foreign media and, later, eyewitness testimonies, both Italian and foreign, reported the brutality of the events. Forgacs highlights that the main perpetrators of the genocide of Addis Abeba were blackshirts, the Fascist militia. Forgacs determines that the fear of the resistance and insurrectionists, the dehumanization of the victims and the Fascist culture of violence were factors that facilitated the brutality of the massacre.

In his conclusion, Forgacs discusses the impunity and lack of memory that followed the two massacres. Italy was able to build a pervasive narrative that erased the violent episodes of Italian colonialism. He discusses the monuments for the fallen soldiers in Libya as an example of the manipulation of history. Moreover, the birth of the Republic permitted the erasure of the colonial events from the collective memory, and less than 20 years after their occurrence, they were perceived as distant. However, other countries and institutions like the League of Nations and the UN, also inhibited possible trials for the war crimes perpetrated by Italy during colonialism. The role of Britain was especially relevant, according to Forgacs. Since 1970s, with the work of historians like Del Boca, Rochat and Labanca, gradually, there is more awareness about Italian colonial violence, nevertheless, there has as of yet not been an official apology or acknowledgement by the government.

Author of this entry: Chiara Ausiello.

Forgacs, David. “Two Italian Colonial Massacres.” Italy and the Military: Cultural Perspectives from Unification to Contemporary Italy, 2020, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 179-203.