Historically, the region of Libya was separated into three major regions: Cyrenaica, Tripolitania and the desert area of Fezzan.
For about 350 years, Libya had been controlled by the Ottoman Empire. As Italy desired to become a colonial power, they signed a secret pact with France in 1902 agreeing to not interfere with each other as they invaded areas of North Africa. For the next ten years, Italy did little to realise the ‘opportunity’, however,