Carry this proud Burden -
You will be rewarded
Nagging commanders
And with the cries of wild tribes:
What do you want, damn you, Why confuse minds?
Why bring us out to the light
From the sweet Egyptian Darkness!"
("Burden of the Whites" by R. Kipling)
Everything will be the way we want it.
In case of various troubles, We have a Maxim machine gun, They have no "Maxim".
("The New Traveler" H. Bellock)
By 1883, Mahdi was able to create a jihad - a regular army of Islamists. The infantry units were largely recruited from black slaves who had recently been freed and converted to Islam. Also, the military units included enemy soldiers who were able to be captured (in government troops, the privates were staffed with slaves, who were specially bought for these purposes). The main combat unit is a regiment of five hundred, commanded by the amir. Each hundred consisted of five platoons, called muqadds. Brigades were made up of regiments, and corps from brigades. In total, the army had three corps, each of which was headed by the Caliph, one of the Mahdi's closest assistants. Banners of certain colors fluttered over each corps: green, red and black. Also, by individual tribes, infantry and cavalry hundreds were sent to the jihad.
Battle of Omdurman. British illustration of the time.
Meanwhile, in Khartoum there was an endless change of governors, although this did not quite help. It became clear that the Ottoman-Egyptian authorities had failed to cope with the situation. Meanwhile, the British wanted to use the separation of most of the Sudan from Egypt in order to fully consolidate their power in this territory. The diplomats achieved the withdrawal of the administration and the Egyptian troops from Sudan by their own means (diplomats argued that this was temporary). Egyptian troops were urgently replaced by troops arriving from the British Empire. The head of the province was appointed C. J. Gordon, who made a good showing in 1878-1879. during the suppression of uprisings. Gordon achieved emergency powers.
Battle of Omdurman. Chromolithography A. Sutherdend.
Having made the old aristocracy a pillar, Gordon tried to cope with the Mahdists. He planned to create vassal sultanates in Sudan that would be less dependent on Egypt, but more dependent on Great Britain. To Mahdi himself, he offered the area west of the White Nile - Kordofan. In public, Gordon criticized the Turkish government and reiterated his policy of "correcting evil".
Although Gordon developed a stormy activity, the British did not achieve much success, nor did the Egyptian authorities. They almost failed to attract anyone to their side, since the rebellion had gone too far. The forty thousandth army of the Mahdi in October 1884 laid siege to Khartoum. And on January 25, 1885, the Makhdists took the capital, and Gordon, who led his defense, was killed. The British Parliament, which allegedly temporarily reconciled with defeat in Sudan, at the end of April 1885 decided "not to undertake any further offensive operations" - and British troops were withdrawn from the country, but two months later Mahdi, who was the leader and the banner uprising, passed away. Abdullah, one of the three appointed caliphs, became the heir to the Mahdi.
Dervishes Mahdists attack the British.
The capital of the winners was Omdurman, a suburb of Khartoum. Here Abdullah had a residence, and a mausoleum was erected for the deceased Mahdi. In the new Sudan, it was forbidden to wear clothes of Europeans, Turks and Egyptians, gold jewelry, drink alcohol, tobacco, listen to Egyptian and Turkish music. Of the innovations brought during the Turkish domination, they preserved the minting of coins, the production of bricks and gunpowder, and artillery. The volume of the slave trade was significantly reduced, since the authorities did not approve of the capture of new slaves from the southern tribes, but in the very principle of the slave trade, the Mahdists did not see anything bad. Their traditional morality did not condemn slavery. Only slaves who used to belong to Turks and Europeans gained freedom.
Horse equipment of the British cavalry.
Since the ideal for the Makhdists was a natural small-peasant way of life, they tried to eliminate the lease of land and failed in this. Poor peasants who owned small plots did not have the opportunity to carry out reclamation work, to introduce improvements on them, so they collected too little harvest. The taxes levied on small peasant farms could not cover the costs of the state, and therefore the Mahdists had to come to terms with the existence of large landowners.
The new government managed to bring the existing tax system into a relative order, in which only the taxes prescribed by the Koran remained, tax collectors were set a fixed salary (previously, the tax authorities received it as a percentage of the amount of taxes collected).
Yet this did not save Sudan, a country with a backward and closed economy, from disasters. Religious contradictions did not allow for the establishment of friendly relations with neighbors. Trade, which was completely a monopoly of the state, almost ceased, and in 1888 it came to a severe famine. Discontent again ripened against the activities of the Mahdists. A conspiracy uncovered in 1891 was directed against Caliph Abdullah. Meanwhile, the territory of Sudan was completely surrounded by European powers and it is quite natural that the British had a desire to take revenge for their long-standing failure. And at the end of March 1898, Egyptian and British troops set out from the border town of Wadi Halfa. General Kitchener commanded a corps of ten thousand, who moved south.
Heat and cholera at the first stage of the war were the main opponents of the Anglo-Egyptian troops. The city of Dongol was successfully captured in September, but the start of the subsequent offensive to the south was hampered by all sorts of strategic and political turmoil. General Hunter - another army commander - recaptured the city on the Nile Abu Amad in a fierce battle. This gave Kitchener the opportunity to link the important rear city of Wadi Haifa with the liberated Abu Amad by rail. On this railway, reinforcements of the Anglo-Egyptian troops went without hindrance, which were able to sharply intensify. Thanks to this, the troops of Emir Mahmud, the successor of the furious Mahdi, were defeated on April 8, 1898 at Atbar. A very hot, real African summer prevented the advance deep into Africa. But when the heat ended, 26,000 (8,000 British and 18,000 Sudanese and Egyptians) Egyptian-British troops moved towards the city of Omdurman - the heart of the country. The British troops included: the Second Rifle Brigade, the Second Artillery Brigade, the First Grenadier Regiment, the First Northumberland Rifle Regiment, the Second Lancashire Rifle Regiment, the 21st Uhlan Regiment. After the capture of the city of Aegega on September 1, 1898, they camped seven miles from Omdurman.
British artillery at Omdurman.
Part of the troops crossed the Nile and, with the support of gunboats, covered Omdurman with fire from five-inch (127-mm) howitzers. The twin-screw gunboats Melik, Sultan and Meikh were specially built for Kitchener, which provided great assistance to the ground forces. By the way, "Melik" has survived to this day and today stands on the shore, near the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, dug into the ground along the waterline.
Later, other units joined the advanced units. They were the Camel Corps riders and the native Egyptian cavalry. The British patrols from the Jebel Surgan hill looked in amazement at the Mahdi's tomb, destroyed by shells, and crowds of fanatical dervishes lining up in ranks not far from them. The medieval army is the most real: the beat of drums, the roar of trumpets and horns, under this cacophony in front of the British, riders in chain mail, helmets and with shields lined up in battle formation, and the infantry were brandishing antique museum weapons. This unique sight was seen by the young hussar Winston Churchill, heir to the family of the Dukes of Marlborough from the 4th Hussars, assigned at that time to the 21st Lancers' Regiment. He described everything he saw in his book “The River of War” as follows: “Suddenly, a solid dark line, reminiscent of a zeribu (thorny bush), began to move. It consisted of people, not bushes. Beyond this line, a huge mass of people flooded the ridge of the hill: and as we watched, bewitched by the extraordinary sight, the face of the slope darkened. Four miles from start to finish … this army was advancing extremely fast. The impression was that part of the hill was moving. And between these masses the horsemen continued to gallop. Thousands of troops behind them flooded the valley. Hundreds of banners fluttered ahead, and the sun, reflecting on the tips of the enemy spears, created a sparkling cloud.
The advance units of the British immediately received an order to retreat, and the commanders complied with it, withdrawing the troops for the night at a safe distance.
It is important to understand that if the army of Caliph Abdullah had continued the offensive on the same night, then the military campaign could have a completely different ending. General Kitchener's modern weapons in the dark would be useless. The use of ten-shot "Lee-Metford" rifles, "Maxim" machine guns and rapid-fire field guns in the dark would be very difficult, and in a night battle the losses of the British could be enormous. The Mahdists (and according to various sources there were from 40 to 52 thousand), even if they were practically unarmed, having spears and swords could have superiority. And 3,000 scattered camels would just sow panic. Alas, the Mahdists did not dare to attack at night, but in the morning it was not the courage of the native soldiers that decided the outcome of the victory, but the superiority of the modern weapons of the British.
Small arms of the British.
On September 2, 1898, early in the morning at about 6 o'clock, the first shot was heard in the battle of Omdurman, or, as it should have been called initially, in the battle of Khartoum. At this time, the first ranks of the Caliph's troops rushed to the British through the Kerry valley. The military order of the Mahdists formed two columns: the soldiers under the Green and Black Banners were moving to the left flank of the British. Closer to the British Green Banners were the Black Banners, which were literally swept away by the fire of rapid-fire weapons (howitzers, machine guns, rifles "Lee-Metford"). The Mahdists did not manage to get closer than 300 yards to the Anglo-Egyptian troops!
English machine gun "Maxim", which was in service with the British army in 1898 and used in the battle of Omdurman.
On the right flank of the British, the Green Banners occupied the Kerry Hills and thereby forced the Camel Corps and cavalry that were there to withdraw. General Kitchener, two hours after the start of the battle, ordered the 21st Uhlan regiment to attack the dervish forces on the right flank, and his order looked somewhat strange: "To cause them as much inconvenience as possible on the flank and, as far as possible, to close their way to Omdurman." … In the military unit that received this order, there were only … 450 people!
All this time, the Mahdists conducted continuous attacks by the Anglo-Egyptian troops from the front and from the flanks of the Kereri hills. There were two attempts at concentrated attacks, as on the right flank, but both of their attacks were repelled by General Hector McDonald's Sudanese brigade. Already at 9 o'clock, General Kitchener gave the order to attack the city of Omdurman. The right flank was occupied by the Camel Corps and the Egyptian cavalry, the left - by Lewis's regiment, the center - by Wochop's brigade and McDonald's brigade.
Three phases of the battle of Omdurman.
As a result of these movements of troops, 450 people of the 21st Lancers' regiment were on the very flank, and, according to the strange order received, they went on the attack. And then the uhlans faced an unexpected turn of events for them: a group of horsemen, led by commander Osman Din, one of the few who knew the military craft, took refuge in the dry stream of Kor Abu Sant and attacked the British from an ambush, chopping the enemy with swords and daggers, slashing horses and yanking the riders out of their saddles. The British traditionally used the lancers' pikes, but many, without even taking up their sabers, opened fire on the enemy from rifles and revolvers. Young Winston Churchill also preferred shooting from the Mauser. He managed to shoot four, and the fifth, the last - hit, like a hammer, with the handle of his "Mauser" on the head!
Attack of the 21st Lancers' Regiment near Omdurman. Richard C. C. Woodville.
As a result of this battle, 46 people were injured, 21 lancers were killed, more than 150 horses fled or were killed and wounded. Here and other lancers realized that the days of saber fights had already passed, and they began to shoot from their carbines at Osman's men. Maxwell's brigade had by that time cleared the hill of the Black Banners. Also on the right flank, the enemy forces were defeated. For the occupying British army and its Egyptian and Sudanese allies, the road to Omdurman was now open.
Young Churchill in battle. This event was reflected in the film Young Winston (1972).
The loss of the Mahdists in killed and wounded was about 11,000 people (although there are sources that consider this number to be underestimated), the Anglo-Egyptian units themselves lost less than 50 people during the battle itself, but later another 380 died from their wounds!
General Kitchener was subsequently often accused of cruel treatment of the wounded, both enemy soldiers and his own (with the Sudanese in particular). It was said that those who could not move were stabbed with bayonets or shot. But this inhumanity was largely due to the fact that in the territories of the Mahdists, the British army did not have the medical equipment necessary to take care of the wounded. Therefore, priority was given to achieving victory.
Scottish riflemen from the Cameron Highlanders Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders dig graves after the battle at Atbar. The Royal Riflemen of Warwick and the Lincolnmen also participated in this battle, five officers and 21 privates were killed. The Egyptian brigade lost 57 people. The losses of the dervishes amounted to more than 3000 people.
With a handful of his supporters and the remnants of the cavalry, Caliph Abdullah left Omdurman. He wandered in the wilds of Kordofan for about a year. His trail was discovered by the troops of Colonel Wingate, the future Governor General of Sudan. The emirs of Caliph Abdullah refused the offer to extradite him, and instead they simply … killed him. Disguised as a condominium, i.e. Anglo-Egyptian co-ownership, the colony of Sudan became part of the British Empire.
Armor of a Sudanese horseman of the late 19th century Higgins Weapon Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts.
General Kitchener returned to England as a national hero. Winston Churchill became a fashion writer and well-known journalist. And the battle of the last knightly cavalry was soon forgotten!
Rice. A. Shepsa
