Chapter 43: A Knife in the Back (3)

When have the proud Britons ever suffered such a loss?

In their eyes, they are the only ones who reap the benefits of others. How can they allow others to reap their own benefits? The British government was very dissatisfied with being speculated by the Jewish consortium on the issue of sterling and gold, and it would be simply intolerable to start a fight over the oil issue. Although the three oilfield companies were not government properties, they were closely related to the government, so Baldwin decided to retaliate. .

The reason for retaliation is not limited to some economic interests, but more importantly, it is a test of Libya - this colony is closely connected with Egypt. The British originally thought it was a barren land and had no great interest in it, but now that oil has been discovered, , the situation is quite different. It has high economic value and strategic significance instantly. More importantly, in the eyes of the British, Italy is much easier to deal with than the French, not to mention that there are tribal armed resistance in Libya itself. Italy only officially owns the entire Libya, but actually only controls the northern coast. A 100-200 kilometer long strip area, or more simply, it is only controlled in a small area around a few isolated strongholds such as Tripoli, Benghazi, and Tobruk, and the rest is not included in the formal regulations at all.

"We have made contact. Perhaps you have heard of this person, his name is Omar Mukhtar..." Chamberlain introduced, "Currently he is the core of the Cyrenaica resistance, with a highly mobile Bedouin force. The number of camel cavalry is not very large, probably between 800-1,000 at most. The other main armed forces are groups of tribal militiamen, usually disguised as obedient civilians, armed with a variety of variegated weapons. Once the Italians When people are alone or in trouble, these seemingly harmless tribal civilians will immediately come to add insult to injury.

Baldwin recalled it carefully and nodded: "I remembered it. I heard that this person is related to Kemal?"

"When the Turks and Italy were fighting, Mukhtar and Kemal were friends, but now..." Chamberlain shook his head, "I'm afraid the previous relationship will never be restored. The current relationship between Turkey and Italy Very close."

It is completely wrong to say that Italian imperialism will not expand. In fact, Italy has made three relatively obvious expansion moves: the first was between 1889 and 1896, when Italy occupied Italian Somalia and Italian Eritrea, and gained control of Africa. It then used it as a base to continue to expand towards the Mediterranean - Egypt did not dare to touch it, but Abyssinia. As everyone knows, Italy failed completely in 1896, and then ended the first wave of expansion. ;

The second wave of expansion began with the Italian-Turkish dispute in 1912. Italy and Ottoman Turkey competed for Libya. It was considered a relatively important war before the outbreak of World War I. It profoundly changed the history of the future. It was precisely because of the sharp conflicts between Italian-speaking Turkey and the conflict between Italy and Turkey. There were also territorial disputes between Austria and Hungary, and all of these disputes and conflicts were "recognized" by the Allies - many of them were hollow dumplings. However, the Italian government and high-level officials were extremely excited at the time, which eventually led Italy to abandon the Allies and join the Allies.

During the Italian-Turkey dispute, Mukhtar led more than 20 young men to ambush a small group of Italian cavalry and embarked on the road of armed resistance. At this time, a detachment led by Turkish officer Kemal was attacking the Italian garrison near Benghazi. Based on the principle of mutual cooperation, Mukhtar took the initiative to defect to his command and was accepted.

Kemal once had this description of Mukhtar: "Italians believe that the place where only poisonous snakes can survive is precisely the paradise for their fighting. Many times, when I doubt that my team will die of thirst in the depths of the desert , Mukhtar can always find a way out for everyone." This evaluation fully illustrates Turkey's combat model. They rely on small units to cooperate with the Libyan guerrillas to deliberately lure the Italian encirclement and suppression army into the hinterland of the desert, and then skillfully move it out. , leaving the Italians to die of exhaustion in the desert.

Although the two sides fought fairly smoothly, the Turks were on the wrong side. The bloody battles of Mukhtar, Kemal and others could not change the outcome of the war. As a defeated country in World War I, Turkey eventually fought with Britain, France, Italy, Greece and many other countries signed the "Treaty of Lausanne", completely giving up Egypt, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya and other places that were formerly part of the Ottoman Empire, and recognizing the British annexation of Cyprus and Italy's annexation of the Zozekanisos Islands. Italy got what it wanted. Libya. When Kemal had to return home, he specifically asked Mukhtar and others for their opinions, hoping to go with him to Istanbul, but Mukhtar firmly replied: "My homeland is precious in the world!"

In order to win the Italian-Turkish War, the Italians creatively used aircraft in combat and carried out bombing operations for the first time - this was also the root of Italy's later obsession with strategic bombing and the birth of Douhet, the authority on air supremacy theory. When it comes to innovative spirit, Italians are not lacking. What Italians lack is down-to-earth work enthusiasm and style. Of course, weak national strength also limits Italy's efforts.

As for the third expansion, it has already shown signs: Italy occupied Albania in the late World War I, and later Albania ceded Saza Island to Italy in exchange for Italy's withdrawal. In history, in April 1939, before Germany completely annexed Czechoslovakia and attacked Poland, Italy dispatched more than 40,000 troops to occupy Albania in a blitzkrieg manner and announced that the country would be included in the protection - this move was also recognized by Britain and France, which was a significant achievement of Italy's expansion in Europe. However, Contini is not in the mood to care about Albania now. He does not think that it is a good choice for Italy to rashly intervene in the Balkan powder keg. His main attention is still on Libya.

And now, the British have also begun to focus on Libya.

"Since he is valued by Kemal, it means he has outstanding qualities. I wonder what he thinks about the current relationship between Italy and Turkey?"

"He thinks it through very thoroughly. This is because Italy and Turkey have common interests in opposing Greece. It is not necessarily true that Turkey is willing to give up Libya. Of course, he understands Kemal and will not ask the Turks for help at present..."

"It seems that he is a man who knows his limits. He can now gain a better and more powerful force - the friendship of Great Britain. What does he think about this?" Baldwin asked.

"It's very complicated and intriguing..." Chamberlain shook his head, "It's different from what we have encountered before..."

"Tell me about it." Baldwin immediately became interested.