in the
Catete Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 15 January 1931 On 7 November 1933, Balbo was appointed
Governor-General of the Italian colony of
Libya. Mussolini looked to the flamboyant Air Marshal to be the
condottiero of Italian ambition and extend Italy's new horizons in Africa. Balbo's task was to assert Italy's rights in the indeterminate zones leading to
Lake Chad from Tummo in the west and from
Kufra in the east towards the
Sudan. Balbo had already made a flying visit to
Tibesti. By securing the "Tibesti-
Borku strip" and the "Sarra Triangle", Italy would be in a good position to demand further territorial concessions in Africa from
France and Britain. Mussolini even had his sights set on the former
German colony of
Kamerun. From 1922, the colony had become the
League of Nations mandate territories of
French Cameroun and
British Cameroons. Mussolini pictured an
Italian Cameroon and a territorial corridor connecting that territory to Libya. An Italian Cameroon would give Italy a port on the Atlantic Ocean, the mark of a world power. Ultimately, control of the
Suez Canal and of
Gibraltar would complete the picture. As of 1 January 1934,
Tripolitania,
Cyrenaica and
Fezzan were merged to form the new colony and Balbo moved to Libya. At that stage, Balbo had apparently caused bad blood in the party, possibly because of jealousy and individualist behaviour. Being appointed Governor-General of Libya was an effective exile from politics in Rome where Mussolini considered him a threat, "Benito in Balboland," an article in 22 March 1937 issue of
Time Magazine, played with the conflict between Mussolini and Balbo. Balbo was still well known in the United States for his visit to the Century of Progress exhibition. While Governor, Balbo ordered Jews who closed their businesses on the Sabbath to be whipped. Balbo commissioned the
Marble Arch to mark the border between Tripolitania and Cyrenaica. It was unveiled on 16 March 1937.
Abyssinia crisis road race In 1935, as the "
Abyssinia Crisis" worsened, Balbo began preparing plans to attack
Egypt and Sudan. As Mussolini made his intentions to
invade Ethiopia clear, relations between Italy and the United Kingdom became more tense. Fearing a "Mad Dog" act by Mussolini against British forces and possessions in the
Mediterranean, Britain reinforced its fleet in the region and also its military forces in Egypt. Balbo reasoned that, should Britain choose to close the Suez Canal, Italian troop transports would be prevented from reaching
Eritrea and
Somalia. Thinking that the planned attack on Abyssinia would be crippled, Balbo asked for reinforcements in Libya. He calculated that such a gesture would make him a national hero and restore him to the centre of the political stage. The
7th Blackshirt Division (Cirene) and 700 aircraft were immediately sent from Italy to Libya. Balbo may have received intelligence concerning the feasibility of advancing into Egypt and Sudan from the famous desert researcher
László Almásy. By 1 September 1935, Balbo secretly deployed Italian forces along the border with Egypt without the British knowing anything about it. At the time, British intelligence knowledge concerning the events in Libya was woefully inadequate. In the end, Mussolini rejected Balbo's over-ambitious plan to attack Egypt and Sudan and London learned about his deployments in Libya from Rome.
Munich crisis The "
Anglo-Italian Agreement" of April 1938 brought a temporary cessation of tensions between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Italy. For Balbo, the agreement meant the immediate loss of 10,000 Italian troops; it was characterised by renewed promises of undertakings that Mussolini had previously broken and he could easily break again. By the time of the "
Munich Crisis", Balbo had his 10,000 troops back. At this time, Italian aircraft were making frequent overflights of Egypt and Sudan and Italian pilots were being familiarised with the routes and airfields. In 1938 and 1939, Balbo himself made a number of flights from Libya across the Sudan to
Italian East Africa ('Africa Orientale Italiana', or AOI). He even flew along the border between AOI and
British East Africa (modern
Kenya). In January 1939, Balbo was accompanied on one of his flights by German
Colonel-General Ernst Udet. There were distinct signs of German military and diplomatic cooperation with the Italians. General Udet was accompanied by the Head of the German Mechanization Department, and the German military attache to Rome paid a long visit to Egypt. A German Military Mission was present in
Benghazi and German pilots were engaged in navigational training flights. Balbo began road construction projects such as the
Via Balbia in an attempt to attract Italian immigrants to Libya. He also made efforts to draw
Muslims into the Fascist cause. In 1938, Balbo was the only member of the Fascist regime who strongly opposed the new legislation against the
Jews, the
Italian "Racial Laws". In 1939, after the German
invasion of Poland, Balbo visited Rome to express his displeasure at Mussolini's support for German dictator
Adolf Hitler. Balbo was the only Fascist of rank to publicly criticize this aspect of Mussolini's foreign policy. He argued that Italy should side with the United Kingdom, but he attracted little following to his argument. When informed of Italy's formal alliance with
Nazi Germany, Balbo exclaimed: "You will all wind up shining the shoes of the Germans!"
World War II At the time of the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, Balbo was the Governor-General of Libya and
Commander-in-Chief of
Italian North Africa (
Africa Settentrionale Italiana, or ASI). He became responsible for planning an
invasion of Egypt. After the surrender of France, Balbo was able to shift much of the men and material of the Italian Fifth Army on the Tunisian border to the
Tenth Army on the Egyptian border. While he had expressed many legitimate concerns to Mussolini and to Marshal
Pietro Badoglio, the
Chief-of-Staff in Rome, Balbo still planned to invade Egypt as early as 17 July 1940. ==Death==