Britain nearly abandoned its Somaliland Protectorate over cost concerns.

Evidence

Although the wider aims of the Mission were to reassure Menelik as to Britain’s interests in the context of Anglo-French rivalry on the Nile, and to secure at least Ethiopian neutrality in the war against the Khalifa in the Sudan, the settlement of the British Protectorate’s frontiers was described as one of the principal objects of the negotiations. However, the actual terms in which the Protectorate’s frontiers were to be defined and the concessions which might have to be made were of relatively minor importance if Rodd could succeed in establishing friendly relations with Ethiopia. Britain was not prepared to defend the 1894 frontiers if this would entail any considerable expenditure: indeed the possibility of abandoning the Somaliland Protectorate altogether had already been raised. The Aden authorities, however, had insisted that this drastic course was impossible, and so the problem remained of retaining the Protectorate in a form sufficient to satisfy Aden’s requirements in meat imports but within boundaries acceptable to Menelik. — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 183

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Britain’s 1897 withdrawal knowingly doomed the Somali clans’ independence.; Nominal Abyssinian pressure made Britain deem its Somali territory overextended.; Britain in 1897 nearly abandoned its Somaliland protectorate (+8 more)

Related

• Britain in 1897 nearly abandoned its Somaliland protectorate (similarity 0.93)
• Britain relinquished the Protectorate almost unconditionally (similarity 0.92)
• Britain’s Somaliland involvement was purely a meat-provisioning auxiliary to Aden’s garrison (similarity 0.87)
• Britain abandoned Somali unification because its strategic stakes there were too low (similarity 0.87)
• Frontier demarcation with Ethiopia first revealed Britain’s withdrawal of protection (similarity 0.85)
• Britain valued the Somaliland Protectorate mainly for Aden’s meat supply (similarity 0.85)
• British goodwill cheaply surrendered its Somaliland Protectorate in 1960. (similarity 0.85)
• Britain’s Somaliland commitments ballooned far beyond its minimal original aims (similarity 0.84)
• Britain’s Somali interest was solely the meat supply for Aden (similarity 0.84)
• Britain promised Somalis during WWII that Somalia would never return to Italian rule. (similarity 0.83)
• Britain obtained Ethiopian recognition of the Protectorate while ceding no Somali territory to Ethiopia (similarity 0.82)
• Britain’s 1897 withdrawal knowingly doomed the Somali clans’ independence. (similarity 0.82)
• Britain’s nominal treaty stipulation masked its earlier unilateral record in Somaliland. (similarity 0.82)
• Britain abandoned the Ogaden to Ethiopia despite Somali protests and riots. (similarity 0.82)
• Nominal Abyssinian pressure made Britain deem its Somali territory overextended. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Britain abandoned Somali unification because its strategic stakes there were too low #expands (0.70) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 341
• British goodwill cheaply surrendered its Somaliland Protectorate in 1960. #contradicts (0.55) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 420
• Britain’s Somaliland commitments ballooned far beyond its minimal original aims #contradicts (0.50) — I.M. Lewis, I. M. Lewis, A Modern History of the Somali_ Nation…, 249