CHURCHILL’S SHAME
In the late nineteenth century Britain was an imperial power with vast domains covering areas of South East Asia, Australasia, and Africa. By the early 1920s a fifth of the world’s population lived under British administration, adding weight to the observation that it was an empire “on which the sun never sets.”
Yet trouble was never far away, especially when vital trade routes were under threat. When the Somaliland port of Berbera was taken from a weak Egyptian monarch it was the British who negotiated with the nomadic tribes, sweetening each deal with the guarantee of imperial protection.
However, as historian Roy Irons argues, Britain hadn’t reckoned on Mohammed Abdille Hassa the so called “Mad Mullah of Somaliland”. A charismatic figure who was also “mind numbingly, brutally cruel”, the Mullah led an anti-Christian/anti-colonial campaign while surviving four British military expeditions to crush him.
After Winston Churchill convinced his Westminster colleagues to abandon the fight, a third of the British “protected” population was left at the Mullah’s mercy. Irons’ compelling and well researched book charts Churchill’s atonement for what his contemporaries judged as a dreadful betrayal, and how honour was eventually restored with the help of some key players including Carton de Wiart, Lord Ismay, Sir John “Jonny” Gough and the celebrated Camel Corps.
Reviewed by Juliette Foster
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