Somaliland, officially the Republic of Somaliland, is an unrecognised country in the Horn of Africa. It is located in the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden and bordered by Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia to the east. Its claimed territory has an area of 176,120 square kilometres (68,000 sq mi), with approximately 6.2 million people as of 2024. The capital and largest city is Hargeisa.
British Somaliland, officially the Somaliland Protectorate, was a protectorate of the United Kingdom in modern Somaliland. During its existence, the territory was bordered by Italian Somalia, French Somali Coast and Abyssinia. From 1940 to 1941, it was occupied by the Italians and was part of Italian East Africa.
The King's African Rifles (KAR) was a British Colonial Auxiliary Forces regiment raised from Britain's East African colonies in 1902. It primarily carried out internal security duties within these colonies along with military service elsewhere during the world wars and other conflicts, such as the Malayan Emergency and the Mau Mau uprising. The regiment's enlisted soldiers were drawn from the native Africans, while most officers were seconded from the British Army. During the 1960s, as part of the decolonisation of Africa, more African officers were commissioned into the regiment before it was gradually disbanded. KAR battalions would go on to form the core of newly established armed forces throughout East Africa.
Hargeisa is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Somaliland, a de facto sovereign state in the Horn of Africa, still considered internationally to be part of Somalia. It is also the regional capital of the Maroodi Jeex region of Somaliland.
The East African campaign was fought in East Africa during the Second World War by Allies of World War II, mainly from the British Empire, against Italy and its colony of Italian East Africa, between June 1940 and November 1941. The British Middle East Command with troops from the United Kingdom, South Africa, British India, Uganda Protectorate, Kenya, Somaliland, West Africa, Northern and Southern Rhodesia, Sudan and Nyasaland participated in the campaign. These were joined by the Allied Force Publique of Belgian Congo, Imperial Ethiopian Arbegnoch and a small unit of Free French Forces.
Burao, also spelt Bur'o or Bur'ao, is the capital of the Togdheer region and the second largest city in Somaliland. Burao was the site of the declaration of an independent Somaliland on 18 May 1991.
Carlo De Simone was an officer in the Italian Army during World War II.
The Italian invasion of British Somaliland was part of the East African campaign (1940–1941) in which Italian, Eritrean and Somali forces of Fascist Italy entered the Somaliland Protectorate and defeated its garrison of British, Commonwealth and colonial forces supported by Somali irregulars. The Italian victory was based on mobility and speed but was hampered by the terrain, rainy weather and British resistance.
HMS Ceres was a C-class light cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was the name ship of the Ceres group of the C-class of cruisers.
The Somaliland Scouts was a Rayid military unit, a regiment, of the British Army. It was established after the liberation of British Somaliland from Italy in December 1941 and the dissolution of the Somaliland Camel Corps in 1942, which was formerly tasked with the defense of the protectorate.
The Fifth Expedition of the Somaliland Campaign, which took place in 1920, was the final British expedition against the Dervish forces. Although the majority of the combat took place in January, British troops had begun preparations for the assault as early as November 1919. The British forces included elements of the Royal Air Force and the Somaliland Camel Corps. After three weeks of battle, Diriye Guure's Dervishes were defeated, bringing an effective end to their 20-year resistance.
The Dervish Movement was an armed resistance movement between 1899 and 1920, which was led by the Salihiyya Sufi Muslim poet and militant leader Mohammed Abdullah Hassan, also known as Sayyid Mohamed, who called for independence from the British and Italian colonisers and for the defeat of Ethiopian forces. The Dervish movement aimed to remove the British and Italian influence from the region and restore an "Islamic system of governance with a Sufi doctrine as its foundation", according to Mohamed-Rahis Hasan and Salada Robleh.
The Royal Corps of Somali Colonial Troops was the colonial body of the Royal Italian Army based in Italian Somaliland, in present-day northeastern, central and southern Somalia.
Operations on the Northern front, East Africa, 1940 in the Second World War, were conducted by the British in Sudan and the Armed Forces Command of Italian East Africa in Eritrea and Ethiopia. On 1 June 1940, Amedeo, Duke of Aosta the Viceroy and Governor-General of the Africa Orientale Italiana, commander in chief of the Armed Forces Command of the Royal Italian Army and General of the Air Force, had about 290,476 local and metropolitan troops and by 1 August, mobilisation had increased the number to 371,053 troops. General Archibald Wavell, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) of Middle East Command, had about 86,000 troops at his disposal for Libya, Iraq, Syria, Iran and East Africa. About 36,000 troops were in Egypt and 27,500 men were training in Palestine.
Operation Appearance was a British landing in the British Somaliland Protectorate against troops of the Italian Army. The Italian conquest of British Somaliland had taken place seven months previously, in August 1940. The British had withdrawn from the protectorate after a delaying action at the Battle of Tug Argan. This withdrawal, after the disastrous conclusion of the Battle of France and the Italian declaration of war on 10 June 1940, had repercussions among British leaders. It led Prime Minister Winston Churchill to lose confidence in General Archibald Wavell, the British commander in the Middle East, which culminated in Wavell's sacking on 20 June 1941.
The Battle of Tug Argan was fought between forces of the British Empire and Italy from 11 to 15 August 1940 in the Somaliland Protectorate. The battle determined the result of the Italian invasion of British Somaliland in the East African Campaign of the Second World War.
Suudi Shabeele Omar, more commonly known as Haji Sudi was one of the leaders behind the Somali Dervish movement. He was also the movement's right-hand man and chief lieutenant till its demise in 1920. He is described as the Mullah's right hand in the earlier days of his rise. He hailed from the Adan Madoba sub-clan of the Habr Je'lo clan.
SultanNur Ahmed Aman, was a learned religious leader and the 5th Sultan of the Habr Yunis Sultanate and later also one of the leaders behind the Somali Dervish movement and revolt (1899–1920). He was the principal agitator rallying the followers of the Kob Fardod Tariqa behind his anti-French Roman Catholic Mission campaign that would become the cause of the Dervish uprising. He assisted in assembling men and arms and hosted the revolting tribesmen in his quarter at Burao in August 1899, declaring the Dervish rebellion. He fought and led the war throughout the years 1899–1904. He and his brother Geleh Ahmed were the main signatories of the Dervish peace treaty with the British, Ethiopians and Italian colonial powers on March 5, 1905, known as the Ilig Treaty or the Pestalozza agreement. Sultan Nur is entombed in a white-domed shrine in Taleh, the location of the largest Dervish forts and the capital of the Dervish from 1912 to 1920, a testimony to his contribution in creating the movement.
Sahil is an administrative region (gobol) in northern Somaliland with the port city of Berbera as its capital. It was separated from Woqooyi Galbeed and became a province in 1991. In 1998, the Sheikh District of Togdheer was incorporated into Sahil region. The region has a long coastline facing the Gulf of Aden to the north. Sahil borders Awdal to the northwest, Maroodi Jeex to the southwest, Togdheer to the south and Sanaag to the east.
The Somaliland National Army, is the land force and largest branch of the Somaliland Armed Forces is based in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa. The Somaliland National Army is composed entirely of professionals and volunteers due to the army not being mandatory of conscription. Some Somaliland battalions operate near the Puntland border due to a border dispute.
British Somaliland 
British Empire 