Meanwhile the sheikh Ahmed had succumbed to the Pan-Islamic movement which Abdul Hamed II., the sultan of Turkey, had revived and his successor contin ued. In consequence the Senussites gave substantial aid to the Turks when in 1911 the Italians invaded Tripolitania and Cyre naica. After the Turks had been compelled to acknowledge defeat Ahmed continued the war with Italy, helped by Turkish troops who, in violation of the Treaty of Lausanne, had remained in the country. When the World War began the Italians held only a strip of coast land ; the Senussites were masters of the interior of Cyrenaica. Terms of accommodation were discussed in the later half of 1914 and an arrangement might have been reached had not Sidi Ahmed refused to accept the position of a "protected Bey." In the spring of 1915 the Senussites were again attacking Italian ports.
At this time a number of Turkish officers and Arabic-speaking German officers had been smuggled into Cyrenaica and by heavy bribes and gross flattery they worked upon the vanity and cupidity of the sheikh Ahmed to proclaim a jihad and invade western Egypt. Ahmed hesitated; his hesitation was known to the British in Egypt, and in Nov. 1915 Mohammed el Idris was sent from Alexandria to his cousin to arrange with him "to get rid of his Turkish advisers in return for a sum of money." It was too late; Ahmed was already well supplied with Turco-German gold and armaments. At the end of 1915 Ahmed invaded western Egypt. The muhafizia or Senussite regular troops numbered at most 5,000; the Turkish troops about 1,000; but the real danger was that any Senussite success might cause a rising among the Bedouin of western Egypt and in the Nile valley. Owing to the prompt measures taken by Gen. Sir John Maxwell (commanding in Egypt) the Senussites failed to gain victories; the invaders were eventually repulsed and by Feb. 1917 Sidi Ahmed—who in Nov.
1916 had been given by the Turks the title of "viceroy of Africa" —was completely defeated. He retired to the oasis of Jaghbub. (For the military operations see SENUSSI, OPERATIONS AGAINST THE.) The failure of this invasion seemed to show definitely that the Senussi brotherhood was not so powerful, either politically or spiritually, as had been imagined. The Germans and Turks had done their utmost by exploiting Senussi influence to cause trouble in directions other than Egypt. In the Sudan Ali Dinar, the sul tan of Darfur, had been won over, but he was decisively beaten by an Egyptian force under Maj. P. V. Kelly in May 1916; and else
where in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan the Senussi had few adher ents. Further west, towards Lake Chad, there was some trouble, but the French, pushing north from Kanen, had seized the Saharan borderlands and had captured Ain Gallaka (in Borku), the Senussi southern base, in Nov. 1913. During the World War this and other French outposts formed an effective barrier against Senussi raids. In the hinterland of Tripolitania Senussi influence was strong and, the Italians being compelled to withdraw to the coast, Mohammed el Abid, a brother of the Senussi sheikh, ruled in Fezzan until the summer of 1917. Discords in Tripolitania, however, showed clearly that tribal rivalries were stronger than religious bonds.
Mohammed
Idris and other Senussi chiefs had not approved Sidi Ahmed's invasion of Egypt ; Idris from his residence. in Egypt had gained a knowledge of affairs which Ahmed lacked, and he was a peaceably inclined man. With Idris the Italian and British Governments entered into an agree ment in 1917; the Senussi chiefs acknowledged Idris as "Grand Senussi," and in Aug. 1918 the defeated and discredited Ahmed found it convenient to quit Cyrenaica. He was conveyed by a German submarine from Misurata to Pola, whence he went to Turkey, still claiming to be head of the brotherhood. In 1919 Idris sent his brother Rida on an embassy to Rome, and, by the Accord of Regima, Nov. 1920, Idris acknowledged Italian suze rainty. He was given the hereditary title of emir (prince), with jurisdiction over the oases of Kufara, Jaghbub, Jalo, Aujela and Jedabia. Peaceful relations continued for some time, but Italy under Fascist rule found the situation irksome. There was also evidence that Idris was encouraging the insurgents in Tripolitania who in July 1922 had invited him to become their leader and prince. Declaring the position incompatible with the national dignity of Italy the Fascist Government denounced the agreements with the Senussi early in 1923. Idris himself had in January of that year withdrawn to Egypt, where he remained. Seemingly he suffered no loss of spiritual prestige, upon which his friends declared he set more store than on temporal authority. In Cyre naica Senussite resistance to the Italians was organized by the sheikh Rida. It was of a guerilla character.