Le commissioni del dopoguerra e la questione coloniale: il caso libico

The First World War ended with a heavy defeat in Libya for Italy. In 1915, the Italian army had to withdraw from the Libyan inner regions; at the end of the last years of the conflict (1918), Rome controled only three cities: Tripoli, Khums and Zuwāra. Moreover, Italy had to face the anticolonial propaganda, fed by the Wilsonian ideas and the Arab nationalism widespread in North Africa. Those circumstances forced Italy to reshape its colonial policies, based on a racial hierarchic system. The essay examines the public debate about the colonial reforms held in the postwar commissions. In particular, it focuses on two issues: the education of the Libyans and the citizenship laws.