Mussolini a Pan-Arab leader

Could Mussolini try to establish Himself as a Pan-Arab leader similar to what he did to Albania, by advocate uniting the whole Arab world under Italian Rule

How successful would he be in either a neutral Italy or one in the axis

If Italy is in the axis , Would this encourage an Arab revolt
 
Not a chance. Not only is Italy extremely Roman Catholic, but Mussolini planned to occupy the Arabian Peninsula, which included Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam. That would've been too much for the Arabs to stomach.
 
Which he was swamping with Italians and discriminating against the locals.
True, but not all at the time new that and the Axis was quiet popular with many sympathisers among some colonies and mandates with muslim populations. So I would say there could have been a change in Mussolini getting it to work (but I don't believe that would have changed the overall outcome of the war in any way).
 
On the occasion of a 1937 visit to Libya, Mussolini had himself declared "Protector of Islam".

Kaiser Wilhelm referred to himself as this as well before the First World War but it didn't work, not even when Mehmed V called for a jihad against the Entente. To quote Eugene Rogan, “It was not a natural thing: a targeted jihad focusing on three Western countries but excluding three other European countries. You hate Britain and France but not Germany, Bulgaria and Austria – what is that about?”. Here Italy would be calling on Muslims to unite under Italian rule, which is almost certainly going to go down worse than the Caliph of Islam doing so.
 
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This is a photo from 1937, showing Mussolini in Tripoli raising the Sword of Islam.
Two interesting details: the original picture showed an Arab leading the horse. It was brushed away from the official picture because it was not proper that il Duce needed some help in controlling the horse; the so-called sword of Islam was forged by a Florentine artisan who had been commissioned the artifact by Mussolini itself. The sword was presented to him by a tribal chief who was supporting Italian administration.

It is anyway true that Mussolini during the 1930s was quite supportive of Islam in Libya and in Eritrea: in particular in Libya he supported mosques and schools of Islamic learning, the most important of which was founded with his patronage in Tripoli itself.
Besides this, the regime had good contacts with Arabian groups in Palestine, Syria and Iraq which were against the colonial domination by the French and the British, and provided them with training and funds. Once Libya had been pacified by Graziani during the 1920s (the pacification was quite harsh, but not much worse than the British pacification of Iraq or the Franco-Spanish war against the rebels in the Rif), the fascist regime tried seriously to win the heart of Libyans, and was reasonably successful at least in the settled zone along the Mediterranean coast and in the cities. The tribes of the interior were a different matter, but it was not different that it had been under the Ottomans.

Catholicism or lack thereof (Mussolini himself was not a believer, and the regime tolerated the church - in particular after the Concordat of 1929 - but never warmed up to it) have nothing to do with this pageant in Tripoli or with the support given to the ulemas who were toeing the line.
What he had in mind (or what he was hoping for) is not easy to discern. I think that the first and foremost goal was to insure the pacification of Libya, whatever might come after that (if and when the opportunity might arise) was much more nebulous, and I doubt that serious plans had ever been drafted for such an eventuality.
 

raharris1973

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Not a chance. Not only is Italy extremely Roman Catholic, but Mussolini planned to occupy the Arabian Peninsula, which included Mecca and Medina, the two holiest sites in Islam. That would've been too much for the Arabs to stomach.

Ooh, I'd like to hear more on these plans, never heard it before. So did they have interest in the oil rich east, too?
 
Ooh, I'd like to hear more on these plans, never heard it before. So did they have interest in the oil rich east, too?
Yeah, you and everyone else. I suppose all this is based on the infamous Nazi map that showed the world after the Nazi victory, with the Middle East given to Italy :rolleyes:

The state organization for oil and gas (ENI) tried to get a concession in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s (given the situation in Iran and Iraq there was not a lot of chances to get a foot into the door), but what with the war in Ethiopia and the string of crisis which came after that it went nowhere. And we are talking of a commercial deal, not an invasion
 
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