Military operations in North Africa during World War I

Military operations in North Africa during World War I were campaigns and armed actions involving Ottoman, Senussi, British, Italian, and French forces, including the Senussi Campaign against British forces in Egypt.

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Senussi Campaign: A conflict from 1915 to 1917 between the Senussi order and British and Italian forces in Egypt and Libya. The principal campaign in this region began with Senussi attacks on British-held Egypt.
Mersa Matruh: A Mediterranean port in Egypt that served as a British military base during the Senussi Campaign. Its coastal position supported British movement and supply westward into the desert.
Ottoman Empire: A multiethnic empire centered in Anatolia that fought with the Central Powers in World War I. Ottoman officials encouraged Senussi action as part of their war against Britain.
British occupation of Egypt: British military and political control of Egypt, formally declared a protectorate in 1914. The Senussi attacks tested Britain's wartime control and defense of Egypt.
Action of Agagia: A British-led victory over Senussi forces near Agagia in Egypt on 26 February 1916. This battle helped break the Senussi advance into Egypt.
Siwa Oasis: An oasis in Egypt's Western Desert near the Libyan border and a center of Senussi influence. Control and allegiance around this oasis mattered to operations far from the coast.
Italy in World War I: Italy's participation in World War I, beginning on the Allied side in 1915 after neutrality. Italy's wartime alignment shaped its defense of colonial Libya against Senussi forces.
Libyan resistance movement: Armed opposition to Italian rule in Libya, including Senussi-led resistance before and after World War I. The wartime fighting formed one phase of a longer struggle against Italian colonial rule.
Affair of the Wadi Majid: A British engagement with Senussi forces near Mersa Matruh on 25 December 1915. It marked an early British attempt to halt Senussi forces advancing along Egypt's Mediterranean coast.
Senussi Order: A Muslim religious and political order founded in the nineteenth century in Cyrenaica. Its networks and leadership supplied the movement behind the campaign against British forces.