Tripolitanian Republic over Libya by 1930. Originally administered as part of a single colony, Italian Tripolitania was a separate colony from 26 June 1927 to 3 December 1934, when it was merged into Libya. Tripolitanian Republic After World War I, an Arab republic, "al-Jumhuriyat at-Trabulsiya", or the "Tripolitanian Republic", declared the independence of Tripolitania from Italian Libya. The proclamation of the Tripolitanian Republic in autumn 1918 was followed by a formal declaration of independence at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference. The idea began in the city of Misrata following a meeting of Sulayman al-Baruni, Ramadan Asswehly, Abdul Nabi Belkheir and Ahmad Almarid.
Italian ironclad Formidabile December 1860, originally ordered by the Navy of the Kingdom of Sardinia. She was launched on 1 October 1861 and was completed in May 1862; by this time, the Sardinian fleet had been reformed as the "Regia Marina" (Royal Navy) of the newly unified Kingdom of Italy. In June 1866, Italy declared war on Austria, as part of the Third Italian War of Independence, which was fought concurrently with the Austro-Prussian War. The Italian fleet commander, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, initially adopted a cautious course of action; he was unwilling to risk battle with the Austrian Navy, despite the