Imam Ahmad ibn Ibrahim led Adal against Ethiopia. The Arabic chronicle Futuh al-Habasha, written by a man in his army, names Somali clans among his forces (Basset, Histoire de la conquête de l'Abyssinie, 1897). He was killed at Wayna Daga on 21 February 1543 after Portugal sent musketeers to Ethiopia (Whiteway, The Portuguese Expedition to Abyssinia, 1902). See Imam Ahmad and the Adal campaigns and the end of the war, 1543–1560.
The Ajuran state held the southern rivers and coast. See the Ajuran state.
The Dervishes of Sayid Maxamed Cabdulle Xasan fought Britain, Italy and Ethiopia, until British aircraft and ground forces took Taleh in February 1920 (War Office, Official History of the Operations in Somaliland, 1907). See the Dervish movement.
Italy ended the north-eastern sultanates by force. See the Majeerteen and Hobyo sultanates.
Italy took British Somaliland in August 1940; British forces retook it in March 1941 and drove Italy from East Africa (Library of Congress). See fascist rule and the war.
The Somali army was founded from the police mobile group (Darawishta) and the British Somaliland Scouts. See the Somali armed forces, 1960–1991 and the Somali National Army.
Fighting in Kenya's Northern Frontier District after Britain kept the area in Kenya. See the Northern Frontier District.
Border war with Ethiopia, ended by a ceasefire agreed in Khartoum (Library of Congress). See the 1964 border war.
The army took power and suspended the constitution (Library of Congress). See the Siad Barre era.
The Ogaden war. Somali forces took most of the region, but "Soviet arms and about 17,000 Cuban troops turned the war", and Somalia withdrew on 9 March 1978 (Library of Congress, Ethiopia: A Country Study). See the Ogaden war.
Armed movements rose against the government: the SSDF, SNM, SPM and USC. See the armed movements.
Ethiopian forces with SSDF fighters took Balanbale and Galdogob. See the 1982 border war.
Government forces bombed Hargeisa and Burao and killed thousands of Isaaq civilians (Gersony, Why Somalis Flee, 1989). See the Isaaq genocide.
The USC took Mogadishu and the army dissolved. See the fall of Mogadishu.
War between USC factions in Mogadishu, and fighting across the south. See the collapse, 1991–2000 and the Somali Civil War.
UN missions and a US-led force. See UNOSOM I and the battle of Mogadishu, 3–4 October 1993.
Militia alliances fought for Kismayo and the Juba Valley. See the Juba Valley Alliance.
The courts' militias defeated the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism (ARPCT) in Mogadishu. See the battle for Mogadishu, 2006.
Ethiopian forces backed the transitional government against an insurgency. See the war in Somalia, 2006–2009 and Ethiopia's military in Somalia.
The African Union mission AMISOM arrived, led by Ugandan troops. See AMISOM.
Al-Shabaab held most of Mogadishu until 6 August 2011. See the war since 2009 and al-Shabaab.
Kenyan forces entered southern Somalia; Kismayo fell to Kenyan, AU and Somali forces in 2012. See Kenya's military in Somalia and the battles for Kismayo.
ATMIS replaced AMISOM; on 1 January 2025 AUSSOM replaced ATMIS. See ATMIS and AUSSOM.
Government forces and clan fighters (Macawisley) opened the largest campaign against al-Shabaab in a decade. See the offensive against al-Shabaab.
For each country's troops, trainers and bases, see foreign forces in Somalia.
above all the Isaaq in 1988–1989, the people of Mogadishu since 1990, and people across the south since 2006. See the linked pages and deaths in armed conflict by year.
Most accounts date its collapse to January 1991, when the government fell. Its rebuilding is dated from 2008–2009. See the Somali National Army.