Editing Somali Armed Forces (section)

=== Middle Ages to colonial period ===
Historically, [[Somali people|Somali]] society conferred distinction upon warriors (''waranle'') and rewarded military acumen. All Somali males were regarded as potential soldiers, except for men of religion.{{sfn|Metz|1993|p=196}} Somalia's many [[sultan]]ates each maintained regular troops. In the early [[Middle Ages]], the [conquest of [[Shewa]] by the [[Ifat Sultanate]] ignited a rivalry for supremacy with the [[Solomonic dynasty]].
[[File:Hobyo Sultanate Cavalry And Fort.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The [[Sultanate of Hobyo]]'s [[cavalry]] and fort]]
[[File:Italian artillery during the Second Italo-Ethiopian War.jpg|thumb|Somali Italian army artillery during the second Italo-Ethiopian War]]
Many similar battles were fought between the succeeding [[Adal Sultanate|Sultanate of Adal]] and the Solomonids, with both sides achieving victory and suffering defeat. During the protracted [[Ethiopian-Adal War]] (1529–1559), [[Imam]] [[Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al-Ghazi]] defeated several [[Emperor of Ethiopia|Ethiopian Emperors]] and embarked on a conquest referred to as the ''Futuh Al-Habash'' ("Conquest of Abyssinia"), which brought three-quarters of Christian [[Ethiopian Empire|Abyssinia]] under the power of the [[Muslim]] Adal Sultanate.<ref>Saheed A. Adejumobi, ''The History of Ethiopia'', (Greenwood Press: 2006), p.178</ref><ref>Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Volume 1, (Encyclopædia Britannica: 2005), p.163</ref> Al-Ghazi's forces and their [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] allies came close to extinguishing the ancient Ethiopian kingdom, but the Abyssinians managed to secure the assistance of [[Cristóvão da Gama]]'s Portuguese troops and maintain their autonomy.{{sfn|Metz|1993|p=8}} However, both polities in the process exhausted their resources and manpower, which resulted in the contraction of both powers and changed regional dynamics for centuries to come. Many historians trace the origins of hostility between Somalia and [[Ethiopia]] to this war.<ref>David D. Laitin and Said S. Samatar, ''Somalia: Nation in Search of a State'' (Boulder: Westview Press, 1987).</ref> Some scholars also argue that this conflict proved, through their use on both sides, the value of [[firearms]] such as the [[matchlock]] [[musket]], [[cannon]]s and the [[arquebus]] over traditional weapons.<ref>Cambridge illustrated atlas, warfare: Renaissance to revolution, 1492–1792 By Jeremy Black pg 9</ref>

At the turn of the 20th century, the [[Majeerteen Sultanate]], [[Sultanate of Hobyo]], Warsangali Sultanate and [[Dervish State]] employed [[cavalry]] in their battles against the [[Imperialism|imperialist]] European powers during the ''Campaign of the Sultanates''.

In [[Italian Somaliland]], eight "Arab-Somali" [[infantry]] [[battalion]]s, the ''[[Askari|Ascari]]'', and several [[Irregular military|irregular units]] of Italian officered ''[[dubats]]'' were established. These units served as frontier guards and police. There were also Somali artillery and [[zaptié]] (''carabinieri'') units forming part of the Italian Royal Corps of Colonial Troops from 1889 to 1941. Between 1911 and 1912, over 1,000 Somalis from Mogadishu served as combat units along with Eritrean and Italian soldiers in the [[Italo-Turkish War]].<ref name="dsfsdgfdsf">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?ei=_vexU_fCEYeEqgaqkYKIBQ& |title=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall Yard, Volume 57, Issue 2 |author=W. Mitchell |page=997}}</ref> Most of these troops never returned home until they were transferred back to Italian Somaliland in preparation for the [[Second Italo-Ethiopian War|invasion of Ethiopia]] in 1935.{{sfn|Makin|1935|page=227}}

In 1914, the [[Somaliland Camel Corps]] was formed in [[British Somaliland]] and saw service before, during, and after the [[Italian invasion of British Somaliland|Italian invasion of the territory]] during [[World War II]].{{sfn|Metz|1993|p=199-200}}