The Libyan War
Following the decision to expand the Empire for the glory of France, the French fleet set sail from Marseille to Tunisia, carrying an entire corps of soldiers.
This marked the start of a military build-up on the border with Libya, with French forces rapidly building up to 12 divisions strong.
However, despite the force on the border already being larger, better trained and better equipped than the entire Libyan army, the decision was taken to delay an invasion of Libya until the troops had acclimatised to the desert conditions and had a chance to train repeatedly for invasion. This would be France’s first post Second Weltkrieg conflict and a key desire by the Cabinet was to ensure that not only would the conflict end in victory but that it would also end with the world having been comprehensively impressed by the display of force by the French Empire.
During this period just prior to the start of the Libyan war, important strides were made in the rebuilding of France. The husband and wife team of Joliot and Joliot-Curie succeeded in gathering together the scientists and technicians needed to begin France’s atomic bomb project and, simultaneously, a massive expansion of the merchant marine was launched in order to enable the adequate supply of the French armies in north Africa.
Then, in the 29th of July, the French Empire declared war on Libya. Unlike the war with Liberia, this time the Empire made no pretence as to its motives. This would be an imperial war of conquest which did not hide its nature.
In the first two days of the war the Imperial Guard made rapid progress, sweeping the border guard before them and pushing several miles along the coast road.
With French soldiers on the outskirts of Tripoli, an attack was made at Libyan forces to the south in order to remove any threat to the flanks of an assault on the Libyan capital.
With this threat contained, the First Army then launched their attack on Tripoli. With the defenders outnumbered eight to one, French soldiers were soon billeting in the Libyan Royal Palace.
As the First Army continued to push eastwards on the coast road to Misratah, a crucial development occurred. The French Navy, sent along the Libyan coast to bombard any Libyan forces within range in order to disrupt the potential for a counter-attack, discovered that so many Libyan soldiers had been sent west that Libya’s second city of Benghazi was defenceless.
The Imperial Guard were immediately sent to take advantage of this, launching an amphibious assault on the city before the Libyans came to their senses and sent troops to garrison it.
The attack was a complete success and the city fell into French hands.
The navy then discovered that Tobruk was similarly undefended and the process was repeated again, Imperial Guardsmen storming the beaches and capturing the city unopposed.
With every major Libyan city now in French hands, the remnants of the Libyan government and army were forced to surrender the entire country into the hands of the Empire.
With less than 200 French casualties the war was a resounding success for the Empire, demonstrating military superiority and proving that France was still a force to be reckoned with.
Having won the war in Libya, all that remained for the Empire was winning the peace. Fortunately the French had learned the lessons of Algeria and the French occupation would be very light on the Libyans. Schools and hospitals were built throughout the country and the sons (though not the daughters) of the most powerful and influential Libyan families were given generous scholarships to French universities with the ultimate result that they would grow up in the French culture, speaking French and considering themselves French citizens rather than Libyans.
Much as the British Raj in India had been maintained by anglicising the sons of the Maharajahs, so too would the French Empire win and maintain control of Libya through making relatively cheap improvements to the lives of ordinary Libyans whilst all the while continuing a subtle policy of francification.
The end result of this would be a peaceful Libya that would prove a stark contrast to the troubles the Empire had faced in Algeria and whose oil revenues would help fund the French Empire for decades to come.