The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899 was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Egypt in 1884–1885 during the Mahdist War . The British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of the Egyptian Army from Sudan , and the defeat at Khartoum left only Suakin and Equatoria under Egyptian control after 1885. The conquest of 1896–1899 defeated and destroyed the Mahdist State and re-established Anglo-Egyptian rule, which remained until Sudan became independent in 1956.
112-564: Allied victory British-Egyptian expeditions (1885–1889) Ethiopian campaigns (1885–1889) Italian campaigns (1890–1894) British-Egyptian reconquest (1896–1899) The Mahdist War ( Arabic : الثورة المهدية , romanized : ath-Thawra al-Mahdiyya ; 1881–1899) was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese , led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah , who had proclaimed himself the " Mahdi " of Islam (the "Guided One"), and
224-594: A British expedition to relieve the Egyptian governor of Equatoria made its way through central Africa. The governor, Emin Pasha , was rescued, though the expedition was not without its failures, such as the disaster that befell the rear column. According to the Hewett Treaty of 3 June 1884, Ethiopia agreed to facilitate the evacuation of Egyptian garrisons in southern Sudan. In September 1884, Ethiopia reoccupied
336-421: A Cross-Flory Sable (Gower); 2nd, Azure, three Laurel-Leaves Or (Leveson); 3rd, Gules, three Clarions Or (Granville), in the centre fess point a Crescent for difference. Crest: A Wolf passant Argent, collared and lined Or. Supporters: On either side a Wolf Argent, plain collared with a line reflexed over the back Gold, charged on the shoulder with an Escutcheon Gules, charged with a Clarion Or. Earl Granville
448-765: A Mahdist army invaded Ethiopia, seized Dembea , burned the Mahbere Selassie monastery and advanced on Chilga . King Tekle Haymanot of Gojjam led a successful counteroffensive as far as Gallabat in Sudan in January 1887. A year later, in January 1888, the Mahdists returned, defeating Tekle Haymanot at Sar Weha and sacking Gondar . This culminated in the end of the Ethiopian theatre at the Battle of Gallabat In
560-713: A Mahdist force in the Battle of Atbara in April 1898, the Anglo-Egyptians reached Omdurman , the Mahdist capital, in September. The bulk of the Mahdist army attacked , but was cut down by British machine-guns and rifle fire. The remnant, with the Khalifa Abdullah, fled to southern Sudan. During the pursuit, Kitchener's forces met a French force under Major Jean-Baptiste Marchand at Fashoda , resulting in
672-458: A dawn assault on 7 June 1882, which slaughtered the entire army. The rebels gained vast stores of arms, ammunition, military clothing and other supplies. With the Egyptian government now passing largely under British control, the European powers became increasingly aware of the troubles in Sudan. The British advisers to the Egyptian government gave tacit consent for another expedition. Throughout
784-653: A flat tax was imposed on farmers and small traders and collected by government-appointed tax collectors from the Sha'iqiyya tribe of northern Sudan. In bad years, and especially during times of drought and famine, farmers were unable to pay the high taxes. Fearing the brutal and unjust methods of the Sha'iqiyya, many farmers fled their villages in the fertile Nile Valley to the remote areas of Kordofan and Darfur . These migrants, known as "jallaba" after their loose-fitting style of dress, began to function as small traders and middlemen for
896-440: A great-great-nephew of the aforementioned Grace Carteret, 1st Countess Granville. Hence, the 1833 creation of the earldom of Granville was a revival of the title created in 1715. Lord Granville was succeeded by his son, the second Earl. He was a prominent Liberal politician and served three times as Foreign Secretary . His son, the third Earl, was also a diplomat and notably served as Ambassador to Belgium from 1928 to 1933. He
1008-721: A heavy defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians at Adwa , the Italian position in East Africa was seriously weakened. The Mahdists threatened to retake Kassala, which they had lost to the Italians in 1894. The British government decided to assist the Italians by making a military demonstration in northern Sudan. This coincided with the increased threat of French encroachment on the Upper Nile regions. Lord Cromer , judging that
1120-457: A rejection of material wealth by its wearer and a commitment to a religious way of life. Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi decreed that this garment should be worn by all his soldiers in battle. The decision to adopt the religious garment as military dress enforced unity and cohesion among his forces, and eliminated traditional visual markers differentiating potentially fractious tribes. During the years of conflict between Mahdist and Anglo-Egyptian forces at
1232-476: A station at Wadi Halfa : the first rebuilt Isma'il Pasha's abortive and ruined former line south along the east bank of the Nile to supply the 1896 Dongola Expedition and a second, carried out in 1897, was extended along a new line directly across the desert to Abu Hamad —which they captured in the Battle of Abu Hamed on 7 August 1897—to supply the main force moving on Khartoum. It was not until 7 June 1896 that
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#17327731360481344-759: A strategic retreat to Kordofan , where he was at a distance from the seat of government in Khartoum . This movement, posed as a triumphant progress, incited many of the Arab tribes to rise in support of the Jihad the Mahdi had declared against the Egyptian government. The Mahdi and the forces of his Ansar arrived in the Nuba Mountains of south Kordofan around early November 1881. Another Egyptian expedition dispatched from Fashoda arrived around one month later; this force
1456-428: A year, an unmaintainable expense. It was therefore decided by the Egyptian government, under pressure from their British advisors, that the Egyptian presence in Sudan should be withdrawn and the country left to some form of self-government, likely headed by the Mahdi. The withdrawal of the Egyptian garrisons stationed throughout the country, such as those at Sennar , Tokar and Sinkat, was therefore threatened unless it
1568-592: Is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of Great Britain and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom . It is now held by members of the Leveson-Gower family . The first creation came in the Peerage of Great Britain in 1715 when Grace Carteret, Lady Carteret, was made Countess Granville and Viscountess Carteret . She was the daughter of John Granville, 1st Earl of Bath , and
1680-624: Is given the chance to do so," feeling it would be a slight on his honour to abandon any Egyptian soldiers to the Mahdi. He also became increasingly fearful of the Mahdi's potential to cause trouble in Egypt if allowed control of Sudan, leading to a conviction that the Mahdi must be "crushed," by British troops if necessary, to assure the stability of the region. It is debated whether or not Gordon deliberately remained in Khartoum longer than strategically sensible, seemingly intent on becoming besieged within
1792-535: The Battle of Serobeti and the First Battle of Agordat . In December 1893, Italian colonial troops and Mahdists fought again in the Second Battle of Agordat ; Ahmed Ali campaigned against the Italian forces in eastern Sudan and led about 10,000–12,000 men east from Kassala , encountering 2,400 Italians and their Eritrean Ascaris commanded by Colonel Arimondi. The Italians won again, and the outcome of
1904-626: The Conservative-Unionist government in power would favour taking the offensive, managed to extend the demonstration into a full-fledged invasion. In 1897, the Italians gave the British control of Kassala, in order to gain international recognition of Italian Eritrea . Herbert Kitchener , the new Sirdar (commander) of the Anglo-Egyptian Army, received his marching orders on 12 March, and his forces entered Sudan on
2016-543: The Fashoda Incident . They finally caught up with Abdullah at Umm Diwaykarat , where he was killed, effectively ending the Mahdist regime. The casualties for this campaign were: The British set up a new colonial system, the Anglo-Egyptian administration , which effectively established British domination over Sudan. This ended with the independence of Sudan in 1956. Textiles played an important role in
2128-518: The Khedive announcing Egypt's intentions to leave Sudan. Gordon's orders, by his own request, were unambiguous, leaving little room for misinterpretation. Gordons orders were: 1) to evacuate all Egyptian garrisons from Sudan (including both soldiers and civilians) and 2) to leave some form of indigenous (but not Mahdist) government behind him. He was given no timeline for either. Gordon arrived in Khartoum on 18 February, and immediately became aware of
2240-564: 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
2352-530: The Quran was added "Yā allah yā ḥayy yā qayūm yā ḍhi’l-jalāl wa’l-ikrām" (O Allah! O Ever-living, O Everlasting, O Lord of Majesty and Generosity) and the highly charged claim "Muḥammad al-Mahdī khalifat rasūl Allah" (Muḥammad al-Mahdī is the successor of Allah’s messenger). After the fall of Khartoum, a "Tailor of Flags" was set up in Omdurman. The production of flags became standardised and regulations concerning
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#17327731360482464-655: The United Kingdom stepped in and repaid his loans in return for controlling shares in the canal. As the most direct route to India , the jewel in the British Crown, the Suez Canal was of paramount strategic importance, and British commercial and imperial interests dictated the need to seize or otherwise control it. Thus an ever-increasing British role in Egyptian affairs seemed necessary. With Khedive Ismail's spending and corruption causing instability, in 1873
2576-438: The 18th. Numbering at first 11,000 men, Kitchener's force was armed with the most modern military equipment of the time, including Maxim machine-guns and modern artillery, and was supported by a flotilla of gunboats on the Nile. Their advance was slow and methodical, while fortified camps were built along the way, and two separate 3 ft 6 in ( 1,067 mm ) Narrow gauge railways were hastily constructed from
2688-500: 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
2800-484: The British government supported a program whereby an Anglo-French debt commission assumed responsibility for managing Egypt's fiscal affairs. This commission eventually forced Khedive Ismail to abdicate in favor of his son Tawfiq in 1879, leading to a period of political turmoil. Also in 1873, Ismail had appointed General Charles "Chinese" Gordon to be Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of Sudan. For
2912-590: The British to attempt the full-scale defeat of the Mahdist State and the restoration of Anglo-Egyptian rule, rather than just providing 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
3024-454: The County of Stafford. He had already been created Viscount Granville , of Stone Park in the County of Stafford, in 1815. Leveson-Gower was the son of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford , by his third wife, Susanna . He was the younger half-brother of George Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Duke of Sutherland , and the uncle of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere . He was also
3136-457: 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
3248-410: 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
3360-473: 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
3472-517: The Egyptian's lax religious standards and willingness to appoint non-Muslims such as the Christian Charles Gordon to high positions, and Sudanese Sufi resistance to "dry, scholastic Islam of Egyptian officialdom." Another widely reported source of frustration was the Egyptian abolition of the slave trade, one of the main sources of income in Sudan at the time. In the 1870s, a Muslim cleric named Muhammad Ahmad preached renewal of
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3584-499: The Hon. Henry Frederick Thynne, second son of Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth , and his wife Lady Louisa Carteret, daughter of the second Earl Granville. He assumed the surname of Carteret and was created Baron Carteret in 1784. The second creation came in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1833 when the noted diplomat Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Viscount Granville , was made Earl Granville and Baron Leveson , of Stone Park in
3696-519: 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 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
3808-521: 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
3920-461: 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
4032-433: 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
4144-531: 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
4256-527: 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
4368-697: 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
4480-471: The Mahdi assembled an army of about 40,000 men and drilled them rigorously in the art of war , equipping them with the arms and ammunition captured in previous battles. On 3 and 4 November 1883, when Hicks' forces offered battle, the Mahdist army was a credible military force, which defeated Hicks' army with only about 500 Egyptians surviving the Battle of El Obeid . At this time, the British Empire
4592-641: The Mahdi legitimized his movement by drawing deliberate parallels to the life of Muhammad . He called his followers Ansar , after the people who greeted Muhammad in Medina , and he called his flight from the British, the hijrah , after Muhammad's flight from the Quraysh . The Mahdi also appointed commanders to represent three of the four Righteous Caliphs ; for example, he announced that Abdullahi ibn Muhammad , his eventual successor, represented Abu Bakr Al Sidiq , Muhammad's successor. The Egyptian administration in
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4704-471: The Mahdi. When this idea was vetoed by the British government, Gordon proposed a number of alternative means to salvage his situation successively to his British superiors. All were similarly vetoed. Among them were: Eventually it became impossible for Gordon to be relieved without British troops. An expedition was duly dispatched under Sir Garnet Wolseley , but as the level of the White Nile fell through
4816-518: The Mahdist War progressed, these textiles became more standardised and specifically colour coded to denote military rank and regiment. Sufi flags typically feature the Muslim shahada – "There is no God but Allah; Muḥammad is Allah’s Messenger" – and the name of the sect’s founder, an individual usually regarded as a saint. The Mahdi adapted this form of flag for military purposes. A quotation from
4928-459: The Mahdist dispositions, both men wrote detailed accounts of their experiences in Sudan. Written in collaboration with Reginald Wingate , a proponent of the reconquest of Sudan, both works emphasized the savagery and barbarism of the Mahdists, and through the wide publicity they received in Britain, served to influence public opinion in favour of military intervention. In 1896, when Italy suffered
5040-526: 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
5152-406: 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
5264-529: The Red Sea coast, but he had never commanded a large army in battle. Kitchener took a methodical, unhurried approach to recovering Sudan. In 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
5376-407: The Sudan, now thoroughly concerned by the scale of the uprising, assembled a force of 4,000 troops under Yusef Pasha. In mid-1882, this force approached the Mahdist gathering, whose members were poorly clothed, half starving, and armed only with sticks and stones. However, supreme overconfidence led the Egyptian army into camping within sight of the Mahdist 'army' without posting sentries. The Mahdi led
5488-466: 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 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
5600-502: The battle constituted "the first decisive victory yet won by Europeans against the Sudanese revolutionaries". A year later, Italian colonial forces seized Kassala after the successful Battle of Kassala . In 1891 a Catholic priest, Father Joseph Ohrwalder , escaped from captivity in Sudan. In 1895 the former Governor of Darfur, Rudolf Carl von Slatin , managed to escape from the Khalifa's prison. Besides providing vital intelligence on
5712-478: 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
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#17327731360485824-463: 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
5936-414: The capacity to produce a further 50,000 rounds per week, and 7,000 Egyptian soldiers. But outside the walls, the Mahdi had mustered about 50,000 Dervish soldiers, and as time went on, the chances of a successful breakout became slim. Gordon had enthusiastically supported the idea of recalling the notorious former slaver Al-Zubayr Rahma from exile in Egypt to organize and lead a popular uprising against
6048-515: 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 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
6160-470: 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
6272-555: The colour and inscriptions of the flags were established. As the Mahdist forces became more organized, the word "flag" (rayya) came to mean a division of troops or a body of troops under a commander. The flags were colour coded to direct soldiers of the three main divisions of the Mahdist army – the Black, Green and Red Banners (rāyāt). The patched muraqqa'a , and later, the jibba , was a garment traditionally worn by followers of Sufi religious orders. The ragged, patched garment symbolised
6384-550: 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
6496-623: The conflict to include not only Britain and Egypt but also the Italian Empire , the Congo Free State and the Ethiopian Empire . Following Muhammad Ali 's invasion in 1819, Sudan was governed by an Egyptian administration . Throughout the period of Egyptian rule, many segments of the Sudanese population suffered extreme hardship because of the system of taxation imposed by the central government. Under this system,
6608-415: The end of the 19th century, the Mahdist military jibba became increasingly stylised and patches became colour-coded to denote the rank and military division of the wearer. Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan There 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
6720-450: 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
6832-530: The faith and liberation of the land, and began attracting followers. Soon in open revolt against the Egyptians, Muhammad Ahmad proclaimed himself the Mahdi , the promised redeemer of the Islamic world. In August 1881 the then-governor of the Sudan, Rauf Pasha , sent two companies of infantry each with one machine gun to arrest him. The captains of the two companies were each promised promotion if their soldiers were
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#17327731360486944-504: 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. Earl Granville Blazon Arms: Quarterly: 1st & 4th, Barry of eight Argent and Gules,
7056-406: 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
7168-552: The first serious engagement of the campaign occurred, when Kitchener led a 9,000 strong force that wiped out the Mahdist garrison at Ferkeh . In 1898, in the context of the scramble for Africa , the British decided to reassert Egypt's claim on Sudan. An expedition commanded by Kitchener was organised in Egypt. It was composed of 8,200 British soldiers and 17,600 Egyptian and Sudanese soldiers commanded by British officers. The Mahdist forces were more numerous, numbering more than 60,000 warriors, but lacked modern weapons. After defeating
7280-576: The forces of the Khedivate of Egypt , initially, and later the forces of Britain . Eighteen years of war resulted in the creation of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), a de jure condominium of the British Empire , and the Kingdom of Egypt , in which Britain had de facto control over Sudan. The Sudanese launched several unsuccessful invasions of their neighbours, expanding the scale of
7392-537: The foreign trading companies that had established themselves in the cities and towns of central Sudan. The jallaba were also known to be slave trading tribes. By the middle 19th century the Ottoman Imperial subject administration in Egypt was in the hands of Khedive Ismail . Khedive Ismail's spending had put Egypt into a large amount of debt, and when his financing of the Suez Canal started to crumble,
7504-573: 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
7616-494: The intervening years, Egypt had not renounced their claims over Sudan, and the British authorities considered these claims legitimate. Under strict control by British administrators, Egypt's economy had been rebuilt, and the Egyptian army reformed, this time trained and led by British officers and non-commissioned officers . The situation evolved in a way that allowed Egypt, both politically and militarily, to reconquer Sudan. Since 1890, Italian troops had defeated Mahdist troops in
7728-730: 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
7840-560: 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
7952-459: 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
8064-406: The next three years, General Gordon fought against a native chieftain of Darfur , Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur . Upon Ismail's abdication in 1877, Gordon found himself with dramatically decreased support. Exhausted by years of work, he resigned his post in 1880 and left early the next year. His policies were soon abandoned by the new governors, but the anger and discontent of the dominant Arab minority
8176-427: 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
8288-532: 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
8400-706: The number of Sudanese troops deployed for 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
8512-399: The ones to return the Mahdi to the governor. Both companies disembarked from the steamer that had brought them up the Nile to Aba Island and approached the Mahdi's village from separate directions. Arriving simultaneously, each force began to fire blindly on the other, allowing the Mahdi's scant followers to attack and destroy each force in turn at the Battle of Aba . The Mahdi then began
8624-489: 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
8736-489: The organisation of the Mahdist forces. The flags, banners, and patched tunics ( jibba ) worn and used in battle by the anṣār had both military and religious significance. As a result, textile items like these make up a large portion of the booty which was taken back to Britain after the British victory over the Mahdist forces at the Battle of Omdurman in 1899. Mahdist flags and jibbas were adapted from traditional styles of textiles used by adherents of Sufi orders in Sudan. As
8848-538: The outside world. Gordon's position in Khartoum was very strong, as the city was bordered to the north and east by the Blue Nile , to the west by the White Nile , and to the south by fortifications (dry ditch and ramparts constructed by Gordon's predecessor, colonel De Coetlogon) looking on to a vast expanse of desert. Gordon had food for an estimated six months, several million rounds of ammunition in store, with
8960-550: The province of Bogos , which had been occupied by Egypt, and began a long campaign to relieve the Egyptian garrisons besieged by the Mahdists. The bitter campaigning was led by the Emperor Yohannes IV and Ras Alula . The Ethiopians under Ras Alula achieved a victory in the Battle of Kufit on 23 September 1885. Between November 1885 and February 1886, Yohannes IV was putting down a revolt in Wollo . In January 1886,
9072-458: 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
9184-428: 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
9296-431: 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
9408-678: 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,
9520-490: The soldiers were Sudanese or Egyptian, with 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
9632-445: The summer of 1883, Egyptian troops were concentrated at Khartoum, eventually reaching the strength of around 7,300 infantry , 1,000 cavalry , and an artillery force of 300 personnel hauling between them 4 Krupp 80mm field guns, 10 brass mountain guns and 6 Nordenfeldt machine guns. This force was placed under the command of a retired British Indian Staff Corps officer William Hicks and twelve European officers. The force was, in
9744-489: The town. Gordon's brother, H. W. Gordon, was of the opinion that the British officers could easily have escaped from Khartoum up until 14 December 1884. Whether or not it was the Mahdi's intention, in March 1884, the Sudanese tribes to the north of Khartoum, who had previously been sympathetic or neutral towards the Egyptian authorities, rose in support of the Mahdi. The telegraph lines between Khartoum and Cairo were cut on 15 March, severing communication between Khartoum and
9856-455: 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
9968-571: The two actions it fought, it failed to change the military situation and was withdrawn. These events temporarily ended British and Egyptian involvement in Sudan, which passed completely under the control of the Mahdists. Muhammad Ahmad died soon after his victory, on 22 June 1885, and was succeeded by the Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad , who proved to be an able, albeit ruthless, ruler of the Mahdist State . Between 1886 and 1889
10080-432: The vast difficulty of the task. Egypt's garrisons were scattered widely across the country; three— Sennar , Tokar and Sinkat—were under siege, and the majority of the territory between them was under the control of the Mahdi. There was no guarantee that, if the garrisons were to sortie , even with the clear intention of withdrawing, they would not be defeated by the Mahdist forces. Khartoum's Egyptian and European population
10192-437: The widow of George Carteret, 1st Baron Carteret . The Carteret family descended from the celebrated royalist statesman George Carteret , who had been created a baronet , of Melesches, Jersey, in 1645. It was later intended that he should be elevated to the peerage but he died before the title could be granted. As his eldest son, Philip , predeceased him, the peerage was eventually bestowed on his namesake grandson, George , who
10304-425: The winter, muddy 'beaches' at the foot of the walls were exposed. With starvation and cholera rampant in the city and the Egyptian troops' morale shattered, Gordon's position became untenable and the city fell on 26 January 1885, after a siege of 313 days. The British Government , under strong pressure from the public reluctantly sent a relief column under Sir Garnet Wolseley to relieve the Khartoum garrison. This
10416-429: The words of Winston Churchill , "perhaps the worst army that has ever marched to war"—unpaid, untrained, and undisciplined, its soldiers having more in common with their enemies than with their officers. El Obeid , the city whose siege Hicks had intended to relieve, had already fallen by the time the expedition left Khartoum, but Hicks continued anyway, although not confident of his chances of success. Upon his approach,
10528-517: Was a gifted officer, who had gained renown commanding Imperial Chinese forces during the Taiping Rebellion . However, he was also renowned for his aggression and rigid personal honour , which, in the eyes of several prominent British officials in Egypt, made him unsuitable for the task. Sir Evelyn Baring was particularly opposed to Gordon's appointment, but was overruled by Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Earl Granville . Gordon
10640-519: 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 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
10752-445: Was ambushed and slaughtered on the night of 9 December 1881. Like the earlier Aba Island force, this force consisted of two 200 man strong Egyptian raised infantry companies, this time augmented with an additional 1,000 native irregulars , the force commander – Colonel Rashid Bay Ahman – and all his principal leadership team were killed. It is unknown if any of Colonel Ahman's troops survived. As these military incursions were happening,
10864-604: Was conducted in an orderly fashion. The Egyptian government, through British Consul-general in Egypt Sir Evelyn Baring (later the Earl of Cromer ), asked for a British officer to be sent to the Sudan to co-ordinate the withdrawal of the garrisons. It was hoped that Mahdist forces would judge an attack on a British subject to be too great a risk, and hence allow the withdrawal to proceed without incident. The British government proposed to send Charles Gordon . Gordon
10976-479: 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
11088-543: Was described in some British papers as the 'Gordon Relief Expedition', a term Gordon strongly objected to. After defeating the Mahdists at the Battle of Abu Klea on 17 January 1885, the column arrived within sight of Khartoum at the end of January, only to find they were too late: the city had fallen two days earlier, and Gordon and the garrison had been massacred. The British also sent an expeditionary force under Lieutenant-General Sir Gerald Graham , including an Indian contingent, to Suakin in March 1885. Though successful in
11200-561: 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
11312-529: Was eventually given the mission, but he was to be accompanied by the much more level-headed and reliable Colonel John Stewart . It was intended that Stewart, while nominally Gordon's subordinate, would act as a brake on the latter and ensure that Sudan was evacuated quickly and peacefully. Gordon left England on 18 January 1884 and arrived in Cairo on the evening of 24 January. Gordon was largely responsible for drafting his own orders, along with proclamations from
11424-461: Was greater than all the other garrisons combined, including 7,000 Egyptian troops and 27,000 civilians and the staffs of several embassies. Although the pragmatic approach would have been to secure the safety of the Khartoum garrison and abandon the outlying fortifications and their troops to the Mahdi, Gordon became increasingly reluctant to leave the Sudan until "every one who wants to go down [the Nile]
11536-436: Was increasingly entrenching itself in the workings of the Egyptian government. Egypt was struggling under a barely maintainable debt repayment structure for its enormous European debt. For the Egyptian government to avoid further interference from its European creditors , it had to ensure that the debt interest was paid on time, every time. To this end, the Egyptian treasury, initially crippled by corruption and bureaucracy ,
11648-445: 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
11760-401: Was left unaddressed. Although the Egyptians were fearful of the deteriorating conditions, the British refused to get involved, as Foreign Secretary Earl Granville declared, "Her Majesty’s Government are in no way responsible for operations in the Sudan". Among the forces seen as the causes of the uprising were ethnic Sudanese anger at the foreign Egyptian rulers, Muslim revivalist anger at
11872-598: 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
11984-474: 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
12096-423: Was made Baron Carteret , of Hawnes in the County of Bedford, in 1681, with remainder to his brothers. Lord Carteret and Lady Granville were both succeeded by their son, the second Earl. He was a prominent statesman, mainly known under the title Lord Carteret. The titles became extinct in 1776 on the death of his son, the third Earl, without heirs. The Carteret estates were passed on to the late Earl's first cousin,
12208-422: Was placed by the British almost entirely under the control of a financial advisor , who exercised the power of veto over all matters of financial policy. The holders of this office, first Sir Auckland Colvin , and later Sir Edgar Vincent —were instructed to be as frugal possible in Egypt's financial affairs. Maintaining the garrisons in the Sudan was costing the Egyptian government over 100,000 Egyptian pounds
12320-480: 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
12432-469: 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
12544-493: Was succeeded by his younger brother, the fourth Earl. He was a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy and also served as Governor of Northern Ireland from 1945 to 1952. Lord Granville married Lady Rose Constance Bowes-Lyon , second surviving daughter of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne , and elder sister of Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon , wife of George VI . As of 2017 , the titles are held by his grandson,
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