page_title: Dervish movement (Somali)
section_title: Wars against the British Empire, Italy and Ethiopia
hierarchical_section_title: Dervish movement (Somali) / Wars against the British Empire, Italy and Ethiopia
caption_attribution_description: English: Mohammed Abdullah Hassan's historic Daarta Sayyidka Dervish fort in Eyl, Somalia.
context_page_description: The Somali Dervish movement was an armed resistance to the colonial powers – particularly the British – in the Horn of Africa, between 1899 and 1920. It was led by the Salihiyya Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, also known as Sayyid Mohamed, who aimed for the removal of the colonial state and foreign infidels, the defeat of the Ethiopian forces supporting the colonial powers, and the creation of a Muslim state. Hassan established a ruling council called the Khususi consisting of Islamic clan leaders and elders, added an adviser from the Ottoman Empire named Muhammad Ali and thus created a multiclan Islamic liberation movement in what later emerged as Somalia.
  The Dervish movement attracted between 5,000 and 6,000 youth from different clans over 1899 and 1900, acquired firearms and then attacked the Ethiopian army in the Jigjiga region. The Ethiopian army retreated giving the Dervishes their first success. The Dervish movement then declared the British colonial administration as their enemy. To end the movement, the British pursued a divide and rule strategy and sought the competing clans as coalition partners against the Dervish movement.
context_section_description: In August 1898, the Dervish army occupied Burao, an important centre of British Somaliland, giving Muhammad Abdullah Hassan control over the city's watering places. Hassan also succeeded in making peace between the local clans and initiated a large assembly, where the population was urged to join the war against the British. His forces were supplied with the simple uniforms consisting of "a white cotton outer garment (worn by most Somali men of the time anyway), a white turban, a tasbih (or rosary), and a rifle."
  In March 1900, Hassan along with his dervish forces attacked an Ethiopian outpost near Jijiga. Capt. Malcolm McNeill who commanded the Somali field Force against Hassan reported that the dervish were completely defeated, and that they have suffered a heavy loss amounting to 2,800 killed, according to the Ethiopians. Similar raids by the dervish would continue despite the losses across the Somali peninsula until 1920. McNeill notes that by June 1900, Hassan made his position even stronger than before his March 1900 defeat and had “practically dominated the whole of the southern portion of our Protectorate”. 
  The British administration started to coordinate with the Italians and Ethiopians , and by 1901 a joint Anglo-Ethiopian force began to coordinate plans to eradicate the jihadists or limit their reach farther west to the Ogaden or borderland of northern Kenya. Lack of supplies and access to fresh drinking water in the large expanse of flat land made this a challenging feat for the British and their allies. In contrast, Hassan and his dervishes adapted harsh conditions of the land by eating carcasses of beasts and drinking water from the dead bellies of animals. Despite possessing superior weapons, including Maxim machine guns, until 1905, the Anglo-Ethiopian forces were still struggling to gain hold on the dervish movement. 
  Britain launched at least two major assaults aimed at either killing or capturing Hassan between 1913 and 1920. Though they almost succeeded, Hassan proved elusive. Finally, the British Cabinet approved of air operations against the Dervish movement. It is said that the challenge of the Dervishes presented the British with a suitable environment to trial its new doctrine of war, which stressed "the use of aircraft as the primary arm, usually supplemented by ground forces, according to particular requirements."
  In the 1920 campaign by the British, 12 Airco DH.9A aircraft were used to support the local British forces. Within a month, the British had occupied the capital of the Dervish State and Hassan had retreated to the west.
caption: The historic Daarta Sayyidka Dervish fort in Eyl, Puntland.
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