Notice bibliographique
- Notice
Type(s) de contenu et mode(s) de consultation : Texte noté. Image fixe : sans médiation
Auteur(s) : Stephenson, Charles (1954-....)
Titre(s) : A box of sand [Texte imprimé] : the Italo-Ottoman War 1911-1912 : the first land, sea and air war / Charles Stephenson
Publication : Ticehurst : Tattered Flag Press, 2014
Description matérielle : viii, 296 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Comprend : The sick man ; Making Italy and making Italians ; The donkey and the minaret ;
Adriatic veto ; The Italian's land ; The Battle of Tripoli ; 'The jaws of the Sahara'
; The Italians advance ; Deadlock ; 'Nations have no friends, they only have interests'
; Navalism ; The southern Sporades, the Dardanelles, and the limits of navalism
; The Iron Dice Roll ; Peace? ; Retrospect : The Italian Army and the politicians
1911-1912 ; Ultimatum from Italy to Turkey regarding Tripoli 28 September 1911 ;
The curious case of Osman Mahdi ; The Italian Campaign and the Principles of War.
Note(s) : Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-293) and index
This is the first book in the English language to offer an analysis of a conflict
that, in so many ways, raised the curtain on the Great War. In September 1911, Italy
declared war on the once mighty, transcontinental, Ottoman Empire--but it was an Empire
in decline. The ambitious Italy decided to add to her growing African empire by attacking
Ottoman-ruled Tripoli (Libya). The Italian action began the rapid fall of the Ottoman
Empire, which would end with its disintegration at the end of the First World War.
The day after Ottoman Turkey made peace with Italy in October 1912, the Balkan League
attacked in the First Balkan War. The Italo-Ottoman War, as a prelude to the unprecedented
hostilities that would follow, has so many firsts and pointers to the awful future:
the first three-dimensional war with aerial reconnaissance and bombing, and he first
use of armoured vehicles, operating in concert with conventional ground and naval
forces; war fever whipped up by the Italian press; military incompetence and stalemate;
lessons in how not to fight a guerrilla war; mass death from disease and thousands
more from reprisals and executions. Over thirty thousands men would die in a struggle
for what may be described as little more than a scatalone di sabbia--a box of sand.
As historian Charles Stephenson portrays in this book, if there is an exemplar of
the futility of war, this is it. Apart from the loss of life and the huge cost to
Italy (much higher than was originally envisaged), the eventual outcome was the halving
of the Libyan population through emigration, famine and casualties. The Italo-Ottoman
War was a conflict overshadowed by the Great War--but one which in many ways presaged
the horrors to come
Sujet(s) : Guerre turco-italienne (1911-1912)
Identifiants, prix et caractéristiques : ISBN 9780957689220. - ISBN 0957689225
Identifiant de la notice : ark:/12148/cb44294167r
Notice n° :
FRBNF44294167
(notice reprise d'un réservoir extérieur)
