A new study of the battles fought between Queen Victoria's infantry
and the formidable Madhist Army in the Sudan, from the Gordon Relief
Expedition of 1884-85 to the battles of Atbara and Omdurman in 1898.
In the early 1880s, Britain intervened in independent Egypt and seized
control of the Suez Canal. British forces were soon deployed to Egypt's
southern colony, the Sudan, where they confronted a determined and
capable foe amid some of the world's most inhospitable terrain. In 1881
an Islamic fundamentalist revolt had broken out in the Sudan, led by a
religious teacher named Muhammad Ahmad bin Abd Allah, who proclaimed
himself al-Mahdi, The Guided One. In 1884, Mahdist forces besieged the
Sudanese capital of Khartoum; Colonel Charles Gordon was sent to the
city with orders to evacuate British personnel, but refused to leave.
Although the British despatched a relief column to rescue Gordon, the
Mahdists stormed Khartoum in January 1885 and he was killed. British
troops abandoned much of the Sudan, but renewed their efforts to
reconquer it in the late 1890s, in a bloody campaign that would decide
the region's fate for generations. Written by leading expert Ian Knight,
this fully illustrated study examines the evolving forces, weapons and
tactics employed by both sides in the Sudan, notably at the battles of
Abu Klea (January 16-18, 1885), Tofrek (March 22, 1885), and Atbara
(April 8, 1898).
