Campaign of the Sultanates
| Campaign of the Sultanates | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Italian Somali Wars and the interwar period | |||||||||
Somali Dubat camel colonial troops under command of Italian Colonel Camillo Bechi | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
|
Majeerteen Sultanate Sultanate of Hobyo | |||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
|
Cesare Maria De Vecchi Hersi Gurey Guido Splendorelli † Franco Carolei X |
Osman Mohamoud Ali Yusuf Kenadid Omar Samatar Hersi Boqor Abshir Dhoore (DOW) | ||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
|
6 Banaadir battalions 3 Eritrean battalions (12,000 men) 135 artillery pieces 3 aircraft | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| 553 dead and 341 wounded | Unknown | ||||||||
The Campaign of the Sultanates refers to when in the mid-1920s, under Benito Mussolini's Fascist regime, the Italian government ordered the full military occupation of the Italian protectorates Majeerteen Sultanate and Sultanate of Hobyo through the Royal Corps of Colonial Troops, which led to armed resistance and rebellions across the country. With the arrival of Governor Cesare Maria De Vecchi on 15 December 1923, things began to change in Italian Somalia; Italy had access to these areas under the successive protection treaties, but direct rule only in some areas, including in the majority of Benadir territory. Given the defeat of the Dervish movement in the early 1920s, and the rise of fascism in Europe, on 1925, Mussolini gave the green light to De Vecchi to start the takeover of the northern sultanates. The treaties abrogated, and the former Italian protectorates of Majeerteen and Hobyo were eventually directly annexed to the Italian colony of Somalia.