Egyptian Sudanese Campaign 1882-1899

[apowell]

The chaotic state of Egypt's financial situation led the two major creditors, Britain and France establishing joint control over Egyptian public finances in 1879 and, in effect to control the country. A popular revolt against this foreign domination, led by an Egyptian army officer, Urabi Pasha, resulted in Europeans being murdered in Alexandria and to the bombardment of the city by a British fleet on 11 July 1882. The subsequent despatch of an army under Wolseley resulted in the defeat of the Egyptian army at Tel-el-Kebir on 13 September 1882 and to the British occupation of the country, the French having refused to co-operate. In occupying Egypt Britain automatically assumed responsibility for the vast Egyptian Sudan. There, a revolt led by a religious leader, Muhammad Ahmed, self-styled the Mahdi (Guided One), had started in 1881. By the end of 1882 his forces (popularly if inaccurately known as dervishes) had occupied a major part of the Sudan.

Battle of Tel-El-Kebir
13th September 1882
Anglo British Army commanded General Sir Garnet Wolseley defeats Sudanese Army commanded Ahmed Arabi Bey. This victory enabled Britain

Battle of El Obeid
3-5 November 1883
Sudanese Army commanded Mohammed Ahmed (self-proclaimed Mahdi) defeated Egyptian Army commanded by (Retired) Colonel William Hicks.
The Egyptian forces quickly formed into a defensive square. According to reports published in England soon after, the square held for two days before finally collapsing. About one-third of the Egyptian soldiers surrendered and were later freed, while all the officers were killed. Only about 500 Egyptian troops managed to escape and make it back to Khartoum and apparently only two or three Europeans survived. Winston Churchill wrote "perhaps the worst army that has ever marched to war" - unpaid, untrained, undisciplined, its soldiers having more in common with their enemies than with their officers.

Second Battles of El Teb
29 February 1884
Anglo Egyptian Army commanded Sir Gerald Graham defeats Sudaneses Army commanded Osman Digna.

Battle of Tamai (or Tamanieh)
13 March 1884
British Army commanded Sir Gerald Graham defeats Sudaneses Army commanded Osman Digna. During this battle, the British suffered more losses than in any other battle of the campaign, 214 soldiers being wounded or killed, ten of which were officers. For their conspicuous bravery during the battle, Private Thomas Edwards of the Black Watch and Lieutenant Percival Marling of the KRRC were awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest decoration in the British Army.

Siege of Khartoum or Fall of Khartoum
13 March 1884, to 26 January 1885
It was fought in and around Khartoum between Egyptian forces led by British General Charles George Gordon and a rebel Sudanese army led by the self-proclaimed Mahdi, Muhammad Ahmad. Khartoum was besieged by the Mahdists and defended by a garrison of 7,000 Egyptian and loyal Sudanese troops. After a ten-month siege, the Mahdists finally broke into the city and the entire garrison was killed. The entire garrison, physically weakened by starvation, offered only patchy resistance and were slaughtered to the last man within a few hours, as were 4,000 of the town's inhabitants, while many others were carried into slavery. Accounts differ as to how Gordon was killed. According to one version, when Mahdist warriors broke into the governor's palace, Gordon came out in full uniform, and, after disdaining to fight, he was speared to death—in defiance of the orders of the Mahdi, who had wanted him captured alive. In another version, Gordon was recognised by Mahdists while making for the Austrian consulate and shot dead in the street. What appears certain is that his head was cut off, stuck on a pike, and brought to the Mahdi as a trophy and his body dumped in the Nile.

Battle of Abu Klea
16 and 18 January 1885
British Army commanded Major General Sir Herbert Stewart defeats Sudanese Army commanded Mohammed Ahmed (self-proclaimed Mahdi). The British forces was known as the "The Gordon Relief Expedition" attempting to reach General Charles George Gordon at Khartoum.

Battle of Suakin
20 December 1888
British Army commanded Francis Grenfell defeats Sudanese Army commanded Osman Digna.

Battle of Omdurman
2 September 1898
Anglo British Army commanded General Kitchener defeats Anglo Sudanese Army commanded Abdullah al-Taashi. Abdullah's followers, known as Ansar and sometimes referred to as Dervishes, numbered around 50,000, including some 3,000 cavalry. . Kitchener commanded a force of 8,000 British regulars and a mixed force of 17,000 Sudanese and Egyptian troops. Around 10,000 Mahdists were killed, 13,000 wounded and 5,000 taken prisoner. Kitchener's force lost 47 men killed and 382 wounded.
One eye-witness described 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 .

Kitchener was ennobled as a baron, Kitchener of Khartoum, for his victory. Four Victoria Crosses were awarded, three to members of the 21st Lancers, as a result of this action: 2nd Lt. Raymond H.L.J. De Montmorency, Capt. Paul A. Kenna, Pvt. Thomas Byrne and one to Capt. Nevill Smyth of the 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen's Bays).

Winston Churchill was present at the battle and he rode with the 21st Lancers.

Battle of Umm Diwaykarat
25 November 1899
Anglo British Army defeats Sudanese Army commanded Abdallahi ibn Muhammad 'The Khalifa' (head of state). This battle ended the campaign.