Italy versus the "Mad Mullah": Negotiating Costs, Violence, and International Reputation in the Wars against Mohammed Abdullah Hassan of Somalia

            Mohammed Abdullah Hassan (1856-1920) is the national hero of Somali history, yet his life story is nearly unknown in the Western world. A symbol of Muslim resistance, Hassan defied the combined imperial armies of Italy, Britain, and Ethiopia for more than two decades, and raided Somali tribes who fell under the protection of the three Christian empires. The British called Hassan the “Mad Mullah of Somaliland” to insult him but also to indicate his importance as an archetypical threat to their reputation as an unassailable global empire. In contrast, Italy devoted very little rhetoric and few military resources against Hassan. Any expedition against Hassan required collaboration between British Somaliland, Italian Somaliland, and the multiethnic Ethiopian Empire, and four such campaigns were foiled by the lack of coordination among the three allies. The British were aghast as Hassan escaped to the Italian colony in 1905 and was granted a coastal enclave in a negotiated settlement. Hassan continued raiding Somali tribes, and the British organized a final campaign against Hassan in 1920, defeating him with air power. The long war on Hassan offers an exceptional window into Italian colonialism in a global context.

            In this paper I compare Italy’s priorities with the territorial ambitions of the Ethiopian Empire and the propaganda concerns of the British empire. Italy’s inaction in East Africa infuriated Britain, but Italian foreign policy remained focused on the Americas and the Mediterranean. The nation’s colonial budget had been severely cut following catastrophic defeat by Ethiopian forces in 1896, and Italians were loath to work with Ethiopia at all. In contrast to Britain, Liberal Italy disregarded its international colonial reputation, but avoided inflaming an anti-Muslim military campaign. I aim to connect the contentious contexts of anticolonialism, terrorism, international military coalitions, and Christian-Muslim conflict with global issues today.