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[[File:Karl Schwabe, 3 x Afrika (216e).jpg|thumb|Spahis in Italian Libya, 1930s]]
'''Italian Spahis''' were [[light cavalry]] colonial troops of the [[Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)|Kingdom of Italy]], raised in [[Italian Libya]] between 1912 and 1942.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/jsp/schede/videoPlayer.jsp?tipologia=&id=&physDoc=12706&db=cinematograficoCINEGIORNALI&findIt=false&section=%2F |title=Original Italian Video of Spahis in Libya |access-date=2020-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304064032/http://www.archivioluce.com/archivio/jsp/schede/videoPlayer.jsp?tipologia=&id=&physDoc=12706&db=cinematograficoCINEGIORNALI&findIt=false&section=%2F |archive-date=2016-03-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Characteristics==

The Italian colonial administration of [[Libya]] raised squadrons of locally recruited Spahi cavalry immediately following the occupation of [[Libya]], during the [[Italo-Turkish War]] of (1911–1912).

These differed from their [[Spahi|French namesakes]] in that their prime role was that of mounted police, tasked with patrolling rural and desert areas, plus providing escorts and scouts. The name is the French form of the Ottoman word [[sipahi]], a word originally derived from Middle Persian term ''Spah'' meaning "army", or "horsemen".

Although they had Italian officers these spahis were more loosely organised than the regular Libyan cavalry regiments ([[Savari]]). Newly enlisted spahis brought their own horses with them, in return for a government grant. They usually wore a picturesque dress modelled on that of the desert tribesmen from whom they were recruited.<ref>Plates I & IV, "Under Italian Libya's Burning Sun", The National Geographic Magazine August 1925</ref>

==History==

Initially raised as tribal irregulars in 1916-19 to combat the [[Senussi]] resistance to the Italian annexation of coastal Libya, the Spahis were deployed along the Tunisian frontier in an effort to block the flow of weapons from French territory. Unlike their French Algerian and Moroccan [[Spahi|counterparts]] (regular colonial cavalry also known as spahis) the Italian Spahis served as skirmishing auxiliaries armed with rifles but not sabres.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gabriele|last=Esposito|page=37|title=Italian Colonial Troops 1882-1960|date=24 May 2022 |isbn=9781472851260}}</ref>

Following reorganisation in the 1920s, Italian Spahis formed part of the ''Regio Corpo Truppe Coloniali'' of Libya ([[Royal Corps of Libyan Colonial Troops]]), which included desert and [[camel troops]], infantry battalions, artillery and cavalry. The Truppe Coloniali saw extensive service during the Italian conquest of [[Tripolitania]] and mainly contributed to the full control of [[Cyrenaica]] & [[Fezzan]], which was not completed until 1932. Subsequently, they patrolled the border areas of Italian Libya. Throughout their history the Italian Spahis were recruited almost entirely from Tripolitania; an attempt in 1927-29 to raise detachments in Cyrenaica to patrol the frontier with Egypt proving unsucessful because of a failure to obtain willing recruits.<ref>{{cite book|first=Gabriele|last=Esposito|pages=37–38|title=Italian Colonial Troops 1882-1960|date=24 May 2022 |isbn=9781472851260}}</ref>

In 1936 Spahis and other Libyan units took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and received a "Gold Medal of Honor" for their distinguished performance in battle <ref>[http://www.quirinale.it/elementi/DettaglioOnorificenze.aspx?decorato=18409 Medal of Military Honor]</ref>

===The Spahis of Amedeo Guillet===

The Italian officer [[Amedeo Guillet]] commanded a "[[Bands (Italian Army irregulars)|gruppo]]" of spahi irregular cavalry in Libya during 1934. The following year he and his Libyan spahis took part in the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|Invasion of Ethiopia]].

==World War II==

On the eve of Italy's entry into World War II the Royal Corps of Libyan Colonial Troops comprised approximately 28,000 locally recruited personnel, including nearly one thousand Spahis. In 1940-41 the existing four squadrons of Spahis were expanded to nine, organised in three ''Gruppo Squadroni'' (Groups of Squadrons).<ref>{{cite book|first=Gabriele|last=Esposito|page=37|title=Italian Colonial Troops 1882-1960|date=24 May 2022 |isbn=9781472851260}}</ref>

The Libyan colonial infantry and artillery suffered heavy losses during the [[Operation Compass|Battle of the Marmarica]] (December 1940) and were formally disbanded in January 1943 following the Italian withdrawal into [[Tunisia]]. The role of the Libyan Spahis and other horse mounted troops was limited mainly to patrol and scouting work by the demands of modern mechanized warfare. Spahi detachments were in control of [[Ghat, Libya|Ghat]] and [[Ghadames]] until the first weeks of 1943.

==See also==

*[[Italian Libya]]
*[[History of Libya as Italian colony]]
*[[Spahi]]
*[[Savari]]
*[[Dubats]]
*[[Zaptie]]

==Notes==
<references/>

==Bibliography==

* Antonicelli, Franco. ''Trent'anni di storia italiana 1915–1945''. Mondadori. Torino, 1961.
* Crociani, Pietro. ''Le Uniformi Coloniali Libiche 1912–1942'' La Roccia editore. Roma, 1980

{{Italian Libya}}
{{Italian colonial empire}}

[[Category:Italian Libya|Spahis]]
[[Category:Military history of Italy]]
[[Category:Libya in World War II]]
[[Category:Cavalry units and formations of Italy]]
[[Category:Italy–Libya relations]]
[[Category:Italian colonial troops]]
[[it:Spahis]]

Italian Spahis - Revision history

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