Mahdist War
Mahdist War | |||||||||
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Depiction of the Battle of Omdurman | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Mahdist State | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
Charles Gordon † William Hicks † Garnet Wolseley Herbert Kitchener Tewfik Pasha Rauf Pasha Hassan Ismail Pasha Yohannes IV † Ras Alula Tekle Haimanot Oreste Baratieri Giuseppe Arimondi Louis-Napoléon Chaltin |
Muhammad Ahmad (WIA) Abdallahi ibn Muhammad † Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur Othman Digna (WIA) Babikr Bedri Hamdan Abu 'Anja Mohammed Zain (POW) Musa Abu Higel Umar Salih Khalil al-Khuzani |
The Mahdist War
Background
Following
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, a flat tax was imposed on farmers and small traders and collected by government-appointed tax collectors from the
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, 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 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 Governor of the Equatorial Provinces of Sudan. For 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 was left unaddressed.[citation needed]
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".
Historical development of the conflict
Mahdi uprising
Among the forces seen as the causes of the uprising were
In the 1870s, a Muslim cleric named Muhammad Ahmad preached renewal of 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 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.[7]
The Mahdi then began 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.
As these military incursions were happening, the Mahdi legitimized his movement by drawing deliberate parallels to the life of
The Egyptian administration in 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 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.[12]
Hicks expedition
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 the summer of 1883, Egyptian troops were concentrated at Khartoum, eventually reaching the strength of around 7,300
Egyptian evacuation
At this time, the British Empire 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.
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
Gordon left England on 18 January 1884[20] and arrived in Cairo on the evening of 24 January.[21] Gordon was largely responsible for drafting his own orders,[22] along with proclamations from 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,[23] and immediately became aware of the vast difficulty of the task. Egypt's garrisons were scattered widely across the country; three—Sennar, Tokar and Sinkat—were under siege,[24] 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 was greater than all the other garrisons combined, including 7,000 Egyptian troops[25] and 27,000 civilians[26] 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] is given the chance to do so,"[27] 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[28] whether or not Gordon deliberately remained in Khartoum longer than strategically sensible, seemingly intent on becoming besieged within 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.[29]
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
severing communication between Khartoum and the outside world.Siege of Khartoum
Gordon's position in Khartoum was very strong, as the city was bordered to the north and east by the
- Making a breakout southwards along the Blue Nile towards Ethiopia, which would have enabled him to collect the garrisons stationed along that route. The window for navigation of the upper reaches of the Blue Nile was very narrow.[36]
- Requesting Mohammedan regiments from India.[37]
- Requesting several thousand Turkish troops be sent to quell the uprising.[38]
- Visiting the Mahdi himself to explore a possible solution.[37]
Eventually it became impossible for Gordon to be relieved without British troops. An expedition was duly dispatched under Sir
Nile campaign
The British Government, under strong pressure from the public reluctantly sent a relief column under Sir Garnet Wolseley to relieve the Khartoum garrison. This 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,[39] 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.
Suakin Expedition
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 the two actions it fought, it failed to change the military situation and was withdrawn.[40] 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
Equatoria expedition
Between 1886 and 1889 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.
Ethiopian campaigns
According to the
Between November 1885 and February 1886, Yohannes IV was putting down a revolt in
Italian campaign and Anglo-Egyptian reconquest
In 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.[42]
Since 1890,
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 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,[44] and through the wide publicity they received in Britain, served to influence public opinion in favour of military intervention.[45]
In 1896, when Italy suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of the Ethiopians at
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 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
The casualties for this campaign were:
- Sudan: 30,000 dead, wounded, or captured
- Britain: 700+ British, Egyptian and Sudanese dead, wounded, or captured.
Aftermath
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.
Military textiles of the Mahdiyya
Textiles played an important role in 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.[51] Mahdist flags and jibbas were adapted from traditional styles of textiles used by adherents of Sufi orders in Sudan. As the Mahdist War progressed, these textiles became more standardised and specifically colour coded to denote military rank and regiment.
Mahdist flags
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.[52] The Mahdi adapted this form of flag for military purposes. A quotation from 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 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.[53] 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 Mahdist jibba
The patched muraqqa'a, and later, the jibba, was a garment traditionally worn by followers of Sufi religious orders. The ragged, patched garment symbolised a rejection of material wealth by its wearer and a commitment to a religious way of life.[54] 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.[55] During the years of conflict between Mahdist and Anglo-Egyptian forces at 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.[55]
See also
- Mahdist State
- Sudan Military Railroad
- List of journalists killed during the Mahdist War
- Category:People of the Mahdist War
- Millenarianism in colonial societies
- List of wars involving Sudan
References and notes
Footnotes
Citations
- ^ "Egypt and the Sudan | National Army Museum". www.nam.ac.uk.
- ^ "Nile Expedition". www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca.
- ^ International, Radio Canada (26 January 2015). "Canada's first military mission overseas".
- ^ Meredith Reid Sarkees, Frank Whelon Wayman (2010). Resort to war: a data guide to inter-state, extra-state, intra-state, and non-state wars, 1816–2007. Washington, DC.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ^ Mortimer, Edward, Faith and Power, Vintage, 1982, p. 77.
- ^ Holt, P.M. (1958). The Mahdist State in the Sudan 1881 – 1898: A Study of Its Origin, Development, and Overthrow. Clarendon: Oxford University Press.
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 28.
- ISBN 978-0-9561842-1-4.
- ^ Churchill p. 29
- ^ Snook, op.cit., p.13
- ISBN 978-0-8371-1639-6.
- ^ Churchill p. 30
- ^ Snook, op. cit., p.25
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 31.
- ^ Churchill p. 33
- ^ Milner, Alfred (1898). England in Egypt. Macmillan. p. 60.
- ^ Milner p. 86
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 354.
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 564.
- ^ Strachey, Lytton (1918), Eminent Victorians[1] Archived 11 January 2021 at the Wayback Machine, pp. 194 & 199; see also, Churchill, p. 39
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 441.
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. pp. 442–45.
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 475.
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 37.
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 29.
- ^ Gordon, Charles (1885). Journals at Khartoum. p. 8. (34,000 total population, including soldiers)
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 564.
- ^ Cromer p. 567
- ^ Journals lx
- ^ Churchill p. 50
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1902). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 537.
- ^ Journals at Khartoum, p. 73 (2,242,000 in store, 3,240,770 expended to 12/03/84–22/09/84)
- ^ Journals at Khartoum, p. 44
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 50.
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 489.
- ^ Cromer, Earl of (1907). Modern Egypt. Macmillan. p. 572.
- ^ a b Churchill p. 46
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1902). The River War. Kessinger. p. 46.
- ^ Snook, op.cit., p.94
- ^ Ernest Gambier-Parry, Suakin, 1885 : being a sketch of the campaign of this year (1885), (London : K. Paul, Trench & Co.)
- ^ a b Henze, Paul B. (2000), Layers of Time: A History of Ethiopia, New York: Palgrave, pp. 155–58
- ^ Churchill, pp. 89–106
- ISBN 978-0-283-97862-3.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ Salomon, Noah (May 2004). "Undoing the Mahdiyya: British Colonialism as Religious Reform in the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, 1898–1914". University of Chicago Martin Marty Center. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 7 November 2007.
- ^ Churchill, p. 99
- ^ Churchill, p. 101
- ^ a b Gleichen, Edward ed. The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan: A Compendium Prepared by Officers of the Sudan Government, Vol. 1, p. 99. Harrison & Sons (London), 1905. Accessed 13 February 2014.
- ^ a b Sudan Railway Corporation. "Historical Background Archived 10 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine". 2008. Accessed 13 February 2014.
- ISBN 0-246-11103-8.
- ^ Churchill, p. 137
- ^ F. Nicoll Material related to the Mahdīa Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ F. Nicoll and O. Nusairi, Flags of the Mahdiyya Archived 30 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. Making African Connections. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
- ^ D. Johnson, A Note on Mahdist Flags. Savage and Soldier. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- ^ Mahdist Shirt; jibba. British Museum digital collection catalogue. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
- ^ a b The jibba: clothing for Sufi and soldier. Making African Connections. Retrieved December 19, 2020.
Further reading
- Churchill, The River War
- Too late for Gordon and Khartoum, 1887
- Ten years captivity in the Mahdist camp
- Suakin 1885
- The Downfall of the Dervishes, 1898
- Sudan Campaign 1896–1899