The Great War in Italian Africa

The struggle for Africa in World War I is a subject not widely known. Among those who are aware of it, most are familiar with the campaigns by the Allies to seize control of the German colonies in Africa; Togoland, Kamerun, German Southwest Africa and most especially German East Africa where a small band of German colonial troops held out until the end of the war, evading or defeating forces vastly superior to their own. Yet, these were not the only areas of Africa touched by the Great War and the focus on Germany diverts attention away from another of the Central Powers that had big plans for African expansion and that was, of course, the Ottoman Empire. If the Great War had gone in favor of the Central Powers the Ottoman Empire was anxious to reclaim control of North Africa and East Africa from Egypt-Sudan to the Horn of Africa. Although the British were successful in stopping the Turkish efforts to invade Egypt, the Turks were energetic in forging alliances with Islamic groups already in rebellion in northern and eastern Africa against the friends and armed forces of the Kingdom of Italy.

Even before war broke out in Europe, Italian colonial forces were engaged in North Africa, fighting against Sanussi rebels. Italy had gained the three north African provinces of Tripolitania, Cyrenaica and Fezzan after defeating the Ottoman Empire in a war in 1911-1912 and ever since there had been periodic rebellions in the form of attacks on Italian settlements and Italian farmers mostly by members of the Sanussi sect, a tribe and religious order of the Sufi branch of Islam. The Sanussi had been fighting the French in Chad but moved to attack the Italians as soon as the three provinces were handed over to Italy by the Turks. Ultimately, of course, these three provinces would be grouped together by Italy and named Libya, restoring the old Roman title for the area. Since most know it as that, for the sake of simplicity this region will be henceforth referred to as Libya here even though it would not become the official name until 1934. In February of 1914 the Italians began an offensive against Sanussi camps and punitive raids continued until late in the year. However, the number of Italian colonial forces was limited and these were stretched over an immense area.

In August, an Italian column was attacked and defeated by Sanussi rebels at Bir al-Fatia. Subsequently, there was a massive uprising in Fezzan, home of the Sanussi holy city of Kufra. The “supreme leader” of the Sanussi was, at this time, Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi and he would lead or direct his forces in attacks on the French, Italians and British throughout this period. The rebellion became so severe that the Italian forces had to withdraw to Tripolitania by early 1915. To make matters worse, the “Dervishes” of Italian Somaliland in East Africa were becoming increasingly aggressive and clashing with Italian or Italian-allied Somali forces in 1915. These so-called “Dervishes” were the followers of the “Mad Mullah” (who was actually not a mullah at all) Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan. Already, in 1914, he had caused considerable problems for the British in British Somaliland, defeating or at least bloodying British colonial forces in a number of clashes before moving across the border into Italian territory. Meanwhile, back in north Africa, a see-saw campaign, similar to what would later be seen in World War II was unfolding.

Early March, 1915 saw Italian troops defeat (or disperse without much actual combat) a large Sanussi force gathering in southern Tripolitania. Eager to follow this up, a large Italian column set out eastward in the hope of crushing the Sanussi rebellion in the area of Surt. However, on April 28-29 they were soundly defeated by a massive rebel attack at Abu Zinaf. The tide of war swung back in favor of the rebels and from May to June they had besieged Italian garrisons at Banu Walid and Tarhunah, preventing all relief efforts by other Italian forces. May also saw the formal entry of the Kingdom of Italy into the First World War on the Allied side. This had positive and negative effects for the war in Africa. While, Italy gained allies who were as equally threatened in the region, it also meant that Italian military strength would have to be concentrated almost entirely on the border with Austria with the result that the already hard-pressed troops in the colonies would be reduced to a bare minimum. In the summer, another attempt to relieve the siege of Banu Walid failed and when the garrison, driven to desperation, tried a breakout they were overwhelmed. Southern Tripolitania was abandoned  and by October all Italian forces in Cyrenaica as well were withdrawn to the coast.

Obviously, a major change had taken place and that was that the Ottoman Empire had begun to arm the rebels in the hope of eventually retaking their former provinces and reestablishing control of northern Africa. In spite of the fact that, at the time, Italy was only at war with Austria-Hungary, the Ottoman Empire was effectively waging a proxy war against the Italians and Germany was also helping them do it, using German U-boats to smuggle weapons to the Libyan insurgents. In retaliation, on August 21 the Kingdom of Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire (Italy would not declare war on Germany until the following year). By the end of 1915, things looked bleak for the Italian position in north Africa. There had never been much of a real presence in Fezzan and Italian forces in Tripolitania and Cyrenaica had been forced to abandon their interior positions and concentrate their modest forces on the coast in the major towns and port cities. 1916, however, would open with another change in fortunes for the Italians in Libya. In the early months, alarmed by the radicalism of the rebels, the coastal population rallied to the side of the Italians in Tripolitania and Jabal Nafusah. Sanussi control was restricted to the area east of Wadi Zamzam. On February 1, 1916 the Italians were able to strike back for a change and wipe out a Sanussi rebel column.

Lij Jasu

As the year war on and the tide seemed to be turning in Libya, events were growing worse in East Africa. The “Mad Mullah” Muhammad Abd Allah Hassan formed an alliance in May with Emperor Lij Jasu of Ethiopia who had reportedly converted to Islam. Both hoped to achieve their goals of expansion across the Horn of Africa by allying with the Ottoman Empire, placing Ethiopia and Somalia under the spiritual authority of the Ottoman Sultan, the Caliph of Islam. The “Mad Mullah”, the Ethiopian Emperor and the Ottoman Turks formed an alliance to wage war against the British, French and Italian presence in the region. The Ottomans had already been smuggling weapons into the area from southern Arabia across the Gulf of Aden. However, neither of their two allies were in total control of any country or colony. Hassan was already a wanted man by both Britain and Italy and the flirtation with Islam by Lij Jasu did not go over well in Ethiopia. Forces opposed to him declared him deposed and Ethiopia descended into another civil war. Italy rushed reinforcements to Eritrea, the oldest Italian colony in the region, to maintain security and plans were drawn up for a more vigorous colonial strategy.

In May of 1916 Italian troops launched a counter-offensive in Libya with an amphibious landing at Ras al-Muraysah in Cyrenaica that results in the recapture of al-Bardi after which another Italian column, in a joint operation with the British, destroy a major Sanussi camp near Darnah. The British became involved since, with the outbreak of World War I, the Sanussi leader Ahmed Sharid as-Senussi had invaded Egypt, capturing Sallum and provoking the British to strike back and take the Sanussi threat more seriously. Now, however, the Allies were advancing and later that month Italian forces retook Zuwarah in Tripolitania. They were so successful that, by July, the Sanussi agreed to meet for talks with the British and Italians about making peace. Some decide to lay down their arms but others do not and in early 1917 the Italian forces resumed their offensive, clearing the rebels west of Tripoli and completely retaking southern Tripolitania. At the same time, in East Africa, the “Mad Mullah” attacks the Sultan Uthman of Obbia who is allied with Italy but the forces of the Sultan soundly defeat him.

Back in Libya, the Sanussi finally agree to come to terms with Italy and Great Britain, promising to recognize their authority and cease hostilities. However, some rebel groups simply denounce the Sanussi leadership that made the agreement and carrying on fighting anyway. Because of this, retaliation against these post-peace agreement rebels would often be quite severe. Throughout the rest of the year the restoration of Italian rule over Tripolitania continued at a steady pace while in East Africa the Sultan of Obbia launched his own counter-offensive against the “Mad Mullah”, winning another victory. 1918 saw an unbroken string of Italian victories across Libya with the rebels only managing to launch one major attack which was repelled by the colonial troops while taking heavy losses. In East Africa, the much vaunted threat of a Muslim takeover of the Horn of Africa came to nothing as local forces friendly to Italy proved capable of handling things on their own in Somalia while in Ethiopia, the deposed Emperor Lij Jasu ended up fighting for his own throne rather than waging a war of conquest against the French, British and Italian colonies.

Italian rule was restored and secured across the Italian African colonies. However, peace would not be permanent and it would take another major campaign before Libya was pacified in 1932. Ahmed Sharif as-Senussi left Libya in 1918 for the Ottoman Empire via Austria-Hungary, leaving the peace negotiations with his cousin Mohammad Idris who would, for a short time, become King of Libya after World War II. In Ethiopia, Lij Jasu (or Iyasu V) was deposed in favor of his aunt Empress Zewditu who kept him safe and tried to have him reconciled with the Ethiopian Orthodox Church which had excommunicated him. However, Empress Zewditu was suppressed by Haile Selassie who made himself Emperor and finally had Lij Jasu killed during another war with Italy. The “Mad Mullah” took his fight back to British territory, was soundly defeated and died of influenza in 1920.

Italian Troops Capture Hargeisa

It was on this day in 1940 that the town of Hargeisa in British Somaliland was captured by Italian forces in a combined infantry and tank assault after a three-hour artillery bombardment. This was part of a major Italian offensive in the Horn of Africa which ultimately secured the whole region for the Kingdom of Italy. Lieutenant General Carlo De Simone, commanding the center column of the offensive under the overall command of HRH the Duke of Aosta, led the Italian forces in the attack on Hargeisa which was defended by two battalions of British imperial troops from India and British East Africa as well as elements of the Somali Camel Corps. Two days earlier General De Simone had crossed the British Somaliland border from Italian East Africa (Empire of Ethiopia) with twelve battalions of Eritrean colonial troops and four MVSN battalions. Because Italian East Africa was cut off and surrounded by British territory, everyone knew that they would have to conquer British Somaliland very quickly and even then, it would be long odds to hold the region in the face of the larger counter-offensive everyone expected.

In preparing for the attack, General De Simone addressed the Bersaglieri motorcycle troops (himself being a former Bersaglieri regimental commander) saying, “Your task is to be the vanguard, an arduous and difficult work which I know you will carry out to your uttermost. Our end is to reach Berbera [referring to the British port on the coast] and reach it we will”. After the artillery shelled the town the Italian forces advanced but found that the defending British Indian and African troops had little stomach for fighting. Though some tried to put up a fight, most simply retreated and in the ensuing campaign the British imperial forces simply retreated until they reached the coast where they were picked up by the Royal Navy and taken over to the safety of the Arabian peninsula. The British government had not been very generous when it came to military spending in British Somaliland and most considered the cause all but lost as soon as the pro-Allied governor of French Somaliland (Djibouti), General Legentilhomme, was replaced by General Germain. In other areas the Italian forces occupied border outposts in British territory in the Sudan and Kenya. In fact, Italian forces waged quite a brilliant irregular warfare campaign in northern Kenya for some time but the Italian forces were hampered in taking any major offensive action due to a lack of fuel caused by being cut off from the rest of Italian imperial territory and blockaded from the coast by the Royal Navy.

Still, on this day in 1940, an opening victory was won by the Royal Italian forces in a campaign that was a complete success, setting the scene with the Italian troops marching into Hargeisa to raise the Savoy tricolor flag.

Italian Somaliland - A History

Prior to the era of Italian administration, Somalia did not exist as a single country. The region was divided between numerous small sultanates who had recognized various distant overlords throughout history such as the Ottoman Sultan. By the time Italy began to take a serious interest in the region much of it was under the nominal sovereignty of the Sultan of Zanzibar who had extensive holdings down the east African coast. Italians had explored the area of the Somali coast and a few had moved there over the years. In 1879 Italians in Somalia formed the “African Society of Italy” with private support from the home country. Italian involvement began with an alliance with the Sultan Kenadid of Hobyo, one of the major Somali local rulers. In 1888 he signed a treaty which made his domain a protectorate of the Kingdom of Italy. This gave him an advantage and other chieftains were anxious to keep up. In 1889 the Sultan of Majeerteen signed a protectorate treaty as well. Both used their special friendship with Italy to press their long-standing conflicts with the Sultan of Zanzibar and each other. The Italian government was mostly interested in the ports and guarding the sea lanes through the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal and not terribly concerned with the inland areas.

The Ethiopian victory in 1895 confined Italian influence to Eritrea on the north coast of the Horn of Africa and this prompted Rome to look to other areas for immigration and development. Somalia was one of those areas. Land was purchased from the Sultan of Zanzibar and Italians were encouraged to settle there. Private companies held a tenuous hold on the area until the government in Rome began taking charge of administering the area. On April 5, 1908 a law was passed which formally united the region into the single colony of “Somalia Italiana”. Trade was established, agriculture where possible, local industries and conservation. The infrastructure began to be built up but the Italian influence remained limited to the coast due to the growing power of a renegade Muslim leader named Muhammad Abdullah Hassan. Better known as the “Mad Mullah” he was neither mad nor a mullah, simply a poet who inspired a following with ambitions to become the master of the entire region. When World War I broke out, the “Mad Mullah” saw his chance for a great victory.

Using weapons smuggled by the Turks from the southern end of the Arabian peninsula, and in cooperation with the Emperor of Abyssinia who had converted to Islam, the “Mad Mullah” began waging a war of conquest to drive out the Europeans and their Allies and take control of the whole of Somalia. Fighting broke out in 1914 before Italy entered World War I but escalated rapidly in 1915. In 1916 Turkey, Ethiopia and the “Mad Mullah” came together in an alliance against the Italians, French and British and Italy was forced to send reinforcements to the colonial corps in East Africa to deal with this problem. Not long after the Muslim Emperor of Abyssinia was deposed but civil war continued to rage in Abyssinia with those siding with the former Emperor still allied with the Somali rebels. In February of 1917 the rebels attacked Sultan Uthman of Obbia who was an Italian ally, however, they were ultimately defeated and in the summer the Sultan of Obbia launched his own attack against the “Mad Mullah”. British forces cooperated in the campaign against the “Mad Mullah” (who was just as opposed to their presence as he was the Italians) but when the Sultan of Hobyo refused the British permission to move through his territory Italy intervened to have him deposed and exiled. By the end of the war the Anglo-Italian forces (which included many indigenous troops) succeeded in suppressing the rebel forces and restoring peace to the region.

Duke of the Abruzzi in Mogadishu

Italian Somalia was further developed after the war with Prince Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi founding the Societa Agricola Italo-Somala to explore the country and study the prospects for agricultural development there. In 1923, a year after the “March on Rome” Fascism came to Italian Somalia with the appointment of Cesare Maria De Vecchi di Val Cismon as governor. He enacted a campaign of development and regimentation as well as subduing the last rebel holdouts in the south which was fully pacified by 1926 in no small part thanks to the Dubats, the indigenous Somalis fighting in the employ of Italy. Over the next decade more Italians moved to Mogadishu and the Somali tribes were catalogued and organized. Trade was built up, local industries were established, agriculture became a major part of the economy and new roads and railroads were built. Many Somalis were also enlisted in the colonial units of the Italian army and these, along with the armies of the local sultans, played a significant part in the southern front of the second war with Abyssinia. Following the successful conclusion of that war seven months later, Italian Somalia was developed even further as road and rail links were established all across Italian East Africa from Eritrea, through Ethiopia to Somalia.

The rule of Italy over Somalia was careful to respect existing native institutions. Friendly rulers maintained their traditional positions, the clan structure of native society was kept in place and Islam remained upheld as the dominant religion of the colony. Some Somali warriors earned great fame during this period and a unit served as the escort of the Italian Viceroy of East Africa. The Sultan of Olol Dinle, for example, led his Somali troops in several victories on the southern front in the war in Ethiopia. During World War II they were among the last Italian forces still holding out in Ethiopia against the Allied invasion and put up such a heroic fight against impossible odds that when finally forced to surrender the British received them with full military honors. They had earlier participated in the conquest of British Somaliland which was particularly important to them as it was the first time that all the Somali tribes became united under one flag. Of course, the war brought the end of the colonial period but in terms of the local economy and the standard of living of both the Somalis and the Italian settlers, Somalia under Italian rule had been one of the most advanced and successful parts of Africa.

Princess Maria in Mogadishu

At the end of the war, King Umberto II, like his father, had hoped that Italy would be able to retain those colonies, like Somalia, which she had gained prior to the Fascist era but the Allies would not allow this. Britain controlled the region until 1949 after which time Somalia became a United Nations Trust Territory, administered by Italy which had the most experience in the region from 1950 to 1960. In 1960 the country was united with the former British Somaliland to create the country which exists today. During the last period of Italian administration, Somalia continued to make rapid progress thanks to Italian supervision and the large amounts of money given to the region by the United Nations. The University of Rome set up schools in Mogadishu to prepare the people for independence by offering classes in economics, law and social studies. Even in the first couple of years after independence, Italian remained an official language in Somalia.

Unfortunately, since becoming totally independent as the Somali Republic in 1960 the condition of Somalia has deteriorated rapidly. Within a decade a brutal communist dictatorship seized power, erecting the “Somali Democratic Republic” which held power until 1991 when it was toppled in the Somali Civil War. The Italian Republic dispatched troops to try to keep the peace but the effort was minimal and the country has all but fallen apart completely. No government or faction has held control over the whole of Somalia since 1991 and the country has fractured with warlords fighting each other for power and position while the people starve, are murdered or forced into rival tribal gangs. In more recent years Somalia has also become known as a nest of piracy and a place of complete anarchy and chaos. Attempts by the international community to intervene have met with little to no success and, after such a promising start at development and modernization during the colonial period, since independence Somalia has become the classic definition of an utterly failed state.

Royals in the Colonies