Somalia

بقورادا سومالية

*Boqorada Somaliyya* (Somali)

**Somalia**, officially the **Boqorate of Somalia**, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered to the north by the Gulf of Aden, to the west by Ethiopia and Eritrea, to the south by Kirenya, and to the east by the Indian Ocean. It is a semi-constitutional federal monarchy, the only state in the world which has a constitution modeled off of that of the German Empire.

Born out of the anti-colonial struggle of Mohammad Abdullah Hassan and his Dervish movement, the Somali state which had entrenched itself with the collapse of the Italian empire in 1919 was completely redefined by the flight of the royals from London in 1925 due to revolutionary unrest. Haji Sudi, the military commander and immediate successor to the great zealous leadership of Hassan, had negotiated a protectorate treaty with the British, which fell apart with the end of the British empire. In the subsequent power struggle after Sudi’s fall from grace, one man rose to the forefront, with a broad base of support among the local sultans and tribal leaders: Mohamoud Ali Shire, Sultan and Senior Akil of Warsangeli, crowned as Boqor of All Somalia in 1925. With British influence nil following the flight of the royals, the resurgent powers of Europe swooped in, the Ottomans officially endorsing native rule in Somalia and the German empire entering into further economic ties with the Horn. The two emerging economies of Ethiopia and Somalia were ripe opportunities for German businesses to invest in, with loans made by the German Imperial Bank to both states and a 99-year lease made by Germany on the important port of Berbera. Germany’s interest in the region was to turn the Empire of both Ethiopia and Somalia into debt colonies, and ensuring at least a modicum of peace between the two regional powers. The greatest challenge to this was the Ogaden region, a majority Somali and former Ethiopian territory which was seized by the Dervishes in the 1910s but which was still claimed by Ethiopia. Germany chose to ignore the issue, in order to not show a bias that could threaten their trade, and beyond the occasional skirmish between Ethiopian and Somali forces, nothing was done about the disagreement.

Throughout this period of German economic involvement, Somalia remained underdeveloped industrially and agriculturally, functioning as little more than a go-between for German merchants and a debt colony for German banks. In this environment of intense backwardness and increased contact with Europe, a new movement arose: Young Somalia. Led by reformists and modernists, many educated in Germany and Turkey, Young Somalia preached the importance of constitutionalism, industrialization, education, and, most tantalizingly for the traditionalist leadership of Somalia, military modernization. As Young Somalia leaders rose in prominence, a program of foreign education of soldiers and officers arose, sending soon-to-be generals off to Germany, Russia, Egypt, and Japan. Then war came to Europe once again in 1939, straining the German presence in the Horn. Their presence did not dissipate immediately, but when the SPD government was overthrown and replaced with rulership by generals in Germany, all connections with Germany were, in effect, severed. An emboldened Egypt, tantalizingly close to its famous Turkish victory, came in to replace the withering German influence, with generals acting without the approval of the Egyptian government sending supplies and advisors to the Boqorate. The Somali military was bolstered, commanded by Mahdi ibn Ahmad, the son of the late successor to Hassan. By the mid-1940s, the stage was set for war between Ethiopia and Somalia, and it only required a spark to light it.

In 1946, Negusa Nagast Haile Selassie, the reformist leader of Ethiopia, pushed the Ethiopian claim to the Ogaden, declaring it an eternal province of Abyssinia that was unjustly seized by Somali rebels decades before, and that Ethiopia was unequipped to reclaim until now. Thus began the Ogaden War, which coincided with Somali efforts to capture ethnic Somali areas in the quickly collapsing German empire in Africa, and the uprising of the underground Eritrean rebels led by former Askari Woli Mondelli. Both the Eritrean rebels and the Boqorate enjoyed the support of many generals in the Egyptian military, only increasing when it became so obvious that King Farouk had to (somewhat hesitantly) pledge his support to both causes. Initially, the war was in Ethiopia’s favor, with the larger population and larger army of Ethiopia gaining the upper hand, but as more Egyptian supply came in to replenish the Somali forces, and the guerrilla activity of the Eritreans turned to rapidly expanding territorial control, the nobility of Ethiopia became increasingly paranoid. In 1948, Haile Selassie was overthrown, with his cousin Imru Haile Selassie crowned as the new Negusa Nagast of a noble-dominated Ethiopia. Haile Selassie fled the country, and the disorganized Ethiopian forces, scrambled by the coup dividing their leadership, rapidly lost in battle after battle to the Somalis. Emperor Imru signed a treaty with Boqor Mohamoud later in 1948, which ended all Ethiopian claims to the Ogaden, ceded some Somali territories still under Ethiopian control, ceded the holy city of Harar, and enforced large concessions and special rights to the Muslim population of Ethiopia.

modern Somalia;

In the two years since the victory in the Ogaden War, Somalia has been resurgent. It is the premier power of the Horn of Africa, with a military headed by war heroes and a cabinet filled with Young Somalia reformers. Egyptian support has only become more entrenched, with Egyptian companies and banking interests the first resort of the modernists when they need investment, and Somalia has increased trade connections with the Kingdom of Egypt. This brings us to Somalia in 1950, the loose grouping of sultanates under a singular Boqor, emboldened by Egyptian money and military aid but still struggling to modernize.