1947 — Italy's African Empire Falls

On February 10, 1947, Italy signed the Paris Peace Treaty, and Article 23 forced it to renounce all claim to Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia. With one signature, Mussolini's dream of a new Roman Empire in Africa came to a formal end.

The fallout shaped a continent. Libya became independent in 1951. Eritrea was federated with Ethiopia, and Somalia entered a United Nations trusteeship run, remarkably, by Italy itself. The treaty closed one empire's chapter, but the arrangements it left behind set the terms on which three African territories would face their uncertain futures. An empire built by conquest was ended by a clause in a treaty.