¹ The best account is probably Toscano, M., Il Patto di Londra (Bologna, 1934).Google Scholar

² Beer, G. L., African Questions at the Peace Conference (New York, 1923), pp. 395–2.Google Scholar

³ Ministero delle Colonie, Direzione Generale degli Affari Politici e dei Servizi relativi alle Truppe coloniali, Affrica Italiana: Programma massimo e Programma minimo di Sistemazione dei Possedimenti italiani nell'Affrica orientate e settentrionale, Rome, Tipografia del Senato di Giovanni Bardi, 1917–1920, four volumes. Confidential Series Number 9. Secret edition of fifty copies. Hereafter referred to as A.I.Google Scholar

⁴ Toscano, M., ‘Il Problema coloniale italiano alla Conferenza della Pace’ in Rivista di Studi Politici Internazionali, IV (1937), 263–97.Google Scholar

⁵ Toscano seldom interprets. At the conclusion of his essay, however, he wrote, ‘The definitive settlement of our colonies in East Africa … had to be realized in a totalitarian way.’ (P. 295.)Google Scholar

⁶ Salata, F., Il Nodo di Gibuti (Milan, 1939). The text of the war-time colonial programme as formulated by the Colonial Ministry is given verbatim (pp. 264–76).Google Scholar

⁷ Costanzo, G. A, La Politica italiana per l'Africa orientale (Rome, 1957).Google Scholar

⁸ The full text of the Agreement appears in Sir Hertslet, E., The Map of Africa by Treaty (London, 1909), 3rd ed., 11, 440–4.Google Scholar By the terms of Article 4, France was concerned with the Djibouti–Addis Ababa railway; England wished to be certain of the status of the headwaters of the Nile; and Italy desired a vague ‘territorial union’ by means of an undefined corridor connecting Eritrea and Somalia somewhere west of Addis Ababa. A.I., 1, 86–7, confidential memorandum from Agnesa to the Minister of Colonies and the Under-Secretary of State for Colonies, Rome, 15 August 1913.Google Scholar

⁹ Archivio del ex-Ministero dell'Africa italiana, pos. 171/3, f. 22, confidential minutes of a colloquium between Agnesa and Rennell Rodd, Rome, 20 December 1913. Rennell Rodd makes no mention of these talks in his memoirs. Hereafter the Archives will be referred to as A.M.A.I.Google Scholar

¹⁰ A.M.A.I., pos. 171/3, f. 22, confidential minutes of a colloquium between Agnesa and Rennell Rodd, Rome, 20 July 1914.Google Scholar

¹¹ A.M.A.I., pos. 171/3, f. 22, memorandum on Kismayu dated ‘1914’, p. 15.Google Scholar

¹² Ibid., p. 192. In the twenty-one years of Italian administration in Somalia, little had been done to improve the territory's port facilities; large European ships had to load and unload offshore and have their cargoes ferried across the reef to the beach at Mogadishu or Brava. Kismayu, unlike Mogadishu or Brava, had a natural sheltered bay, where investments in harbour construction would have more value than elsewhere.Google Scholar

¹³ A.I., 1, 1–2, draft of a letter from the Director-General of Political Affairs to the Minister of Colonies, November 1914.Google Scholar

¹⁴ A.I., 11–1, 209–10, letter no. 9683 from Minister of Colonies Colosimo to Foreign Minister Sonnino formulating maximum and minimum colonial programmes (secret), Rome, 15 November 1916.Google Scholar

¹⁵ Ibid.Google Scholar

¹⁶ A.I., 11–1, 212, memorandum on East Africa appended to letter no. 9683.Google Scholar

¹⁷ A.I., 11–1, 213–16, memorandum entitled ‘Maximum Program: East Africa’ appended to letter no. 9683.Google Scholar

¹⁸ A.I., 11–1, 218, memorandum entitled ‘Maximum Program: North Africa’ appended to letter no. 9683.Google Scholar

¹⁹ A.I., 11–1, 209–10, letter no. 9683. Here I would disagree with Costanzo, who claims that Italy had ever been aiming at full valorizzazione of her Eritrean and Somali colonies. A.M.A.I. documents indicate that the Itlian goal had been Ethiopia, and that Eritrea and Somalia were regarded only as means to that end.Google Scholar

²⁰ A.I., 11–1, 657–62, letter no. 80 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (secret), Rome, 4 January 1917.Google Scholar

²¹ Toscano, ‘Il Problema coloniale italiano alla Conferenza della Pace’, pp. 272–3.Google Scholar

²² A.I., 11–1, 665–7, letter no 5 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies (confidential), Rome, 7 February 1917.Google Scholar

²³ Ibid.Google Scholar

²⁴ A.I., 11–1, 669–75, letter no. 1127 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (secret), Rome, 24 February 1917.Google Scholar

²⁵ A.I., 11–2, 87–8, letter no. 1546 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foregin Minister (secret), Rome, 10 March 1918.Google Scholar

²⁶ A.I., 11–2, 64–71, letter no. 1017 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (confidential, urgent), Rome, 25 February 1918.Google Scholar

²⁷ A.I., 11–2, 88, letter no. 1546.Google Scholar

²⁸ A.I., 11–2, 94–8, report no. 1120-bis/363 from the Ambassador in London to the Foreign Minister, London, 23 March 1918.Google Scholar

²⁹ A.I., 11–2, 99–100, report no. 1190/371 from the Ambassador in Paris to the Foreign Minister, Paris, 25 March 1918.Google Scholar

³⁰ Cf. Toscano, op. cit., p. 273.Google Scholar

³¹ Piazza, G., La Nostra Pace Coloniale (Rome, 1917), based on the journalist's articles in the Rome Tribuna, the Rivista Coloniale, and the Nuova Antologia from June 1916 to March 1917, is a good case in point. Piazza claims to ‘characterize decisively and courageously the ‘objectives’ of the war. … Any Italian Government which does not see this … would undo the outcome of the war.’ (P. 6.)Google Scholar

³² Rosso, G. A., I Diritti d'Italia Oltremare (Rome, 1916), pp. 50–1, 60–1, 74–9.Google Scholar

³³ Caroselli, F. S., L'Affrica nella Guerra e nella Pace d'Europe, 1911–19— (Milan, 1958), pp. 393–4.Google Scholar

³⁴ Ibid., p. 360.Google Scholar

³⁵ Caroselli continued to rise through the ranks of the Colonial Service in the years that followed. From 1937 to 1940 he served as Governor of Somalia. After the Second World War he acted as President of the Committee for the Documentation of Italy's Work in Africa, heir to the Archives of the ex-Ministry of Colonies (A.M.A.I.).Google Scholar

³⁶ A.I., 11–2, 135–9, report no. 28 from Colli, Italian Consul in Ethiopia, to the Foreign Minister (confidential), Addis Ababa, 5 April 1918.Google Scholar

³⁷ A.I., 11–2, 148–54, letter no. 3245 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (secret), Rome, 1 June 1918.Google Scholar

³⁸ A.I., 11–2, 340–7, letter no. 3066 from the Minister of Colonies to the Governor of Tripolitania (highly confidential), Rome, 31 May 1918.Google Scholar

³⁹ A.I., 11–2, 364–5, letter no. 3411 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (confidential, personal), Rome, 3 June 1918; 192–8, letter from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 7 June 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁰ A.I., 11–2, 213, telegram no. 192 from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 4 October 1918; 222–4, ‘Conditions of an Armistice with Turkey’, annex to letter no. 3320/5 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies (confidential), Rome, 19 October 1918; 228–31, letter no. 6891 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (confidential), Rome, 22 October 2918.Google Scholar

⁴¹ A.I., 11–2, 262–3, telegram from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies (confidential), Paris, NOvember 1918.Google Scholar

⁴² A.I., 11–2, 233–53, letter and memorandum from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister (confidential), Rome, 30 October 1918. Official translation into English as read by Colonel House.Google Scholar

⁴³ A.I., 11–2, 271–2, letter no. 16488 from Acting Foreign Minister Aranzoni to the Minister of Colonies, Rome, 18 November 1918, containing text of telegram no. 101 from the Minister in Addis Ababa, 11 November 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁴ A.I., 11–2, 273, letter no. 16486 from the Foreign Ministry to the Minister of Colonies, Rome, 18 NOvember 1918, containing text of telegram no. 100 from the Minister in Addis Ababa, 15 November 1958.Google Scholar

⁴⁵ A.I., 11–2, 278–81, memorandum on Ethiopia from the Minister of Colonies to Secretary-General De Martino of the Foreign Ministry, 22 NOvember 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁶ A.I., 11–2, 306–7, letter no. 22473 from Minister of War Zupelli to the Colonial Minister, Rome, 30 NOvember 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁷ A.I., 11–2, 308–10, memorandum entitled ‘The French and English Colonial Programmes, 20 November 1918, attached to letter no. 22473.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ A.I., 11–2, 318–20, minutes of a colloquium between Agnesa and the British Representative in Ethiopia, Thesiger, Rome, 29 November 1918.Google Scholar

⁴⁹ A.I., 11–2, letter no. 39517/355 from De Martino to the Minister of Colonies, Rome, 11 December 1918.Google Scholar

⁵⁰ A.I., 11–2, 364–5, telegram no. 1772 from the Ambassador in London, 24 December 1918.Google Scholar

⁵¹ A.I., 11–2, 389, telegram from the Foreign Minister to the Minister in Addis Ababa (highly confidential), 4–5 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵² A.I., 11–3, 12–13, letter no. 499 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister, Rome, 23 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵³ A.I., 11–3, 15–18, letter no. 553 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (highly confidential), Rome, 24 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵⁴ A.I., 11–3, 21, telegram from the Minister of Colonies to Marchese Salvaggo Raggi, Italian Delegate to the Peace Conference, Rome, 28 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵⁵ A.I., 11–3, 25–6, telegram no. 261 from Salvaggo Raggi to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 28 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵⁶ A.I., 11–3, 27–9, telegram no. 365 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (personal), Rome, 29 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵⁷ A.I., 11–3, 31, letter no. 1013 from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 29 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁵⁸ Stefanini, G., Le Risorse idriche della Somalia italiana e l'Avvenire della Colonia (Rome, 1919).Google Scholar

⁵⁹ A.I., 11–3, 33–4, telegram no. 1013 from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 29 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁰ A.I., 11–3, 35, telegram no. 1032 from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Colonies (confidential), Paris, 29 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁶¹ A.I., 11–3, 38, telegram from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Colonies (personal), Paris, 30 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁶² A.I., 11–3, 43–5, telegram no. 1099 from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 31 January 1919.Google Scholar

⁶³ A.I., 11–3, 56–7, telegram no. 490 from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Colonies (highly confidential), Paris, 2 FEbruary 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁴ A.I., 11–3, 59–60, personal letter from Orlando to Colosimo, Paris, 2 February 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁵ A.I., 11–3, 77–9, letter no. 1270 from the Minister of Colonies to Salvaggo Raggi, Rome, 5 February 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁶ A.I., 11–3, 81, letter no. 1274 from the Minister of Colonies to Salvaggo Raggi, Rome, 5 February 1919; 143–7, letter no. 4011 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Rome, February 1919; 135–6, letter no. 1318 from the Colonial Minister to the Foreign Minister (confidential), Rome, 21 February 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁷ A.I., 11–3, 247–51, letter no. 1890 from the Minister of Colonies to the Italian Delegation at Paris (confidential), Rome, 16 March 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁸ A.I., 11–3, 299–300, letter no. 2585 fr⊙m the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister, Rome, 11 April 1919.Google Scholar

⁶⁹ A.I., 11–3, 332–4, letter no. 5306 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister, Rome, 11 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁰ A.I., 11–3, 346–9, letter no. 8885 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Rome, 13 May 1919. Contains the 18 April Report of the Italian Ambassador in Paris.Google Scholar

⁷¹ A.I., 11–3, letter from the Prime Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 15 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷² A.I., 11–3, 358–61, letter no.5491 from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 15 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷³ De Martino had served as Italian Governor of Somalia from 1910 to 1916; in 1919 he was the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Crespi served in Orlando's Cabinet as head of the war-time Ministry of Supplies. Piacentini was a career officer in the Colonial Ministry.Google Scholar

⁷⁴ A.I., 11–3, 363–4, letter no. 2201 from De Martino to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 16 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁵ A.I., 11–3, 366–7, letter no. 536 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 16 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁶ A.I., 11–3, 382–5, letter no. 552 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 20 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁷ A.I., 11–3, 383–5, letter no. 552 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 20 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁸ A.I., 11–3, 399–400, letter no. 5959 from the Minister of Colonies to the Prime Minister, Rome, 25 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁷⁹ A.I., 11–3, 422–3, letter no. 6115 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister, Rome, 30 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁸⁰ A.I., 11–3, 424–7, letter no. 622 from the Foreign Minister to the Minister of Colonies, Paris, 31 May 1919.Google Scholar

⁸¹ A.I., 11–3, 547–8, letter no. 2144 from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister, Rome, 16 June 1919.Google Scholar

⁸² A.M.A.I., pos. 161/1, f. 5, letter from the Minister of Colonies to the Foreign Minister (confidential, personal), Rome, 3 June 1918.Google Scholar

⁸³ A.M.A.I., pos. 161/1, f. 5, personal letter from Colosimo to Orlando, Rome, 7 June 1918.Google Scholar