Video Summary
Video Summary

Data

Name: Somaliland campaign

Type: Event

Start: 1902 AD

End: 1920 AD

Parent: World War I African Theatre

All Statistics: All Statistics

Icon Somaliland campaign

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Was a long guerrilla conflict which took place between 1900 and 1920 in the territories corresponding to present-day Somalia and in the border areas between Somalia and present-day Ethiopia. The Somali Islamist leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan succeeded in uniting various clans and tribes in his country in a unitary movement of opposition to Italian and British colonial rule.

Chronology


Interactive Chronologies with maps are available in the section Changes Navigation

  • December 1920: On December 21, 1920 (the precise date is not clear) Abdullah Hassan, who was the leader of the Dervish movement, died after six days of illness (also unspecified, malaria or pneumonia). The Mullah's death effectively ended the Dervish Revolt.
  • May 1903: Italian forces moved into Gallacaio, however the Dervish forces managed to escape without losses in the direction of Gumburu and Ual Ual, in the Ogaden region.
  • July 1903: The Dervishes bypassed the British line of resistance, and settled in the upper Nogal valley, conquering a region between British Somaliland and the Italian protectorate of Migiurtinia and equipped with an outlet to the sea at the small port of Illig.
  • January 1904: British forces led by General Egerton invaded the Nogal valley and engaged the main Dervish army near the village of Gid Ali in combat on 10 January 1904, inflicting a crushing defeat.
  • October 1908: The Dervishes resumed the conflict. A column invaded the Sultanate of Obbia and attacked the Mudugh region.
  • December 1911: The sultanates of Migiurtinia and Warsangali suspended the shipment of weapons and food to the dervishes, forcing the Mullah to abandon the valley of Nogal: in November 1911, 6,000 dervishes penetrated the southern regions of Somaliland, severely beating the Dhulbahante tribe and causing a vast exodus towards the cities of the coast.
  • February 1913: After various raids, in June 1912 the Dervish Mullah moved further south and created an independent Somali national state. The core of his territory was protected by a chain of forts to the west, and went from Mount Shimbiris on the coast to the village of Gid Ali in the interior.
  • August 1913: On 9 August 1913 a Dervish column engaged the only remaining British mobile force in the Somaliland Colony, Colonel Richard Corfield's Camel Constabluray, near Dul Madoba hill, destroying it.
  • March 1915: The forces of Migiurtinia reoccupied the Nogal valley and then encroached on Somaliland as well.
  • March 1905: On 5 March 1905, Dervish leader Abdullah Hassan signed a truce with the British and Ethiopians in Illig, promising to stop his attacks in exchange for the cession of the territory of Nogal.
  • September 1913: 60 mounted dervishes entered western Somaliland and sacked the town of Burrao.
  • September 1902: In the summer of 1902, Dervish forces conquered the important city of Gallacaio.
  • October 1913: 60 mounted dervishes entered western Somaliland and sacked the town of Burrao.
  • February 1920: The Dervish Mullah managed to fall back with a core of warriors on Taleh. A land assault was launched on 9 February.
  • March 1915: In February 1915, an offensive by the reconstituted British Somaliland Camel Corps led to the capture of the Dervish fortifications set up on Mount Shimbiris and other minor positions, forcing the Mullah to withdraw his western line of resistance near his stronghold of Taleh.
  • July 1913: In June 1913 a new Italian expedition led to the definitive defeat of the Dervish Bagheri forces and to the occupation in southern Somalia of several inland towns such as Bur Acaba, Baidoa and Bulo Burti, while further north troops of the Sultanate of Obbia reconquered Mudugh from the rebels.

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