campaign, notable, nineteenth century

Dervish War

Name: Dervish War
Location: North East State of Somalia, Somalia

Dervish War was a campaign fought in 1900 at North East State of Somalia, in what is now Somalia; it lasted about 20 years. It was part of Scramble for Africa, which ran from 1885 to 1914. The recorded result: British-Italian victory. Recorded strength: 28,000 against ~25,000.

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Fought1900lasted about 20 years

WhereNorth East State of Somalia, Somalia9.000N, 48.000E

OutcomeBritish-Italian victory

BelligerentsBritish Empire; Kingdom of Italy; Ethiopian Empire (1900–1904)againstDervish State; Supported by: Ottoman Empire (1915-1917); Ethiopian Empire (1915–1916); German Empire (1916-1917)

Part ofScramble for Africa1885 to 1914

Where it sits in Scramble for Africa

4 placed engagements of Scramble for Africa in time order; taller ticks are more widely documented. Each tick is a link.

Record

Date	1900 (year precision) to 1920
Place	North East State of Somalia, Somalia 9.000N, 48.000E
Kind	Campaign, nineteenth century
Strength	28,000	~25,000
Casualties and losses	British forces suffered approximately 660 killed and over 1,000 wounded, with additional casualties among locally raised units.	4,000 Dervishes killed
Commanders	Eric John Eagles Swayne Richard Corfield William Manning (colonial administrator) Adrian Carton de Wiart Robert Gordon (RAF officer) Giacomo De Martino (governor)	Mohammed Abdullah (Sayyid) Ismail Mire Haji Sudi Nur Ahmed Aman Hasna Doreh Ibrahim Boghol

The recorded site, with the nearest other engagements in the atlas. Present-day coastlines, rivers and borders; towns from Natural Earth.

Nearest engagements

British attack on Berbera 1827, 364 km NW
Ual-Ual Incident 1934, 450 km SW
Battle of Ecbatana 129 BC, 471 km S
Siege of Aden 1513, 530 km NW
Aden Expedition 1839, 530 km NW

In the same war

Before: Battle of Shangi 1896
All 4 engagements of Scramble for Africa

Elsewhere in 1900

Battle of Spion Kop South Africa
Battle of Kousséri Cameroon
Russian invasion of Manchuria Russia
Battle of Paardeberg South Africa
Battle of Peking People's Republic of China

Dervish War is one of 3,694 engagements of the 19th century in the atlas and one of 9 in present-day Somalia.

Sources

Identity, coordinates, dates and the war from Wikidata Q1402902, released under CC0. Result, belligerents, commanders, strength and casualties from the infobox of the English Wikipedia article Dervish War, revision 1381243172, read 2026-11-15, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0; the article's text is not reproduced here. Present-day country and state from Natural Earth. Dates before 1582 follow the Julian calendar as recorded.