Misplaced Pages

#287712

94-519: 8,200 British, 17,600 Egyptians (including Sudanese soldiers) Total: British-Egyptian expeditions (1885–1889) Ethiopian campaigns (1885–1889) Italian campaigns (1890–1894) British-Egyptian reconquest (1896–1899) The Battle of Omdurman was fought during the Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan between a British–Egyptian expeditionary force commanded by British Commander-in-Chief ( sirdar ) major general Horatio Herbert Kitchener and

188-612: A Sudanese army of the Mahdist State , led by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad ( the Khalifa ), the successor to the self-proclaimed Mahdi , Muhammad Ahmad . The battle took place on 2 September 1898, at Kerreri , 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman . Following the establishment of the Mahdist State in Sudan, and the subsequent threat to the regional status quo and to British-occupied Egypt,

282-609: A disastrous series of charges; later that morning the 21st Lancers charged and defeated another force that appeared on the British right flank. Among those present was 23-year-old soldier and reporter Winston Churchill as well as a young Captain Douglas Haig . The victory of the British–Egyptian force was a demonstration of the superiority of a highly disciplined army equipped with modern rifles , machine guns , and artillery over

376-558: A favourable opportunity. On his journey, Abdullah met and became a follower of Muhammad Ahmad "the Mahdi " around 1880 and was named Khalifa by the Mahdi in 1881, becoming one of his chief lieutenants. He married Hafsa Abdelsalam; she eventually bore him a son. The other Khalifas were Ali wad Hilu and Muhammad Sharif . Abdullah was given command of a large part of the Mahdist army, and during

470-534: A force twice its size armed with older weapons, and marked the success of British efforts to reconquer Sudan . Following the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat a year later, the remaining Mahdist forces were defeated and Anglo-Egyptian Sudan was established. On 13 September 1882, the British established their control over Egypt following the Battle of Tel el Kebir . In 1883 Muhammad Ahmad ibn as-Sayyid Abd Allah who called himself

564-704: A journalist) in the Contemporary Review , which evoked a fierce riposte and defence of Kitchener by Bennet Burleigh (another journalist also present at the battle). Winston Churchill privately agreed with Bennett that Kitchener was too brutal in his killing of the wounded. This opinion was reflected in his own account of the battle when it was first published in 1899. However, mindful of the effect that patriotic public opinion could have on his political career, Churchill significantly moderated criticism of Kitchener in his book's second edition in 1902. The Khalifa, Abdullah al-Taashi, escaped and survived until 1899, when he

658-451: A line of march up the Nile. On 1 September 1898 Kitchener, supported by a powerful flotilla of gunboats, arrived to face the main Mahdist army at Omdurman, near Khartoum. The battle took place at Kerreri, 11 kilometres (6.8 mi) north of Omdurman. Kitchener commanded a force of 8,000 British regulars and a mixed force of 17,000 Sudanese and Egyptian troops. He arrayed his force in an arc around

752-576: A military diversion as Italy had requested. Lord Salisbury then ordered the Sirdar , Brigadier Herbert Kitchener to make preparations for an advance up the Nile . As Governor-General of Suakin from 1886 to 1888, Kitchener had held off the Mahdist forces under Osman Digna from the Red Sea coast, but he had never commanded a large army in battle. Kitchener took a methodical, unhurried approach to recovering Sudan. In

846-485: A mixed force of rifle and spear-men. The 52 quick firing guns of the British artillery opened fire at around 2,750 metres (1.71 mi), inflicting severe casualties on the Mahdist forces before they even came within range of the Maxim guns and volley fire . The frontal attack ended quickly, with around 4,000 Mahdist forces casualties; none of the attackers got closer than 50 m to the British trenches . A flanking move from

940-506: A punishing fire. Kitchener, now aware of the problem, "began to throw his brigades about as if they were companies". MacDonald's brigade was soon reinforced with flank support and more Maxim guns and the Mahdist forces were forced back; they finally broke and fled, or died where they stood. The Mahdist forces to the north had regrouped too late and entered the clash only after the force in the central valley had been routed. They pressed Macdonald's Sudanese brigades hard, but Wauchope's brigade with

1034-462: A short episode in the 1972 film Young Winston , where Churchill takes part in the charge of the 21st Lancers. About that period too, Lance Corporal Jones mentions his own participation in the battle during the comedy series Dad's Army . The battle was later made an incident in a few 21st century novels. The Triumph of the Sun (2005) by Wilbur Smith concentrates mainly on the siege of Khartoum and

SECTION 10

#1733085145288

1128-404: Is not worth bankruptcy and extremely oppressive taxation." He felt it was necessary to avoid "being driven into premature action by the small but influential section of public opinion which persistently and strenuously advocated the cause of immediate reconquest." As late as 15 November 1895 he had been assured by the British government that it had no plans to invade Sudan. By 1896, however, it

1222-456: The 21st Lancers , was sent ahead to clear the plain to Omdurman. They had a tough time of it. In what has been described as the last operational cavalry charge by British troops, and the largest since the Crimean War , the 400-strong regiment attacked what they thought were only a few hundred dervishes, but in fact there were 2,500 infantry hidden behind them in a depression. After a fierce clash,

1316-474: The Battle of Omdurman on 2 September 1898, his army of 52,000 men was destroyed. The Khalifa then fled south and went into hiding with a few followers and was eventually caught and killed by Reginald Wingate 's Egyptian column at Umm Diwaikarat in Kordofan on 25 November 1899. Devout, intelligent, and an able general and administrator, the Khalifa was unable to overcome tribal dissension to unify Sudan , and

1410-606: The Italian , French and British imperial forces that surrounded it. In 1896, an Anglo-Egyptian army under General Herbert Kitchener began the reconquest of Sudan. Following the loss of Dongola in September 1896, then Berber and Abu Hamed to Kitchener's army in 1897, the Khalifa Abdullah sent an army that was defeated at the Battle of Atbara River on 8 April 1898, afterwards falling back to his new capital of Omdurman . At

1504-557: The Khedive Ismail 's derelict railway from the 1870s. In another economy measure, Kitchener borrowed steam engines from South Africa to work on the line. Kitchener's workforce were soldiers and convicts, and he worked them very hard, sleeping just four hours each night, and doing physical labour himself. As the railway progressed in the extreme conditions of the desert, the number of deaths among his men increased, and Kitchener blamed his subordinates for them. The Sudan Military Railway

1598-597: The Lincolnshire Regiment was quickly brought up and with sustained section volleys repulsed the advance. A final desperate cavalry charge of around 500 Mahdist horsemen was utterly destroyed. The march on Omdurman was resumed at about 11:30. [REDACTED] Four awards were made of the Victoria Cross , all for gallantry shown on 2 September 1898. [REDACTED] Queen's Sudan Medal , British campaign medal awarded to British and Egyptian forces which took part in

1692-467: The Nile ; however in the 1890s the state became strained economically, and suffered from crop failures instead. The Ashraf , in November 1891, decided to press again, but were put down one final time; they were prevented from causing any further issues. During the next four years, the Khalifa strengthened the military and financial situation of Sudan; however this was not enough, as Sudan became threatened by

1786-561: The Suez Canal , and to suppress the slave trade, the British government decided to reconquer Sudan. An Anglo-Egyptian army under British Commander-in-Chief of Egyptian Army Major General Herbert Kitchener marched south from Egypt. Kitchener captured Dongola on 21 September 1896, and Abu Hamed on 7 August 1897. At the Battle of the Atbara River on 7 April 1898, he defeated Mahdist forces led by Osman Dinga and Khalifa Abdullah , opening

1880-665: The Ansar right was also checked, and there were bloody clashes on the opposite flank that scattered the Mahdist forces there. While the Anglo–Egyptian infantry were able to make use of their superior firepower from behind a zariba barricade without suffering significant casualties, the cavalry and camel corps deployed to the centre-north of the main force found themselves under threat from the Mahadist Green Standard force of about 15,000 warriors. Lieutenant Colonel R.G. Broadwood ,

1974-479: The Battle of Omdurman", published complete with piano score (London: E. Donajowski, 1898). William McGonagall was also among those inspired to doggerel patriotism in a hastily produced broadside, "The battle of Omdurman: a new poem: composed September 1898", soon to be joined by the equally spontaneous verse of Henry Surtees, one of the uniformed participants, in his The March to Khartoum and Fall of Omdurman (1899). In

SECTION 20

#1733085145288

2068-445: The British and Egyptian side there were fewer than fifty dead and several hundred wounded. The Khalifa retreated into the city of Omdurman but could not rally his followers to defend it. Instead they scattered across the plains to the west and escaped. Kitchener entered the city, which formally surrendered without further fighting, and the Khalifa escaped before he could be captured. British gunboats bombarded Omdurman before and during

2162-413: The British government decided to send an expeditionary force with the task of overthrowing the Khalifa. The commander of the force, Sir Herbert Kitchener, was also seeking revenge for the death of General Gordon , who had been killed when a Mahdist army captured Khartoum thirteen years earlier. On the morning of 2 September, some 35,000–50,000 Sudanese tribesmen under Abdullah attacked the British lines in

2256-412: The British, in a shallow arc along a mile (1.6 km) of a low ridge leading onto the plain, and the other Mahdist forces were initially concealed from Kitchener's force. Abdullah al-Taashi and 17,000 men were concealed behind Surkab Hill (in older sources often distorted to "Surgham" Hill) to the west and rear of Osman Azrak's force, with 20,000 more positioned to the north-west, close to the front behind

2350-508: The Egyptian army advanced. At dawn on 7 June, two Egyptian columns attacked the village from north and south, killing 800 Mahdist soldiers, with others plunging naked into the Nile to make their escape. This left the road to Dongola clear, but despite advice to move rapidly and take it, Kitchener adhered to his usual cautious and carefully prepared approach. Kitchener took time to build up supplies at Kosheh , and brought his gunboats south through

2444-410: The Egyptian army were branded by their British officers, to help identify deserters and those discharged seeking to re-enlist. Kitchener placed great importance on transport and communications. Reliance on river transport, and the vagaries of the Nile flooding , had reduced Garnet Wolseley 's Nile Expedition to failure in 1885, and Kitchener was determined not to let that happen again. This required

2538-468: The Egyptian force, and unnerved by several days of bombardment by the gunboats, withdrew. The town was occupied, as were Merowe and Korti . Total Egyptian losses for the capture of Dongola were one killed and 25 wounded. Kitchener was promoted to Major-General. The fall of Dongola was a shock to the Khalifa and his followers in Omdurman , as it immediately placed their capital under threat. They thought it

2632-557: The French to advance some claim of their own on part of Sudan. The French government had in fact just dispatched Jean-Baptiste Marchand up the Congo River with the stated aim of reaching Fashoda on the White Nile and claiming it for France. This encouraged the British to attempt the full-scale defeat of the Mahdist State and the restoration of Anglo-Egyptian rule, rather than just providing

2726-561: The Italians since 1893. The Italians ceded control on Christmas Day . For the remainder of the year Kitchener extended the railway line forward from Abu Hamad, built up his forces in Berber, and fortified the north bank of the confluence with the Atbarah River . Meanwhile, the Khalifa strengthened the defences of Omdurman and Metemma and prepared an attack on the Egyptian positions while the river

2820-458: The Ja'alin defend Metemma from the Khalifa's army, which arrived on 30 June and stormed the town, killing wad Saad and driving his surviving followers away. For Kitchener, much of 1897 was taken up extending the railway to Abu Hamed. The town was taken on 7 August and the railway reached it on 31 October. Even before this river strongpoint was secured, Kitchener ordered his gunboats to proceed upriver past

2914-433: The Ja'alin to the Mahdist state had weakened as the Egyptian army advanced, and they were particularly unwilling to have a large army quartered with them. Their chief, Abdallah wad Saad, therefore wrote to Kitchener on 24 June, pledging the loyalty of his people to Egypt and asking for men and weapons to assist them against the Khalifa. Kitchener sent 1,100 Remington rifles and ammunition, but they did not arrive in time to help

Battle of Omdurman - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-460: The Kerreri hills, commanded by Ali wad Hilu and Osman Sheikh ed-Din. A final force of around 8,000 was gathered on the slope on the right flank of Azrak's force. The battle began in the early morning, at around 6:00 a.m. After the clashes of the previous day, the 8,000 men under Osman Azrak advanced straight at the waiting British, quickly followed by about 8,000 of those waiting to the northwest,

3102-489: The Khalifa of Sudan. After Adwa the Italian government appealed to Britain to create some kind of military diversion to prevent Mahdist forces from attacking their isolated garrison at Kassala , and on 12 March the British cabinet authorised an advance on Dongola for this purpose. Salisbury was also at pains to reassure the French government that Britain intended to proceed no further than Dongola, so as to forestall any move by

3196-526: The Khalifa attempted to lay a mine in the river to prevent the Egyptian boats from bombarding Omdurman, but this resulted in the mine-laying ship Ismailia being blown up with its own mine. The final advance on Omdurman began on 28 August 1898. The defeat of the Khalifah's forces at Omdurman marked the effective end of the Mahdist State, though not the end of campaigning. Over 11,000 Mahdist fighters died at Omdurman, and another 16,000 were seriously wounded. On

3290-578: The Khalifah and 5,000 followers southwest of Kosti . In the ensuing battle the Khalifah was killed along with about 1,000 of his men. Osman Digna was captured, but escaped again. (see also Battle of Umm Diwaykarat ) Al Ubayyid was not taken until December 1899, by which it had already been abandoned. In December 1899 Wingate succeeded Kitchener as Sirdar and Governor-General of Sudan when Kitchener departed for South Africa. The newly established Anglo-Egyptian government in Khartoum did not attempt to reconquer

3384-626: The Kordofan Army prompted the Mahdist commander in Berber , Zeki Osman, to abandon the town on 24 August, and it was occupied by the Egyptians on 5 September. The overland route from Berber to Suakin was now reopened, meaning that the Egyptian army could be reinforced and resupplied by river, by rail and by sea. As the Red Sea area returned its loyalty to Egypt, an Egyptian force also marched from Suakin to retake Kassala , which had been temporarily occupied by

3478-468: The Lancers drove them back (resulting in three Victoria Crosses being awarded to Lancers who helped rescue wounded comrades). One of the participants of this fight was Lieutenant Winston Churchill , commanding a troop of twenty-five lancers. On a larger scale, the British advance allowed the Khalifa to re-organize his forces. He still had over 30,000 men in the field and directed his main reserve to attack from

3572-680: The Mahdi appeared in Sudan followed by thousands of Islamic warriors known to the Europeans as Dervishes and to the Mahdists as the Ansār . At El Obeid on 3 November 1883, an Egyptian force under General William Hicks , sent by the Egyptian government to put down the uprising, was defeated by the Mahdi's army during the Battle of Shaykan . Another force, this time sent by the British government, and led by Major General Charles Gordon proceeded to Khartoum where it

3666-514: The Mahdist forces in the capital and the northern approaches, down the Nile to Berber . Aware that Kitchener had a substantial river force which had by now passed up the second cataract into the Dongola Reach , the Khalifa sought to prevent it steaming further upriver by blocking the sixth cataract at the Shabluka gorge, which was the last river obstacle before Omdurman. To this end forts were built at

3760-502: The Mahdists, declaring himself "Khalifat al-Mahdi", or successor of the Mahdi. He faced internal disputes over his leadership with the Ashraf and he had to suppress several revolts during 1885–1886, 1888–1889, and 1891 before emerging as sole leader of the Mahdiyah or Mahdist State . At first the Mahdiyah was run on military lines as a jihad state, with the courts enforcing Sharia law and

3854-406: The Nile, finally began to advance up the Nile towards Kerma, at the third cataract, where Wad Bishara had established a forward position. Instead of defending it however he moved his forces across the river so that as the Egyptian gunboats came upstream he was able to concentrate heavy fire on them. On 19 September the gunboats made several runs at the Mahdist positions, firing at their trenches, but

Battle of Omdurman - Misplaced Pages Continue

3948-422: The Sudan campaign between 1896 and 1898. [REDACTED] Khedive's Sudan Medal (1897) , Egyptian campaign medal awarded to British and Egyptian forces which took part in the Sudan campaign between 1896 and 1898. Around 12,000 of the Mahdists were killed, 13,000 wounded and 5,000 taken prisoner. Kitchener's force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded, the majority from MacDonald's command. One eyewitness described

4042-610: The Victoria Cross: an Incident of the Soudan War (1899) in which English soldiers survive a 'dervish' ambush. The victory, and especially the cavalry charge of the 21st Lancers, was soon celebrated by songs on the popular stage, including "What Will They Say in England? A Story of the Gallant 21st" by Orlando Powell (1867–1915) and Léonard Gautier 's "The Heroic Charge of the 21st Lancers at

4136-410: The appalling scene: They could never get near and they refused to hold back. ... It was not a battle but an execution. ... The bodies were not in heaps—bodies hardly ever are; but they spread evenly over acres and acres. Some lay very composedly with their slippers placed under their heads for a last pillow; some knelt, cut short in the middle of a last prayer. Others were torn to pieces ... The battle

4230-478: The battle, damaging part of the city walls and the tomb of the Mahdi , although destruction was not very widespread. There is some controversy about the conduct of Kitchener and his troops during and immediately following the battle. In February 1899, Kitchener responded to criticisms by categorically denying that he had ordered or permitted the Mahdist wounded in the battlefield to be massacred by his troops; that Omdurman had been looted; and that civilian fugitives in

4324-463: The building of new railways to support his invasion forces. The first phase of railway building followed the initial campaign up the Nile to the supply base at Akasha and then on southward towards Kerma . This bypassed the second cataract of the Nile and thereby ensured that supplies could reach Dongola all year round, whether the Nile was in flood or not. The railway extended as far as Akasha on 26 June and as far as Kosheh on 4 August 1896. A dockyard

4418-401: The charge of the 21st Lancers held special appeal and several artists portrayed the scene including Stanley Berkeley , Robert Alexander Hillingford , Richard Caton Woodville , William Barnes Wollen , Gilbert S. Wright, Edward Mathew Hale, Capt. Adrian Jones , Major John C. Mathews, and Allan Stewart . The pictorial press covered the campaign extensively and employed several artists to record

4512-521: The city had been deliberately fired on. There is no evidence for the last accusation, but some foundation for the others. In The River War , Winston Churchill was critical of Kitchener's conduct, and in private correspondence he said that 'the victory at Omdurman was disgraced by the inhuman slaughter of the wounded and that Kitchener was responsible for this.' The Mahdi's tomb , the largest building in Omdurman, had already been looted when Kitchener gave

4606-682: The city. He later refused to make peace. He successfully repulsed the Ethiopians at the Battle of Metemma on 9 March 1889, where the Ethiopian emperor Yohannes IV was killed. He created workshops to maintain steam boats on the Nile and to manufacture ammunition. But the Khailfa underestimated the strength of the Anglo-Egyptian forces and suffered a crushing defeat in Egypt. The Egyptians failed to counter up

4700-493: The command of Wad Bishara , consisting of 900 jihadiyya , 800 Baqqara Arabs, 2,800 spearmen, 450 camel and 650 horse cavalry. Kitchener was unable to advance on Dongola immediately after the Battle of Farka because not long afterwards, cholera broke out in the Egyptian camp, and killed over 900 men in July and early August 1896. With the summer of 1896 marked by disease and severe weather, Kitchener's columns, supported by gunboats on

4794-399: The commander of the Anglo-Egyptian mounted troops, used his cavalry to draw off part of the advancing Ansar attackers under Osman Digna, but the slower-moving camel troops , attempting to regain the protection of the zariba, found themselves being closely pursued by Green Standard horsemen. This marked a crucial stage of the battle, but Kitchener was able to deploy two gunboats to a position on

SECTION 50

#1733085145288

4888-450: The eve of the 1896 invasion the manumission status and precise recruitment conditions of many Sudanese soldiers in the Egyptian army was unclear. Egyptian conscripts were required to serve six years in the army, whereas Sudanese soldiers enlisted before 1903 were signed up for life, or until medically unfit to serve. While no official requirement existed for the practice, it is clear that in many instances at least, new Sudanese recruits into

4982-475: The events. Although some among the press corps accompanying the army had film cameras, no footage was shot of the actual fighting. What was passed off as films of the battle, or preparations for it, were in fact spliced footage of barracks training or troop movements far from the front. Such films maintained their popularity for months in Britain and were succeeded by short features such as the fictional How Tommy Won

5076-476: The exception of a few hundred men from the North Staffordshire Regiment and some Maxim gunners . The use of British troops was kept to a minimum and Sudanese troops were used wherever possible, partly because they were cheaper, and partly because they could survive the extreme conditions of campaigning in Sudan which Europeans often could not. To maximise the number of Sudanese troops deployed for

5170-678: The far western territory of Darfur , which the Egyptians had held only briefly between 1875 and the surrender of Slatin Pasha in 1883. Instead, they recognised the rule of the last Keira Sultan, Ali Dinar , grandson of Muhammad al-Fadl, and did not establish control over Darfur until 1913. (see also Anglo-Egyptian Darfur Expedition ) Osman Digna was not recaptured until 1900. Abdallahi ibn Muhammad Abdullah ibn-Mohammed al-Khalifa or Abdullah al-Taashi or Abdallah al-Khalifa , also known as "The Khalifa " ( Arabic : c. عبدالله بن سيد محمد الخليفة ; 1846 – 25 November 1899)

5264-510: The fate of the defeated, but carries the story through to Kitchener's campaign. The 2008 novel After Omdurman by John Ferry is also partly set during the 1898 re-conquest of Sudan, with the book's lead character, Evelyn Winters, playing a peripheral role in the fighting. The main focus of Jake Arnott 's The Devil's Paintbrush (2009) is the life of Hector MacDonald but also includes the battle and Kitchener's railway-building drive through Sudan . Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan There

5358-406: The fire returned was too intense for them to maintain their position safely. Kitchener therefore ordered them to simply steam on, past the Mahdist position, towards Dongola. Seeing them proceed, Wad Bishara withdrew his forces to Dongola. On 20 September the gunboats exchanged fire with the town's defenders and on 23 Kitchener's main force reached the town. Wad Bishara, seeing the overwhelming size of

5452-430: The first year his objective was to recover Dongola ; in the second, to construct a new railway from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad ; in the third, to retake Khartoum . The Egyptian army mobilised and by 4 June 1896 Kitchener had assembled a force of 9,000 men, consisting of ten infantry battalions , fifteen cavalry and camel corps squadrons , and three artillery batteries. All the soldiers were Sudanese or Egyptian, with

5546-469: The following year there appeared a more polished performance in Annie Moore's poetry collection, Omdurman and other verses . In Sudan itself, the Khalifa had poets among his entourage, not all of whom were killed in the fighting, but much of their work was either destroyed by the British during systematic searches after the battle, or even by the poets themselves in fear of reprisal. Nevertheless, as part of

5640-564: The fourth cataract. With help from the local Shayqiyya , the attempt began on 4 August, but the current was so strong that the gunboat El Teb could not be hauled over the rapids, and capsized. However the Metemma made the passage safely on 13 August, the Tamai on 14, and on 19 and 20 August the new gunboats Zafir , Fateh and Nasir also passed the cataract. The sudden advance of the river force and uncertainty about whether he would be reinforced by

5734-564: The hands of the British and Egyptians. Abdullah was born into the Ta'aisha Baqqara tribe c. 1846 in Um Dafuq and was trained and educated as a preacher and holy man. His father, Mahommed et Taki, had determined to emigrate to Mecca with his family, but the unsettled state of the region prevented him, and he died in Africa after advising Abdullah, to take refuge on the Nile , and to proceed to Mecca at

SECTION 60

#1733085145288

5828-694: The invasion, the Sudanese garrison was withdrawn from Suakin on the Red Sea and replaced with Indian soldiers. The Indians arrived in Suakin on 30 May, releasing the Xth Egyptian and Sudanese battalions for the Dongola expedition. The Egyptian army in the 1880s was consciously trying to distance itself from the times of Muhammad Ali , when Sudanese men had been captured, enslaved, shipped to Egypt and enlisted . Nevertheless, on

5922-832: The last thirty miles as the railway had not yet caught up with the front line. Skirmishes took place in the early Spring, as the Mahdist forces made an attempt in March to outflank Kitchener by crossing the Atbara, but they were outmaneuvered; the Egyptians steamed upstream and raided Shendi . Eventually, at dawn on 8 April, the Anglo-Egyptians mounted a full frontal assault on the forces of Osman Digna with three infantry brigades, holding one in reserve. Fighting lasted less than an hour and concluded with 81 Anglo-Egyptian soldiers killed and 478 wounded, to over 3,000 Mahdist troops dead. The Khalifa's forces then withdrew to Omdurman, abandoning Metemma and

6016-552: The line on 1 January 1897, but little progress made until the line to Kerma was completed in May, when work began in earnest. By 23 July, 103 miles had been laid, but the project was continually under attack from Mahdists based in Abu Hamad. Kitchener ordered General Archibald Hunter to advance from Merawi and eliminate the threat. Hunter's forces travelled 146 miles in eight days and took Abu Hamad on 7 August 1897. Work could then proceed, and

6110-459: The line was extended towards Atbara , Kitchener was able to transport three heavily armed gunboats in sections to be reassembled at Abadieh, enabling him to patrol and reconnoitre the river up to the sixth cataract. The Egyptian army moved swiftly to the border at Wadi Halfa and began moving south on 18 March to take Akasha, a village which was to be the base for the expedition. Akasha was deserted when they entered on 20 March and Kitchener devoted

6204-452: The next four years led them in a series of victories over the Anglo-Egyptians. He fought at the Battle of El Obeid , where William Hicks 's Anglo-Egyptian army was destroyed (5 November 1883), and was one of the principal commanders at the siege of Khartoum , (February 1884 – 26 January 1885). After the unexpected death of the Mahdi in June 1885, Abdullah succeeded as leader of

6298-427: The next two months to building up his forces and supplies ready for the next advance. Apart from occasional skirmishing, the first serious contact with Mahdist forces took place in early June at the village of Farka . The village was a Mahdist strongpoint some way upriver from Akasha; its commanders, Hammuda and Osman Azraq , led around 3,000 soldiers and had evidently decided to hold his ground rather than withdraw as

6392-524: The northern end of the gorge, and the paddle-steamer Bordein carried guns and supplies upriver. Kitchener did not advance on Omdurman after taking Dongola, and by May 1897 the Khalifa's forces from Kordofan had increased the size of his forces to the point where he felt able to take a more offensive stance. He therefore decided to advance the Kordofan army down the river to Metemma, in Ja'alin country. The loyalty of

6486-487: The oral tradition there survived a lamentation by Wad Sa’d, who was an eye-witness of the defeat. It was not long before a fictional account of the British military expedition appeared in G.A. Henty 's series of adventure stories for boys. It was titled With Kitchener in the Soudan (1903) and included a description of the battle in chapter 14. It was also depicted in the climax of the 1939 film The Four Feathers and later as

6580-482: The order for it to be blown up. Kitchener ordered that the Mahdi's remains be dumped in the Nile. He considered and discussed keeping his skull, either as some kind of trophy or as a medical exhibit at the Royal College of Surgeons. Eventually however the head was buried, although anecdotes about its having been turned into an inkpot or a drinking vessel continue to circulate even today. A force under Colonel Parsons

6674-469: The precepts of the Mahdi, which had equal force. Later the Khalifa established a more traditional administration. Khartoum was deserted on his orders, and Omdurman , at first intended as a temporary camp, was made his capital. He felt the best course of action to keep internal problems to a minimum was to expand into Ethiopia and Egypt . The Khalifa invaded Ethiopia with 60,000 Ansar troops and sacked Gondar in 1887, destroying nearly every church in

6768-458: The railway eventually reached Abu Hamad on 31 October. (see also Battle of Abu Hamed ) There were major problems in undertaking a major construction project in a waterless desert, but Kitchener had the good fortune to locate two sources and had wells dug to provide the water needed. To keep within the tight budget limits set by Lord Cromer, Kitchener ordered that the first section of the railway should be built from reused materials scavenged from

6862-465: The river where their cannon and Nordenfelt guns broke up the Mahadist force before it could destroy Broadwood's detachment and possibly penetrate the flank of the Anglo-Egyptian infantry. Kitchener was anxious to occupy Omdurman before the remaining Mahdist forces could withdraw there. He advanced his army on the city, arranging them in separate columns for the attack. The British light cavalry regiment,

6956-428: The second cataract of the Nile ready for an assault on Dongola. The Egyptian river navy consisted of the gunboats Tamai , El Teb , Metemma and Abu Klea as well as the steamers Kaibar , Dal and Akasha . They had been used to patrol the river between Wadi Halfa and Aswan , and were now pressed into service as part of the invasion force. They had to wait however for the Nile to flood before they could navigate over

7050-431: The second cataract, and in 1896 the flood was unusually late, meaning that the first boat could not pass until 14 August. Each of the seven boats had to be physically hauled up over the cataract by two thousand men, at the rate of one boat per day. To this force were added the three new gunboats brought round the cataract by rail and assembled on the river at Kosheh. Dongola was defended by a substantial Mahdist force under

7144-662: The sixth cataract so that the Egyptian army could pass unmolested. Preparations then continued for an advance on Omdurman. The railway was extended southwards and additional reinforcements arrived. By mid-August 1898 Kitchener had at his command 25,800 troops, composed of the British Division under Major-General Gatacre, with two British infantry brigades; and the Egyptian Division with four Egyptian brigades under Major General Hunter. The gunboat Zafir , proceeding upriver, foundered and sank opposite Metemma on 28 August. Meanwhile,

7238-443: The supplies and wounded around Egeiga were left almost unprotected. MacDonald was alerted to the presence of around 15,000 enemy troops moving towards him from the west, out from behind Surkab. He wheeled his force and lined them up to face the enemy charge. The Mahdist infantry attacked in two prongs. Lewis's Egyptian Brigade managed to hold its own, but MacDonald was forced to repeatedly re-order his battalions. The brigade maintained

7332-450: The two Ethiopian flags that had been raised there after the Mahdist evacuation were left flying pending instructions from Cairo. Despite the easy recovery of these key towns there remained a great deal of fear and confusion in the countryside across the Jezirah , where bands of Mahdist supporters continued to roam, pillaging and killing for several months after the fall of Omdurman. Once control

7426-416: The village of Egeiga, close to the bank of the Nile , where a twelve gunboat flotilla waited in support, facing a wide, flat plain with hills rising to the left and right. The British and Egyptian cavalry were placed on either flank. Abdullah's followers numbered around 50,000, including some 3,000 cavalry. They were split into five groups—a force of 8,000 under Osman Azrak was arrayed directly opposite

7520-457: The west while ordering the forces to the northwest to attack simultaneously over the Kerreri Hills. Kitchener's force wheeled left in echelon to advance up Surkab ridge and then southwards. To protect the rear, a brigade of 3,000 mainly Sudanese, commanded by Hector MacDonald , was reinforced with Maxims and artillery and followed the main force at around 1,350 metres (0.84 mi). Curiously,

7614-401: Was a Sudanese Ansar ruler who was one of the principal followers of Muhammad Ahmad . Ahmad claimed to be the Mahdi , building up a large following. After Ahmad's death, Abdullah ibn-Mohammed took over the movement, adopting the title of Khalifah al-Mahdi (usually rendered as "Khalifa"). He attempted to create a kingdom, which led to widespread discontent, and his eventual defeat and death at

7708-423: Was a considerable body of opinion in Britain in favour of retaking Sudan after 1885, largely to "avenge Gordon ". However, Lord Cromer , the British consul-general in Egypt , had been the architect of the British withdrawal after the Mahdist uprising. He remained sure that Egypt needed to recover its financial position before any invasion could be contemplated. "Sudan is worth a good deal to Egypt," he said, "but it

7802-531: Was besieged by the Mahdists. On 26 January 1885, the Dervishes overcame Gordon's troops and massacred the entire garrison. After the Mahdi died in 1885, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad known as Khalifa 'Abdullahi' became the new ruler. The Mahdist state, the Mahdia, built on slavery and holy war, enforced a strict Islamic code imposing a reign of terror over the regions of Sudan. In 1896 to protect British interests, in particular

7896-455: Was clear to Prime Minister Salisbury that the interests of other powers in Sudan could not be contained by diplomacy alone – France , Italy and Germany all had designs on the region that could only be contained by re-establishing Anglo-Egyptian rule. The catastrophic defeat of the Italians by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia at the Battle of Adwa in March 1896 also raised the possibility of an anti-European alliance between Menelik and

7990-479: Was constructed and three entirely new gunboats, larger than the Egyptian river boats already deployed, were brought in sections by rail, and then assembled on the river. Each carried one 12-pounder forward-firing gun, two 6-pounders midships and four Maxim guns . At the end of August 1896 storms washed away a 12-mile section of the railway as preparations were being made to advance on Dongola. Kitchener personally supervised 5,000 men who worked night and day to ensure it

8084-556: Was established in the Jazirah and eastern Sudan, the recovery of Kordofan remained a major military challenge. On 12 July 1898 Marchand had reached Fashoda and raised the French flag. Kitchener hurried south from Khartoum with his five gunboats, and reached Fashoda on 18 September. Careful diplomacy on both men's part ensured that French claims were not pressed and Anglo-Egyptian control was reasserted. (see also Fashoda Incident ) On 24 November 1899 Colonel Sir Reginald Wingate cornered

8178-502: Was killed in the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat . Several days after the battle, Kitchener was sent to Fashoda , due to the developing Fashoda Incident . Kitchener was ennobled as a baron, Kitchener of Khartoum, for his victory. Churchill published his account of the battle in 1899 as The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan . Present as a war correspondent for The Times was Colonel Frank Rhodes , brother of Cecil , who

8272-445: Was later described as the deadliest weapon ever used against Mahdism. The 230 miles of railway reduced the journey time between Wadi Halfa and Abu Hamad from 18 days by camel and steamer to 24 hours by train, all year round, regardless of the season and the flooding of the Nile. He also had 630 miles of telegraph cable laid, and 19 telegraph offices built along the railway, which were soon handling up to 277 messages per day. Later, when

8366-536: Was likely that Kitchener would attack by striking across the desert from Korti to Metemma, as the Nile Expedition had done in 1885. The Khalifa therefore directed Osman Azraq to hold Abu Klea and Wad Bishara to hold Metemma with a force of Ja'alin . He also ordered Osman Digna in eastern Sudan and his commanders in Kordofan and other regions to bring their forces in to Omdurman, strengthening its defences with some 150,000 additional fighters. This concentrated

8460-468: Was low and the gunboats could neither retreat below the fifth cataract nor advance above the sixth. To be sure he had the necessary strength to defeat the Mahdist forces in their heartland, Kitchener brought up reinforcements from the British Army , and a brigade under Major General William F. Gatacre arrived in Sudan at the end of January 1898. The Warwicks, Lincolns and Cameron Highlanders had to march

8554-470: Was rebuilt in a week. After Dongola was taken, this line was extended south to Kerma. Building the 225-mile-long railway from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad was a much more ambitious undertaking. General opinion held the construction of such a railway to be impossible, but Kitchener commissioned Percy Girouard , who had worked on the Canadian Pacific Railway to undertake the project. Work began on

8648-464: Was sent from Kassala to Al Qadarif which was retaken from Mahdist forces on 22 September. A flotilla of two boats under General Hunter was sent up the Blue Nile on 19 September to plant flags and establish garrisons wherever seemed expedient. They planted the Egyptian and British flags at Er Roseires on 30 September, and at Sennar on the return journey. Gallabat was reoccupied on 7 December, although

8742-552: Was shot and severely wounded in the right arm. For his services during that battle he was restored to the army active list. The Battle of Omdurman has also lent its name to many streets in British and Commonwealth cities, for example 'Omdurman Road' in Southampton and 'Omdurman Street' in Freshwater , Sydney , Australia . The subject of the battle made its appearance in several oil paintings later exhibited in Britain. In particular,

8836-511: Was the first time that the Mark IV hollow point bullet , made in the arsenal in Dum Dum , was used in a major battle. It was an expanding bullet , and the units that used it considered them to be highly effective. Controversy over the killing of the wounded after the battle, began soon afterwards. The debate was ignited by a highly critical article published by Ernest Bennett (present at the battle as

#287712