During the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912, Italian forces employed observation balloons in North African campaigns, representing another instance of European colonial powers using balloon technology in overseas conflicts. These operations continued the pattern of balloons serving reconnaissance functions in colonial warfare throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Colonial balloon operations inspired Italian and Arabic poetry exploring themes of imperial surveillance, aerial dominance, and resistance from below. The technology appeared in colonial and anti-colonial literature as a symbol of asymmetric power relationships, with Italian futurist poets celebrating aerial perspective while Arab poets invoked balloons as emblems of foreign intrusion and technological imperialism.