Sultan Doudmourrah

Muhammad Salih, crowned Sultan Doudmourrah ('The Roaring Lion'), ascended the throne of the powerful Wadai Empire in 1901 in Abéché. As French colonial troops advanced from Lake Chad, Doudmourrah declared holy war to protect Wadai's Islamic independence.

In 1909, when French forces under Colonel Virgile Moll stormed Abéché, Doudmourrah retreated to the northern deserts, forming a formidable coalition with Sultan Taj al-Din of Masalit and the Sanusiyya order. At the Battle of Dorothe in November 1910, his coalition crushed a French column, killing Colonel Moll. Encircling forces forced his surrender in 1911; he was later reinstated as traditional chief of Wadai until his death in 1928.