Italian Cyrenaica Italian Cyrenaica Italian Cyrenaica was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya, that existed from 1912 to 1934. It was part of the Italian North African territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire in 1911. The administrative capital was Benghazi. Italian Cyrenaica was formed in 1927, after it and Italian Tripolitania became independent colonial entities within Italian North Africa. In 1934, Italian Cyrenaica became part of Italian Libya. In the 1920s, Cyrenaica was the scene of fighting between Italian colonial forces and Libyan rebels who were fighting for independence from colonial rule. In 1931, the rebel independence leader Omar Mukhtar
Eritrean–Ethiopian border conflict capital Addis Ababa. The occupied country was annexed into the Italian East African colony together with the other Italian east African colonies. On 10June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France; in March 1941 Britain began a campaign to capture the Italian-held territory in the region. By November, the British had occupied the whole Italian East African colony. However thousands Italian soldiers started a guerrilla warfare in their former colony which lasted until October 1943. Ethiopia regained its independence, and Eritrea was placed under Britain military administration. After the war there was a debate as to what would happen