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Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure
The British campaign in the Sudan in Queen Victoria's reign is an epic tale of adventure more thrilling than any fiction. The story begins with the massacre of the 11,000 strong Hicks Pasha column in 1883. Sent to evacuate the country, British hero General Gordon was surrounded and murdered in Khartoum by an army of dervishes led by the Mahdi. The relief mission arrived 2 days too late. The result was a national scandal that shocked the Queen and led to the fall of the British government.
Twelve years later it was the brilliant Herbert Kitchener who struck back. Achieving the impossible he built a railway across the desert to transport his troops to the final devastating confrontation at Omdurman in 1898.
Desert explorer and author Michael Asher has reconstructed this classic tale in vivid detail. Having covered every inch of the ground and examined all eyewitness reports, he brings to bear new evidence questioning several accepted aspects of the story. The result is an account that sheds new light on the most riveting tale of honour, courage, revenge and savagery of late Victorian times.
Twelve years later it was the brilliant Herbert Kitchener who struck back. Achieving the impossible he built a railway across the desert to transport his troops to the final devastating confrontation at Omdurman in 1898.
Desert explorer and author Michael Asher has reconstructed this classic tale in vivid detail. Having covered every inch of the ground and examined all eyewitness reports, he brings to bear new evidence questioning several accepted aspects of the story. The result is an account that sheds new light on the most riveting tale of honour, courage, revenge and savagery of late Victorian times.
512 pages, Paperback
First published October 27, 2005
52 people are currently reading
669 people want to read
About the author
Michael Asher
56 books63 followersMichael Asher is an author, historian, deep ecologist, and notable desert explorer who has covered more than 30,000 miles on foot and camel. He spent three years living with a traditional nomadic tribe in Sudan.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
Michael Asher was born in Stamford, Lincolnshire, in 1953, and attended Stamford School. At 18 he enlisted in the 2nd Battalion the Parachute Regiment, and saw active service in Northern Ireland during The Troubles there in the 1970s.
He studied English Language & Linguistics at the University of Leeds. at the same time serving in B Squadron, 23rd SAS Regiment. He also studied at Carnegie College, Leeds, where he qualified as a teacher of physical education and English.
In 1978-9, he worked for the RUC Special Patrol Group anti-terrorist patrols, but left after less than a year. He took a job as a volunteer English teacher in the Sudan in 1979.
The author of twenty-one published books, and presenter/director of six TV documentaries, Asher has lived in Africa for much of his life, and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He is married to Arabist and photographer Mariantonietta Peru, with whom he has a son and a daughter, Burton and Jade. He currently lives in Nairobi, Kenya.
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January 30, 2022
“By now the gap had closed. The front rank had reached the enemy gun-bank. British and Beja met in a hand-to-hand clash. It was sword against sword and bayonet against spear. [Bennett] Burleigh saw three or four soldiers cut down after missing shots at point-blank range. Others fired with deadly accuracy. The veteran warriors among the York & Lancs and Marines coolly parried spear-thrusts and sword-cuts and riposted with their bayonets. Often the bayonets hit bone and buckled. Sometimes they made a wound so slight the dervish hardly seemed to notice it. When they struck soft flesh they sliced in deep and were hard to get out. Some of the dervishes grabbed hold of the bayonets with their hands and tried to push them aside…Beja swords and spears were sharp as razors and cut through bone and muscle without the edges being turned. By comparison, the British officers’ swords were second-rate. Captain Littledale of the York & Lancasters cut at a dervish across the head, only to have his blade bend almost double. He tried his revolver and missed. A second later the warrior wrestled him down, almost severing his arm at the shoulder with his sword. The dervish was stopped by a British private, who rammed his bayonet up to the hilt in the warrior’s back. Another comrade blew the man’s head apart with a .45 caliber dum-dum fired at hard contact range.
- Michael Asher, Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure
Michael Asher’s Khartoum is a pugnacious, throwback type of history, reveling in the gory details without much worry for tangled context. Its subtitle – the Ultimate Imperial Adventure – doesn’t contain a hint of irony. This really is an old-school, A.E.W. Mason-like tale of empire, which shows little interest in deploying post-colonial interpretative lenses or measuring the excesses of 19th century British imperialism. Rather, the focus is on the battles, on the crossing of bayonets and scimitars, with some camels thrown in for good measure.
Khartoum begins in 1883, with the destruction of General William Hick’s Egyptian expeditionary force. Hicks, a British commander, had been charged with putting down the Mahdist Revolt. The revolt was led by Muhammad Ahmad, a northern Sudanese religious leader who’d proclaimed himself the Mahdi and vowed to secure the Sudan in the name of Islam. At this time, the Sudan was administered by Egypt, and Egypt (as a result of the Anglo-Egyptian War) was a protectorate of Great Britain.
After the Mahdi’s army defeated General Hicks at the Battle of el-Obeid (and cut off Hicks’s head), Great Britain was pushed to a decision: whether to abandon the Sudan or put British boots on the ground. The locus of this decision was Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan, located along the Nile.
The powers-that-be decided that the Sudan was not worth the effort. Under pressure from Great Britain, Egypt decided to abandon the territory, at least for the time being. However, Egypt needed a man to organize the withdrawal of the Khartoum garrison. The man eventually chosen to oversee the retreat was General Charles “Chinese” Gordon. As it turned out, though, Gordon had no plans to leave.
Gordon was one of the most famous British generals of the age. He was a small, weird little fellow, what the Victorians called a “mystic.” A five-foot-two bachelor of eccentric beliefs, he surrounded himself with a retinue of young boys, which Asher finds innocent, but looks really suspicious.
When Gordon got to Khartoum, he informed London that a pullout was impossible, and that the British Army would have to rescue him or else watch him die. The Mahdi’s host soon enveloped Khartoum, and Gordon’s impending martyrdom forced Great Britain to send an expedition to rescue the beleaguered city. This expedition would be under the immediate command of General Herbert Stewart, and would include future World War I heavies such as Herbert Kitchener and John French.
All this context is drawn by Asher is broad, clear strokes. He doesn’t get muddled in the geopolitical triangle of Great Britain, Egypt and the Sudan. Even the controversial choice of Gordon to assume Khartoum’s command is dealt with briskly. As I said before, this is first and foremost a military history, and all those other details just get in the way of the bloodletting.
The bloodletting begins quickly.
For a book with the title Khartoum, there is surprisingly little space devoted to the actual siege of the city. I suppose this is due to a paucity of primary sources. On January 26, 1885, the Mahdi’s army took Khartoum with relative ease. What details we get about the battle concern Gordon’s fate. There are actually several proposed endings for Gordon. In one, favored by the Victorians, Gordon presents himself to the Mahdists unarmed, a Christ-like figure dying for the foreign policy sins of the Gladstone government. In another scenario, Gordon engages the dervishes in a wild sword melee, slashing and parrying like Inigo Montoya. No matter which scenario is true (likely it’s an unknown third option), Gordon’s head ended up on a pike.
Meanwhile, the bulk of Khartoum is devoted to Stewart’s fraught rescue mission. The expedition was the brainchild of General Garnet Wolseley, who conceived of it as a special forces operation. Handpicking the best soldiers from British cavalry regiments, he had the soldiers mounted on camels and set out across the desert from Korti. The hope was that these men could reach the Nile, board steamships, and then sail down to Gordon at Khartoum. (By heading east across the desert from Korti, Wolseley intended to avoid the Great Bend of the Nile). Instead, Stewart’s expedition ran into Mahdist forces at Abu Klea and Abu Cru.
These relatively unknown battles were exceedingly vicious, with fatalities that soared past more famous engagements such as Gettysburg and Antietam. It was colonial warfare at its most savage: dervishes armed with swords and clad in armor attacking British infantry squares en masse.
Asher takes very real, very detailed delight in describing these vicious encounters. In most nonfiction books, battles are usually described in generalities, with perhaps a personal recollection or two thrown in for color. Asher, however, goes for a personal approach, as often as possible following the actions of individual soldiers. He gives you a literal blow-by-blow account, telling you how many bullets a certain soldier fired and how many hit.
If this all seems excessive, I’m a bit inclined to agree. Too often, Asher – who served in the British SAS – seems more of a fan than an objective chronicler. Instead of relating history, he’s cheering on his team. There’s a certain fetishization of the British soldier, with his wry wit and pith helmet and the Martini-Henry ammunition that he has turned into a hollow-point round.
To Asher’s credit, however, he has also lived in the Sudan and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He spends a fair amount of time describing the makeup of the Mahdi’s forces. The Mahdi’s men were not all fanatical Muslim’s intent on conversion-by-sword. Rather, it was comprised of many individual tribes, each with their own goals. For instance, Asher goes into great detail about the Beja:
Asher goes on to describe the Beja’s nationalist aims. They were not Arabs and they were not fervid Muslims. They were fierce fighters and they wanted their country back.
For as much as he loved the British Army, Asher displays a real fondness for warriors in general.
To the best of his abilities, Asher carefully parses the dervish mindset and ethos so that it is no longer a mass of humanity charging the British lines, it is a mass of individuals, each man imbued with a combat ethic instilled and reinforced since birth. Often, the dervishes are deprecated for their seemingly suicidal frontal assaults, but Asher reminds us that less than two decades after the end of the Anglo-Sudanese War, the old guard of Western civilization, in all its high-minded, life-valuing enlightenment, would destroy itself by emulating dervish tactics in the face of barbed wire, machine guns, and heavy artillery.
You can’t describe a desert war without describing the desert, and Asher does an admirable job in giving the reader a sense of place. It is helpful, here, that Asher is a military man who has lived in the Sudan and walked these battlefields. As a former soldier, he can look over a piece of ground and assess it as a general leading troops must assess it.
My main concern with Khartoum is its sourcing. There are precious few endnotes, and the endnotes that are included usually cite to only one source. In other words, this is a big story spun from a small spool of thread. I’d like to believe that everything within these pages actually happened, but I lack complete confidence, especially with some of the smaller details. It’s a nagging concern.
Of course, Khartoum asks you to forget nagging concerns and surrender yourself to an epic of men at war in the desert. The causes and consequences are not as important as the warriors on the field of battle. It feels wrong to say that an account of a brutal colonial war is exciting, but that’s what Asher accomplishes. He gives you an account that is immediate, visceral, and – yes, admittedly – an adventure.
- Michael Asher, Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure
Michael Asher’s Khartoum is a pugnacious, throwback type of history, reveling in the gory details without much worry for tangled context. Its subtitle – the Ultimate Imperial Adventure – doesn’t contain a hint of irony. This really is an old-school, A.E.W. Mason-like tale of empire, which shows little interest in deploying post-colonial interpretative lenses or measuring the excesses of 19th century British imperialism. Rather, the focus is on the battles, on the crossing of bayonets and scimitars, with some camels thrown in for good measure.
Khartoum begins in 1883, with the destruction of General William Hick’s Egyptian expeditionary force. Hicks, a British commander, had been charged with putting down the Mahdist Revolt. The revolt was led by Muhammad Ahmad, a northern Sudanese religious leader who’d proclaimed himself the Mahdi and vowed to secure the Sudan in the name of Islam. At this time, the Sudan was administered by Egypt, and Egypt (as a result of the Anglo-Egyptian War) was a protectorate of Great Britain.
After the Mahdi’s army defeated General Hicks at the Battle of el-Obeid (and cut off Hicks’s head), Great Britain was pushed to a decision: whether to abandon the Sudan or put British boots on the ground. The locus of this decision was Khartoum, the capital of the Sudan, located along the Nile.
The powers-that-be decided that the Sudan was not worth the effort. Under pressure from Great Britain, Egypt decided to abandon the territory, at least for the time being. However, Egypt needed a man to organize the withdrawal of the Khartoum garrison. The man eventually chosen to oversee the retreat was General Charles “Chinese” Gordon. As it turned out, though, Gordon had no plans to leave.
Gordon was one of the most famous British generals of the age. He was a small, weird little fellow, what the Victorians called a “mystic.” A five-foot-two bachelor of eccentric beliefs, he surrounded himself with a retinue of young boys, which Asher finds innocent, but looks really suspicious.
When Gordon got to Khartoum, he informed London that a pullout was impossible, and that the British Army would have to rescue him or else watch him die. The Mahdi’s host soon enveloped Khartoum, and Gordon’s impending martyrdom forced Great Britain to send an expedition to rescue the beleaguered city. This expedition would be under the immediate command of General Herbert Stewart, and would include future World War I heavies such as Herbert Kitchener and John French.
All this context is drawn by Asher is broad, clear strokes. He doesn’t get muddled in the geopolitical triangle of Great Britain, Egypt and the Sudan. Even the controversial choice of Gordon to assume Khartoum’s command is dealt with briskly. As I said before, this is first and foremost a military history, and all those other details just get in the way of the bloodletting.
The bloodletting begins quickly.
For a book with the title Khartoum, there is surprisingly little space devoted to the actual siege of the city. I suppose this is due to a paucity of primary sources. On January 26, 1885, the Mahdi’s army took Khartoum with relative ease. What details we get about the battle concern Gordon’s fate. There are actually several proposed endings for Gordon. In one, favored by the Victorians, Gordon presents himself to the Mahdists unarmed, a Christ-like figure dying for the foreign policy sins of the Gladstone government. In another scenario, Gordon engages the dervishes in a wild sword melee, slashing and parrying like Inigo Montoya. No matter which scenario is true (likely it’s an unknown third option), Gordon’s head ended up on a pike.
Meanwhile, the bulk of Khartoum is devoted to Stewart’s fraught rescue mission. The expedition was the brainchild of General Garnet Wolseley, who conceived of it as a special forces operation. Handpicking the best soldiers from British cavalry regiments, he had the soldiers mounted on camels and set out across the desert from Korti. The hope was that these men could reach the Nile, board steamships, and then sail down to Gordon at Khartoum. (By heading east across the desert from Korti, Wolseley intended to avoid the Great Bend of the Nile). Instead, Stewart’s expedition ran into Mahdist forces at Abu Klea and Abu Cru.
These relatively unknown battles were exceedingly vicious, with fatalities that soared past more famous engagements such as Gettysburg and Antietam. It was colonial warfare at its most savage: dervishes armed with swords and clad in armor attacking British infantry squares en masse.
Asher takes very real, very detailed delight in describing these vicious encounters. In most nonfiction books, battles are usually described in generalities, with perhaps a personal recollection or two thrown in for color. Asher, however, goes for a personal approach, as often as possible following the actions of individual soldiers. He gives you a literal blow-by-blow account, telling you how many bullets a certain soldier fired and how many hit.
If this all seems excessive, I’m a bit inclined to agree. Too often, Asher – who served in the British SAS – seems more of a fan than an objective chronicler. Instead of relating history, he’s cheering on his team. There’s a certain fetishization of the British soldier, with his wry wit and pith helmet and the Martini-Henry ammunition that he has turned into a hollow-point round.
To Asher’s credit, however, he has also lived in the Sudan and speaks Arabic and Swahili. He spends a fair amount of time describing the makeup of the Mahdi’s forces. The Mahdi’s men were not all fanatical Muslim’s intent on conversion-by-sword. Rather, it was comprised of many individual tribes, each with their own goals. For instance, Asher goes into great detail about the Beja:
To the Beja tribesmen Baker’s force was about to confront, though, [Baker] and his men were the barbarians. They had a history that spanned no less than forty centuries. They were the Bugiha of Leo Africanus, the Blemmyes of the Romans, the Bugas of the Axumites, and the Medja or Bukas of the pharaohs. They had inhabited the chasms, gorges, plateau and valleys of the Red Sea hills even before the ancient Egyptian kings had sent their armies here looking for gold.
Asher goes on to describe the Beja’s nationalist aims. They were not Arabs and they were not fervid Muslims. They were fierce fighters and they wanted their country back.
For as much as he loved the British Army, Asher displays a real fondness for warriors in general.
To the best of his abilities, Asher carefully parses the dervish mindset and ethos so that it is no longer a mass of humanity charging the British lines, it is a mass of individuals, each man imbued with a combat ethic instilled and reinforced since birth. Often, the dervishes are deprecated for their seemingly suicidal frontal assaults, but Asher reminds us that less than two decades after the end of the Anglo-Sudanese War, the old guard of Western civilization, in all its high-minded, life-valuing enlightenment, would destroy itself by emulating dervish tactics in the face of barbed wire, machine guns, and heavy artillery.
You can’t describe a desert war without describing the desert, and Asher does an admirable job in giving the reader a sense of place. It is helpful, here, that Asher is a military man who has lived in the Sudan and walked these battlefields. As a former soldier, he can look over a piece of ground and assess it as a general leading troops must assess it.
My main concern with Khartoum is its sourcing. There are precious few endnotes, and the endnotes that are included usually cite to only one source. In other words, this is a big story spun from a small spool of thread. I’d like to believe that everything within these pages actually happened, but I lack complete confidence, especially with some of the smaller details. It’s a nagging concern.
Of course, Khartoum asks you to forget nagging concerns and surrender yourself to an epic of men at war in the desert. The causes and consequences are not as important as the warriors on the field of battle. It feels wrong to say that an account of a brutal colonial war is exciting, but that’s what Asher accomplishes. He gives you an account that is immediate, visceral, and – yes, admittedly – an adventure.
September 7, 2017
Very entertaining book that covers the two campaigns fought by the British in the Sudan in 1883-1885 and 1896-1898. Proclaiming himself the long-expected Mahdi – the Guided One of the Prophet – Mohammed Ibn Admed el-Sayyid Abdullah led a revolt of the Sudanese against their Egyptian occupiers. It soon became abundantly clear the Egyptian Government (which was essentially installed by the British after the Arabi Pasha revolt of 1882), was not capable of putting down the uprising. Leery of being pulled into a war for a place of limited strategic value, the British Government ultimately dispatched General Charles Gordon to Khartoum to oversee the evacuation of the Egyptian garrisons from the region (although this being the ultimate imperial adventure, Gordon’s true intentions of what he hoped to accomplish in Khartoum remain a point of contention). Gordon’s attempted negotiations with the Mahdi were quickly rebuffed and he soon found himself trapped and surrounded by the dervish army. This sets the stage for a desperate rescue attempt by a British relief column (including a newly formed Camel Corp (!) and gunboats working their way up the Nile – it truly is a rollicking good adventure story). Asher’s account of that campaign and Kitchener’s subsequent re-conquest of the Sudan fifteen years later is insightful and engaging - an excellent read about a fascinating subject.
March 30, 2022
I absolutely loved this book. The only thing I didn't like about it is that I ran out of pages. If you like tales of British imperialism during the Victorian era than this one is for you. There were a series of last times chronicled in this book. This was the last time a British Major General drew his sword and led a charge from the front of his command against a medieval foe wearing chainmail while carrying a crusader broadsword. Also contained in the pages of this book is a harrowing account of the last great cavalry charge of the British Empire. The blow-by-blow accounts of some of these battels were so enthralling, I ended up reading them two or three times each. I read aloud to my son about the first battle when the Dervish Beja warriors met "Turks" from England/Scotland for the first time and not Egyptian conscripts. The Beja wondered, why are those "Turks" wearing skirts[Scottish Highlanders]? What is that funny music they are playing [bagpipes]? Why aren't they running like all the other Turks [Egyptian troops]? The British square, under fire, marched into the teeth of hell with rifles shouldered as if on parade!
British Subaltern: "Nice wound Hawkins!"
Pte Hawkins: "Thank you sir."
The scenes of carnage with tribal warriors advancing on all fours underneath the smoke of battle to be slashed by British ceremonial swords that often bent over 90 degrees upon contact and bayonets that bent if they hit bone or wouldn't come out if they hit a soft tissue. There were harrowing tales of tribal enemies called the "fuzzy-wuzzies" advancing to their own certain death, and not stopping even after receiving multiple .45 caliber bullet wounds. Many of the enemy continued their charge until run through by an officers sword that buried into them up to the hilt! For the British, it was fight or be hacked to death!
The story is a bit complex but the author Michael Asher does a great job of unraveling what was really a mystery to me: Who were the various tribes that were collectively called the Dervish and what motivated them? This book has the answers and enlightens in a very interesting style.
Chinese Gordon's mission in Sudan was a little bit of a head scratcher. Gladstone did not want to commit British troops and would've preferred that Gordon's mission should be to evacuate the Sudan and be done with it. Instead, Gordon tries to put down the revolt by negotiation. He attempts to placate the tribes, by permitting the resumption of the slave trade which had been abolished by British-Egyptian convention in 1870. General Gordon made some amateurish mistakes during the negotiation that would force Sudanese tribes into the camp of the Mahdi and make an evacuation of Khartoum impossible. In the end, Gordon proved he was a man of principle and insisted upon sharing the terrible fate of the people that he was negotiating for and died a bloody death in Khartoum. Nearly all of the 10,000 inhabitants were massacred when the city fell. They say the Nile still runs red from the battle of Khartoum.
What I didn't realize is how Gordon was revered by everyone in Great Britian from Queen Victoria on down to the common man. Upon the failure of Woolsey's ill fated rescue mission, there would be a punitive expedition led by Lord Kitchener thirteen years later. And who would take part in the last great cavalry charge of the British Empire at Omdurman? None other than Winston Spencer Churchill. Yeah, I'm aware that the French were sticking their nose in the Sudan and there were ulterior motives by the British, but the bottom line was that Gordon was revered and this was the war cry!
I loved the story. I loved it so much, I'm having trouble getting into my next book in the que. My mind is still in desert. What a comeback for the Empire and the Egyptian troops that ran like cowards in the first part of the book. This story proves that sound training and proper treatment leads to high morale. And properly led troops with high morale can bounce back. The British also learned quite a bit about desert fighting. Prior to the relief expedition, they actually sent camels out to be shoed, like horses! They issued their troops Bedouin type water skins that were state of the art and kept water cool but they required skill and knowledge to use properly, or they would leak. A soldier needed 4L of water/day in order to survive in the desert and Wolseley's relief column got into a fight with 1.5/L per man! All of this would be understood by the time of Kitchener's relief expedition. The British Empire learned and adapted but the enemy did not.
This was an excellent read. Enjoy!
British Subaltern: "Nice wound Hawkins!"
Pte Hawkins: "Thank you sir."
The scenes of carnage with tribal warriors advancing on all fours underneath the smoke of battle to be slashed by British ceremonial swords that often bent over 90 degrees upon contact and bayonets that bent if they hit bone or wouldn't come out if they hit a soft tissue. There were harrowing tales of tribal enemies called the "fuzzy-wuzzies" advancing to their own certain death, and not stopping even after receiving multiple .45 caliber bullet wounds. Many of the enemy continued their charge until run through by an officers sword that buried into them up to the hilt! For the British, it was fight or be hacked to death!
The story is a bit complex but the author Michael Asher does a great job of unraveling what was really a mystery to me: Who were the various tribes that were collectively called the Dervish and what motivated them? This book has the answers and enlightens in a very interesting style.
Chinese Gordon's mission in Sudan was a little bit of a head scratcher. Gladstone did not want to commit British troops and would've preferred that Gordon's mission should be to evacuate the Sudan and be done with it. Instead, Gordon tries to put down the revolt by negotiation. He attempts to placate the tribes, by permitting the resumption of the slave trade which had been abolished by British-Egyptian convention in 1870. General Gordon made some amateurish mistakes during the negotiation that would force Sudanese tribes into the camp of the Mahdi and make an evacuation of Khartoum impossible. In the end, Gordon proved he was a man of principle and insisted upon sharing the terrible fate of the people that he was negotiating for and died a bloody death in Khartoum. Nearly all of the 10,000 inhabitants were massacred when the city fell. They say the Nile still runs red from the battle of Khartoum.
What I didn't realize is how Gordon was revered by everyone in Great Britian from Queen Victoria on down to the common man. Upon the failure of Woolsey's ill fated rescue mission, there would be a punitive expedition led by Lord Kitchener thirteen years later. And who would take part in the last great cavalry charge of the British Empire at Omdurman? None other than Winston Spencer Churchill. Yeah, I'm aware that the French were sticking their nose in the Sudan and there were ulterior motives by the British, but the bottom line was that Gordon was revered and this was the war cry!
I loved the story. I loved it so much, I'm having trouble getting into my next book in the que. My mind is still in desert. What a comeback for the Empire and the Egyptian troops that ran like cowards in the first part of the book. This story proves that sound training and proper treatment leads to high morale. And properly led troops with high morale can bounce back. The British also learned quite a bit about desert fighting. Prior to the relief expedition, they actually sent camels out to be shoed, like horses! They issued their troops Bedouin type water skins that were state of the art and kept water cool but they required skill and knowledge to use properly, or they would leak. A soldier needed 4L of water/day in order to survive in the desert and Wolseley's relief column got into a fight with 1.5/L per man! All of this would be understood by the time of Kitchener's relief expedition. The British Empire learned and adapted but the enemy did not.
This was an excellent read. Enjoy!
February 12, 2013
Having read much on the British Army in the twentieth century and on Victorian society and empire, one area I had done little more than scratch the surface (the sand even) was Sudan.
The reader is given a background to the political arrangements and past rulers up to the British presence in what was a sideshow for the Empire when compared to South Africa and the shining jewel, India.
This British interest, and clearly at times in London plain disinterest, and a man who is God's Expected One (The Mahdi) are the centre for a war that would see the world's first islamic state rise from defeating the 19th century's superpower; before Victoria's men expunged the memory of defeat 14 years later.
The land much blood was spilt on and over was a mix of harsh and unforgiving landscapes with at its heart a thin ribbon of green vegetation emanating from the river Nile (and it's two tributaries the White and Blue Nile) populated by nomadic tribes or people who lived in abject poverty in the few towns with little infrastructure.
Mr Asher provides excellent descriptions on both forces including the main characters, their relationships, influences and organisation, including the building of a railway – it is Victorian Britain after all so you’d expect it – surveyed with great skill by members of the Royal Engineers.
He also clearly knows the country well and his descriptions of the land and the areas where battles were fought are excellent.
To my mind he provides a fair assessment of both armies during the two separate and distinct phases of the war and the tactics used. Although Britain was a modern power with well-trained troops and considerable firepower at its disposal, it would be wrong to think of the native forces as only having spears, swords and shields. They did and employed these with both skill and courage, but they also used firearms and artillery and when coupled with their traditional warrior culture and sheer weight of numbers they were a formidable foe to be treated with caution and respect.
Michael Asher's informative, exciting and balanced account of the wars during the period 1883 - 1898 was a perfect entry for me.
It has left me wanting to read more and has added to my knowledge of Gordon, particularly (Lord) Kitchener and the most of all Sudan; a country that today has a population of some 42 million people and since the 1950s has been beset by civil wars and strife that look set to continue for some time yet in one of the world’s most complex geo-political areas.
The reader is given a background to the political arrangements and past rulers up to the British presence in what was a sideshow for the Empire when compared to South Africa and the shining jewel, India.
This British interest, and clearly at times in London plain disinterest, and a man who is God's Expected One (The Mahdi) are the centre for a war that would see the world's first islamic state rise from defeating the 19th century's superpower; before Victoria's men expunged the memory of defeat 14 years later.
The land much blood was spilt on and over was a mix of harsh and unforgiving landscapes with at its heart a thin ribbon of green vegetation emanating from the river Nile (and it's two tributaries the White and Blue Nile) populated by nomadic tribes or people who lived in abject poverty in the few towns with little infrastructure.
Mr Asher provides excellent descriptions on both forces including the main characters, their relationships, influences and organisation, including the building of a railway – it is Victorian Britain after all so you’d expect it – surveyed with great skill by members of the Royal Engineers.
He also clearly knows the country well and his descriptions of the land and the areas where battles were fought are excellent.
To my mind he provides a fair assessment of both armies during the two separate and distinct phases of the war and the tactics used. Although Britain was a modern power with well-trained troops and considerable firepower at its disposal, it would be wrong to think of the native forces as only having spears, swords and shields. They did and employed these with both skill and courage, but they also used firearms and artillery and when coupled with their traditional warrior culture and sheer weight of numbers they were a formidable foe to be treated with caution and respect.
Michael Asher's informative, exciting and balanced account of the wars during the period 1883 - 1898 was a perfect entry for me.
It has left me wanting to read more and has added to my knowledge of Gordon, particularly (Lord) Kitchener and the most of all Sudan; a country that today has a population of some 42 million people and since the 1950s has been beset by civil wars and strife that look set to continue for some time yet in one of the world’s most complex geo-political areas.
March 24, 2018
The author is an ex-soldier and long-time resident of Sudan. He displays all of his experience in writing this military history on the English in Sudan, the various attempts to rescue General Gordon, Gordon's death and the eventual return of the English to finally revenge Gordon and remove the troublesome dervishes. His tale is full of the English professional soldier, the incompetent but beloved officers and a healthy respect for the dervish as fierce, brave and determined fighters. He also even includes the names of soldiers and NCOs rather than leaving them nameless as most military histories do.
The pointlessness of the whole affair and the lose of so many lives is just sad.
The pointlessness of the whole affair and the lose of so many lives is just sad.
December 4, 2019
A well-balanced account of the conflict in Sudan between the Anglo-Egyptians and a collection of Sudanese tribes between 1883-9.
This is a military historical book told in thorough detail. It includes strategic insight as well as areas of weakness in each side and a good feel for what each side was fighting for.
What bothered me the most was the sheer number of fighters and civilians who died. I’m not sure exactly how many but maybe 250,000? I know many participated so that they could fight for what they believe in but it just feels so devastating to have lost that many lives.
I don’t mean to come across as insensitive to human suffering but I am also deeply saddened by the amount of animals that were killed in the crossfire. Those poor camels were obliterated.
The low rating was mostly because as informative as it was it was a very hard read. The detail into each event is commendable however for me, it was too much. Also, there were so many names that kept popping up. Some for short times, others longer and you’re trying to take in their backstory and then they seem to meld into everyone else.
Gordon and Kitchener were the stand out characters.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes detailed accounts of war.
This is a military historical book told in thorough detail. It includes strategic insight as well as areas of weakness in each side and a good feel for what each side was fighting for.
What bothered me the most was the sheer number of fighters and civilians who died. I’m not sure exactly how many but maybe 250,000? I know many participated so that they could fight for what they believe in but it just feels so devastating to have lost that many lives.
I don’t mean to come across as insensitive to human suffering but I am also deeply saddened by the amount of animals that were killed in the crossfire. Those poor camels were obliterated.
The low rating was mostly because as informative as it was it was a very hard read. The detail into each event is commendable however for me, it was too much. Also, there were so many names that kept popping up. Some for short times, others longer and you’re trying to take in their backstory and then they seem to meld into everyone else.
Gordon and Kitchener were the stand out characters.
I would recommend this to anyone who likes detailed accounts of war.
July 30, 2010
This is a historical period that has long interested me. It covers the time between 1880-1898 in the Sudan. I remember that as a young boy fascinated by maps I had been curious at the designation of the “Anglo-Egyptian Sudan” on the map. It was huge and the Nile flowed right through it. I wondered how it had been both British and Egyptian. As a college student of Asian civilizations I had done a large research project on the Taiping rebellion in China in the 19th Century, and there found mention of a charismatic leader Charles Gordon who had helped end the conflict and seemed to be a principled and righteous British officer who often went against his orders and always did what he thought was right and usually acted to reduce the suffering of the people he was dealing with. There was a mention there that he had died defending Khartoum in the Sudan. My interest was raised, and when I saw a trashy paperback in a bookstore I bought it, and quickly read Gordon of Khartoum. It was quite a fanciful retelling of the story of how Gordon was governor-general of the Sudan when it was ruled by the Turks-Egyptians-British, how he had worked to end the slave trade and eventually was reappointed elsewhere. He was brought back to Khartoum to “rescue” the country from an Islamic fundamentalist leader, the Mahdi (“expected one”) who would purify Islam, or so the legend went. Gordon had died defending the city because the relief column sent to rescue him arrived about 18 hours too late. I knew it was largely history romanticized, but I enjoyed it. I certainly was not as aware as I am now, so the story of a righteous Christian imperialist dying defending his beloved people appealed to me. Later I saw the movie of the same name staring Charlton Heston, which I instantly sensed was entertaining but a load of tripe.
As I was browsing the bookstore shelves buying books for my trip to Mexico (a very serious undertaking) I saw this volume, inspected it, and bought it, hoping that I would now have a more historically accurate picture of the events.
As usual, I began by finding out more about the author. Some background information usually helps me ascertain my feelings about the text. He had been a British military officer in the SAS and then had become an author, achieving much success in many different types of writing. He also was fascinated by this region of the world and had won awards for desert exploration in the Sudan from the Royal Geographic Society. He lived in Sudan for ten years and spoke fluent Arabic. He now lives in Kenya with his Arabist wife and two children.
This text is, in fact, a very detailed retelling of the entire story, from the original massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian force under Hicks in 1883 by the Mahdi to the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdi including Gordon’s death to the eventual capture of Khartoum by Kitchener in 1899. There are several interesting points about the text that are worth remembering.
First, it seems somewhat balanced. A European will always tell such a story from a European perspective, but he did try to balance the story. He was very critical of the British officer corps for its lack of military competence, its reward of “chumminess” over skill, the purchase of commissions and its indifference and hostility to those who were part of the British Empire. His indictment of many officers was specific and cutting. These elements were interesting to me as they showed the arrogance of the British forces in specific detail with stories of specific officers and how they behaved. He showed remarkable respect for the Sudanese people, their various cultures and their tremendous survival skills. He talks a lot about how the Beja, specifically, had been defeating invading armies since the time of the Pharaohs and had always been successful. He specifically praises the skills and cleverness of the Haddendowa leaders Osman Digna, a survivor who outlived it all. His salute to the Sudanese as fighters also seems sincere, whether for the courage of those fighting for the Mahdi and for the steadiness and reliability of the Sudanese and Egyptians who fought with the British. His strongest indictment comes of the Turco-Egyptian ruling class both in Sudan and Egypt as corrupt, cowardly and self-centered. He seems to agree with Gordon, that they were the roots of the problem there and that the people had good reason to rise up against them. Asher’s reliance on British sources is to be expected, but he also seems to have used many Arabic sources as well as oral histories in telling the story.
Second, he saw the conflict as not exclusively religious. The Mahdi provided a charismatic figure around which to rally, and while many did so for religious reasons, there were also many practical reasons to support this regime given the corruption and mismanagement of the Turco-Egyptian government. Many of the ethic groups had not rallied to the Mahdi, but when the existing government collapsed and Gordon was killed, they naturally rallied to the winning side. Likewise, when the Mahdi died soon after the fall of Khartoum, the Islamist state introduced by his successor was a bit too harsh for them and fractures began to develop along ethnic lines.
Third, the descriptions of the battles themselves are detailed and horrifying. I wish I had read this as a boy, and it might have cured me of some of the lingering military romanticism that it took me another ten years to eliminate. His descriptions of steel-on-steel battles (quite often the British steel failed) and the movements of troops were also gripping. The fact that many battles were over quickly but seemed like an eternity was fleshed out by substantial detail and comments written later by soldiers who survived. His strongest salute was to the individual soldiers who showed courage and determination in the face of tremendous adversity, both with the opponents and with the elements.
Fourth, water was often the key. Running around the desert with large military forces requires water, and it was often pivotal. British forces that came upon a watering hole defended by forces of he Mahdi had no choice but to attack, as did the Mahdi’s successor near the end of the conflict. The railroads that were built solved some of this problem, but even they had to carry huge amounts of water to power the steam engines, and at one point half of the train was carrying water for itself. One interesting story is how a surveyor and water diviner brought in by the British actually found two new water supplies that were critical in assisting them cross a route no native would think could be used.
Fifth, the book does a good job of setting the stage for the modern phase of Islamic fundamentalism without becoming too preachy. This was one of the first truly Islamic states established, and was the only colony to win independence by force of arms in Africa. The agenda of the Mahdi and his regime very much set the stage for future Sudanese politics and the rise of Bashir in 1989. Osama bin-Laden spent years in Sudan soaking up the teachings of the Mahdi and his modern followers. It also documented the severe ethnic divides in the country that are being played out today in the crisis in Darfur. I liked the way he made his point but let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
It was a very good read and I would commend it to all persons of a serious bent. Now that I have some additional solid information about the period I am perhaps ready to engage my colleague at the University of Vermont Darius Jonathan, who is from Sudan, as well as my friend Hassan Suleiman who I met in Qatar, also a Sudanese. Then I might really start learning.
As I was browsing the bookstore shelves buying books for my trip to Mexico (a very serious undertaking) I saw this volume, inspected it, and bought it, hoping that I would now have a more historically accurate picture of the events.
As usual, I began by finding out more about the author. Some background information usually helps me ascertain my feelings about the text. He had been a British military officer in the SAS and then had become an author, achieving much success in many different types of writing. He also was fascinated by this region of the world and had won awards for desert exploration in the Sudan from the Royal Geographic Society. He lived in Sudan for ten years and spoke fluent Arabic. He now lives in Kenya with his Arabist wife and two children.
This text is, in fact, a very detailed retelling of the entire story, from the original massacre of the Anglo-Egyptian force under Hicks in 1883 by the Mahdi to the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdi including Gordon’s death to the eventual capture of Khartoum by Kitchener in 1899. There are several interesting points about the text that are worth remembering.
First, it seems somewhat balanced. A European will always tell such a story from a European perspective, but he did try to balance the story. He was very critical of the British officer corps for its lack of military competence, its reward of “chumminess” over skill, the purchase of commissions and its indifference and hostility to those who were part of the British Empire. His indictment of many officers was specific and cutting. These elements were interesting to me as they showed the arrogance of the British forces in specific detail with stories of specific officers and how they behaved. He showed remarkable respect for the Sudanese people, their various cultures and their tremendous survival skills. He talks a lot about how the Beja, specifically, had been defeating invading armies since the time of the Pharaohs and had always been successful. He specifically praises the skills and cleverness of the Haddendowa leaders Osman Digna, a survivor who outlived it all. His salute to the Sudanese as fighters also seems sincere, whether for the courage of those fighting for the Mahdi and for the steadiness and reliability of the Sudanese and Egyptians who fought with the British. His strongest indictment comes of the Turco-Egyptian ruling class both in Sudan and Egypt as corrupt, cowardly and self-centered. He seems to agree with Gordon, that they were the roots of the problem there and that the people had good reason to rise up against them. Asher’s reliance on British sources is to be expected, but he also seems to have used many Arabic sources as well as oral histories in telling the story.
Second, he saw the conflict as not exclusively religious. The Mahdi provided a charismatic figure around which to rally, and while many did so for religious reasons, there were also many practical reasons to support this regime given the corruption and mismanagement of the Turco-Egyptian government. Many of the ethic groups had not rallied to the Mahdi, but when the existing government collapsed and Gordon was killed, they naturally rallied to the winning side. Likewise, when the Mahdi died soon after the fall of Khartoum, the Islamist state introduced by his successor was a bit too harsh for them and fractures began to develop along ethnic lines.
Third, the descriptions of the battles themselves are detailed and horrifying. I wish I had read this as a boy, and it might have cured me of some of the lingering military romanticism that it took me another ten years to eliminate. His descriptions of steel-on-steel battles (quite often the British steel failed) and the movements of troops were also gripping. The fact that many battles were over quickly but seemed like an eternity was fleshed out by substantial detail and comments written later by soldiers who survived. His strongest salute was to the individual soldiers who showed courage and determination in the face of tremendous adversity, both with the opponents and with the elements.
Fourth, water was often the key. Running around the desert with large military forces requires water, and it was often pivotal. British forces that came upon a watering hole defended by forces of he Mahdi had no choice but to attack, as did the Mahdi’s successor near the end of the conflict. The railroads that were built solved some of this problem, but even they had to carry huge amounts of water to power the steam engines, and at one point half of the train was carrying water for itself. One interesting story is how a surveyor and water diviner brought in by the British actually found two new water supplies that were critical in assisting them cross a route no native would think could be used.
Fifth, the book does a good job of setting the stage for the modern phase of Islamic fundamentalism without becoming too preachy. This was one of the first truly Islamic states established, and was the only colony to win independence by force of arms in Africa. The agenda of the Mahdi and his regime very much set the stage for future Sudanese politics and the rise of Bashir in 1989. Osama bin-Laden spent years in Sudan soaking up the teachings of the Mahdi and his modern followers. It also documented the severe ethnic divides in the country that are being played out today in the crisis in Darfur. I liked the way he made his point but let the reader draw his or her own conclusions.
It was a very good read and I would commend it to all persons of a serious bent. Now that I have some additional solid information about the period I am perhaps ready to engage my colleague at the University of Vermont Darius Jonathan, who is from Sudan, as well as my friend Hassan Suleiman who I met in Qatar, also a Sudanese. Then I might really start learning.
May 3, 2016
Funny how just last week thanks to that book on Stanley Livingstone I realized how little I knew about African history, and found this in my stack next up! From the Central African slave trade of the 1860s and 1870s, I learnt in this one all about the slave traders in Northern Africa in the 1880s & 90s and all the repercussions from this.
Sudan was the first African country to have a successful revolt against its colonial overlord--but the reason for the revolt was the new ban on slavery Turkey enacted under British and European pressure. Arab traders who had settled in Sudan, who were used to raiding villages to the south, killing all the men, and enslaving the women and children, found themselves with no economy. At the same time, Egypt-Turkey decided to modernize Sudan and passed ruinous taxation. The Turks were also horrible rulers, with corrupt officials pouring civil servant and army wages right into their own pockets. Some troops hadn't been paid in years and were on the verge of mutiny.
Insert one religious fanatic, the Mad Mahdi, who thinks he's the second coming, to fight along Jesus in an apocalyptic battle against the apostates--just what ISIS believes. And this is the birth of Islamic fundamentalism. From women going around in loincloths in a fun communal atmosphere, the Mahdi forces strict dress codes on all females over 5, and floggings for all sorts of crimes. He gathers his dervishes: pissed off slavers, those angry about taxation and wages, those gang pressed, and falls upon a 11,000 of Turkish & Egyptian troops led by an English commander, Hicks, slaughtering them all.
God's perfect idiot, General "Chinese" Gordon is now dispatched to Khartoum to get the lay of the land and prepare an evacuation. On no circumstances is he to say that the British are coming to the rescue--he goes about his mission in perhaps the worst way ever. The author is pretty pro-Gordon and is upset about his reputation's fall and the fact the Gordon statue got quietly taken down in Trafalgar Square--but he seemed ridiculously stupid to me. Granted he went out nobly, but he also ordered every male over 8 to join him in defense. When the situation that you personally bungled horribly is now officially ruined and you're going to make a last stand, it seems kind of bad to institute a Hitler Youth defense. (Especially since he seemed a little pedophile-ish, but I guess no way to know for sure.) Sad his head got cut off, but so did 11,000+ other people.
Gordon's death and the fall of Khartoum was Queen Victoria's personal low point of her reign. It's surprising that there was not a constitutional crisis, because it seemed pretty obvious how much she hated Gladstone and her views on the "rescue attempt." British government toppled over the public furor of this historical version of Benghazi. The death tolls and mass rapes in this book are on the sobering massive size and the author does a good job showing the panoramic of the disaster. The US ambassador was also killed; so was the Austrian ambassador and his family--gruesomely, even his pet parrot.
There was a half-hearted attempt eventually that had some success with all British troops, but the British military really didn't want to fight in Sudan and took advantage of distractions in Afghanistan to retreat. The Mahdi died soon after, from disease or poisoned by a woman whose family he killed, and his henchman, takes over. 15 years of atrocities, wars with Ethiopia and Eritrea and the British come back for revenge (well revenge and the fact that France has been looking too close at Sudan herself and now UK wants it again).
Book picks up here with Lord Kitchener taking it over and you see why he was such an icon. The railroad he had built to ferry the troops across the desert is still in use in Sudan and you can see one of his gunboats used in Cairo. Winston Churchill, still a puppy, manages to sneak into the troops with a press pass and is there to witness most of the war's great events. Sometimes ahead of the front lines, since he seemed to get himself cut off in front of the enemy, getting hit by friendly fire, quite a bit in his excitement.
First time British used special forces. The rise of the Egyptian Army. The last regimental cavalry charge. Last time a medieval army fought. I had no idea this war was so monumental. Currently, there's probably no war in the past that affects us so much today presently. The Mahdi were anti any technology invented after Mohammed, so guns were out as apostate tools. They suborned or bribed a pagan tribe from the hills as rifleman, but majority found with spears and swords. He stressed this a bunch, but when he later talks about the bullet factories run by the Mahdists and how Abdallahi's son was the general of the rifleman, I'd have liked more explanations.
The Mahdi and his successor Abdallahi, while their rise from penniless drifters to absolute power is amazing, were tyrants. And it's hard to feel sad about the takedown of first radical terrorists, it seems a lot went down with them and even the British were shocked at the slaughter. The dervishes many said were the greatest enemy the British empire ever fought against ("beyond perfection") and on one day in the Battle of Omdurman, entire villages and tribes walked into machine guns. 50,000 dervishes with spears against 25,000 British & Egyptians with Maxims and artillery. None of the dervishes even made it within 800 yards of the British front lines.
Some of the British soldiers in this battle later were mown down themselves at the Somme.
Giant points to the author for what happened after portion--so many don't do that--with a wrap up for all the main personages. How Kitchener after Sudan in Egypt worked for pro-Arab revolt against Turkey, dying on the day it broke out. How Mahdism always lurked beneath the surface in Sudan, springing out again with the same platform in 1946. And how a Mahdist politician took in Osama Bin Ladin, who left Sudan even more radical than before. You can't help also reading in this book, about the herds of elephants numbering a thousand that you know are not there now. Or anything to do with Darfur, which has parallels throughout this book. It's a "huh" moment when you realize that 9/11 can be tracked directly to slavery and a British-Ottoman pact. Anyways, if you were like me, and knew absolutely nothing about Sudan in 1890s, this book will tell you everything you need to know.
Sudan was the first African country to have a successful revolt against its colonial overlord--but the reason for the revolt was the new ban on slavery Turkey enacted under British and European pressure. Arab traders who had settled in Sudan, who were used to raiding villages to the south, killing all the men, and enslaving the women and children, found themselves with no economy. At the same time, Egypt-Turkey decided to modernize Sudan and passed ruinous taxation. The Turks were also horrible rulers, with corrupt officials pouring civil servant and army wages right into their own pockets. Some troops hadn't been paid in years and were on the verge of mutiny.
Insert one religious fanatic, the Mad Mahdi, who thinks he's the second coming, to fight along Jesus in an apocalyptic battle against the apostates--just what ISIS believes. And this is the birth of Islamic fundamentalism. From women going around in loincloths in a fun communal atmosphere, the Mahdi forces strict dress codes on all females over 5, and floggings for all sorts of crimes. He gathers his dervishes: pissed off slavers, those angry about taxation and wages, those gang pressed, and falls upon a 11,000 of Turkish & Egyptian troops led by an English commander, Hicks, slaughtering them all.
God's perfect idiot, General "Chinese" Gordon is now dispatched to Khartoum to get the lay of the land and prepare an evacuation. On no circumstances is he to say that the British are coming to the rescue--he goes about his mission in perhaps the worst way ever. The author is pretty pro-Gordon and is upset about his reputation's fall and the fact the Gordon statue got quietly taken down in Trafalgar Square--but he seemed ridiculously stupid to me. Granted he went out nobly, but he also ordered every male over 8 to join him in defense. When the situation that you personally bungled horribly is now officially ruined and you're going to make a last stand, it seems kind of bad to institute a Hitler Youth defense. (Especially since he seemed a little pedophile-ish, but I guess no way to know for sure.) Sad his head got cut off, but so did 11,000+ other people.
Gordon's death and the fall of Khartoum was Queen Victoria's personal low point of her reign. It's surprising that there was not a constitutional crisis, because it seemed pretty obvious how much she hated Gladstone and her views on the "rescue attempt." British government toppled over the public furor of this historical version of Benghazi. The death tolls and mass rapes in this book are on the sobering massive size and the author does a good job showing the panoramic of the disaster. The US ambassador was also killed; so was the Austrian ambassador and his family--gruesomely, even his pet parrot.
There was a half-hearted attempt eventually that had some success with all British troops, but the British military really didn't want to fight in Sudan and took advantage of distractions in Afghanistan to retreat. The Mahdi died soon after, from disease or poisoned by a woman whose family he killed, and his henchman, takes over. 15 years of atrocities, wars with Ethiopia and Eritrea and the British come back for revenge (well revenge and the fact that France has been looking too close at Sudan herself and now UK wants it again).
Book picks up here with Lord Kitchener taking it over and you see why he was such an icon. The railroad he had built to ferry the troops across the desert is still in use in Sudan and you can see one of his gunboats used in Cairo. Winston Churchill, still a puppy, manages to sneak into the troops with a press pass and is there to witness most of the war's great events. Sometimes ahead of the front lines, since he seemed to get himself cut off in front of the enemy, getting hit by friendly fire, quite a bit in his excitement.
First time British used special forces. The rise of the Egyptian Army. The last regimental cavalry charge. Last time a medieval army fought. I had no idea this war was so monumental. Currently, there's probably no war in the past that affects us so much today presently. The Mahdi were anti any technology invented after Mohammed, so guns were out as apostate tools. They suborned or bribed a pagan tribe from the hills as rifleman, but majority found with spears and swords. He stressed this a bunch, but when he later talks about the bullet factories run by the Mahdists and how Abdallahi's son was the general of the rifleman, I'd have liked more explanations.
The Mahdi and his successor Abdallahi, while their rise from penniless drifters to absolute power is amazing, were tyrants. And it's hard to feel sad about the takedown of first radical terrorists, it seems a lot went down with them and even the British were shocked at the slaughter. The dervishes many said were the greatest enemy the British empire ever fought against ("beyond perfection") and on one day in the Battle of Omdurman, entire villages and tribes walked into machine guns. 50,000 dervishes with spears against 25,000 British & Egyptians with Maxims and artillery. None of the dervishes even made it within 800 yards of the British front lines.
Some of the British soldiers in this battle later were mown down themselves at the Somme.
Giant points to the author for what happened after portion--so many don't do that--with a wrap up for all the main personages. How Kitchener after Sudan in Egypt worked for pro-Arab revolt against Turkey, dying on the day it broke out. How Mahdism always lurked beneath the surface in Sudan, springing out again with the same platform in 1946. And how a Mahdist politician took in Osama Bin Ladin, who left Sudan even more radical than before. You can't help also reading in this book, about the herds of elephants numbering a thousand that you know are not there now. Or anything to do with Darfur, which has parallels throughout this book. It's a "huh" moment when you realize that 9/11 can be tracked directly to slavery and a British-Ottoman pact. Anyways, if you were like me, and knew absolutely nothing about Sudan in 1890s, this book will tell you everything you need to know.
May 9, 2021
An old fashion war/adventure book, from an era when it tool along time to travel to other parts of the world, a very well written amd detailed book, the characters in the pages are given indepth characteristics as they play a mjor part in the story line, From battles and conflict to being diplomatic, this book as everything you would want, was so interesting to read. I have seen the film and the book is very close to the film in regards to the story line. Really enjoyed reading it, In 1883, during the Mahdist War, an English general leads the defence of a Sudanese garrison against a Muslim rebellion
A brilliant book in my own opinion.
A brilliant book in my own opinion.
January 14, 2009
I picked this book up in an airport somewhere. For some reason I prefer to read history when I am travelling - I know it makes no sense. This book is a fascinating insight into the mechanics of the Victorian era when it comes to politics and the military. they were very different times, when military force was seen as a weapon of justice and good, and life in the army was a good adventure for a young man.
Before i picked up this book I knew little of the fall of Khartoum, the events leading up to the crisis, and the Nile campaign that followed. All of these deficits were quickly corrected. I am left with an understanding of how the Sudan became the first African nation to achieve independence (however briefly) through force of arms, how opposing political views in Britain allowed a brave if naive man to be abandoned in the middle of a hostile country, and perhaps more interestingly, how the British military really operated in that narrow period of time before war changed forever.
It probably isn't a fascinating read for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot.
Before i picked up this book I knew little of the fall of Khartoum, the events leading up to the crisis, and the Nile campaign that followed. All of these deficits were quickly corrected. I am left with an understanding of how the Sudan became the first African nation to achieve independence (however briefly) through force of arms, how opposing political views in Britain allowed a brave if naive man to be abandoned in the middle of a hostile country, and perhaps more interestingly, how the British military really operated in that narrow period of time before war changed forever.
It probably isn't a fascinating read for everyone, but I enjoyed it a lot.
October 8, 2013
This was a great and fairly balanced (despite more than occasional flashes of old school gung-ho rah-rah type British patriotism) style telling of both of the Mahdist Wars between the British, some Sudanese and Egyptians on one side and most Sudanese following the self-declared Mahdi on the other. The details from the battles is particularly great and as fun and shocking to read as if they had been written in narrative fiction.
The only potential drawback is that this book did not include the non-Anglo-Egyptian involved Mahdist wars, such as the skirmishes with the Italians in Eritrea or most interesting of all-the large pell-mel war fought between Sudan and Ethiopia. In one of the battles there, Meneilik II defeated the Mahdists before then going on to defeat the Italians later on. These actions could have been included to show just the scope of events in the Sudan during the late 19th Century.
The only potential drawback is that this book did not include the non-Anglo-Egyptian involved Mahdist wars, such as the skirmishes with the Italians in Eritrea or most interesting of all-the large pell-mel war fought between Sudan and Ethiopia. In one of the battles there, Meneilik II defeated the Mahdists before then going on to defeat the Italians later on. These actions could have been included to show just the scope of events in the Sudan during the late 19th Century.
July 25, 2011
I was wrong about Gordon, and have a new take on Kitchener. Very good book..couldn't put it down. I'll be going back to Khartoum soon and will take another look at the Melik
July 15, 2015
I love history but this book was a bit of a struggle to get through. Too many names of places to remember to fully understand the battle of Omdurman, etc. otherwise a well researched book.
August 27, 2023
A well written account of the Mahdist War (1881-1898). One of the pivotal events in the later years of the British Empire. It was followed immediately by the Second Anglo-Boer War and then after a short respite World War One. Many of the folks involved with the Mahdist War would go on to see action in South Africa and then World War One. Of course, Winston Churchill would wrap everything up with World War II, but that's Churchill for you. No half measures. I believe it can be argued that the seventeen-year conflict set into motion forces that led to 9/11 and all that has taken place since. Of course, it isn't that simple, but it is connected in my opinion.
Mr. Asher has spent years living and traveling through Africa and the Middle East. He also served in the British Army Paratroopers (Northern Ireland) and the Special Air Service (SAS). His writing is based on both solid research and real-world experience. It shows on every page. Especially when he details what life was like for those who were trying to survive not only the war but the desert environment.
Despite the title this is not a glorification of Imperialism or the British Empire. Nor is it a leftist leaning histography with Marxist ideology providing the seasoning. In my opinion this is a solidly written piece of military history that neither glorifies nor destroys the participants. I found it to be a well written book that details the long running conflict without the need to heap guilt on top of the reader for enjoying the experience vicariously.
Mr. Asher has spent years living and traveling through Africa and the Middle East. He also served in the British Army Paratroopers (Northern Ireland) and the Special Air Service (SAS). His writing is based on both solid research and real-world experience. It shows on every page. Especially when he details what life was like for those who were trying to survive not only the war but the desert environment.
Despite the title this is not a glorification of Imperialism or the British Empire. Nor is it a leftist leaning histography with Marxist ideology providing the seasoning. In my opinion this is a solidly written piece of military history that neither glorifies nor destroys the participants. I found it to be a well written book that details the long running conflict without the need to heap guilt on top of the reader for enjoying the experience vicariously.
November 30, 2020
4.5 stars really, but hey, 4 will do.
I seriously enjoyed this book, and it revealed to me the trials and tribulations of the Anglo - Turko and Egyptian conquest of the Sudan, the kicking out, reconquest, kicking out again and final reconquest under Herbert 'I Want You' Kitchener.
I shan't delve into too many details, but reading some of the other reviews for this book, you'd think there was little on the political side of things (or anything else for that matter) and mostly bloody battle. This is somewhat true, though, perhaps because of these warnings, I underestimated the amount there truly was on the context of the events (including the politics and characters involved) and on the origins and customs of the various tribes that roam and inhabit the vast lands of the Sudan, from the Goz of Darfur to the peaks of the Red Sea hills. Just know there is a little more to this book than just battles.
Overall I highly recommend this book to those who are into Military History and to anyone interested in this particular period of Sudanese and Egyptian history.
I seriously enjoyed this book, and it revealed to me the trials and tribulations of the Anglo - Turko and Egyptian conquest of the Sudan, the kicking out, reconquest, kicking out again and final reconquest under Herbert 'I Want You' Kitchener.
I shan't delve into too many details, but reading some of the other reviews for this book, you'd think there was little on the political side of things (or anything else for that matter) and mostly bloody battle. This is somewhat true, though, perhaps because of these warnings, I underestimated the amount there truly was on the context of the events (including the politics and characters involved) and on the origins and customs of the various tribes that roam and inhabit the vast lands of the Sudan, from the Goz of Darfur to the peaks of the Red Sea hills. Just know there is a little more to this book than just battles.
Overall I highly recommend this book to those who are into Military History and to anyone interested in this particular period of Sudanese and Egyptian history.
September 22, 2024
As the title suggests, this is a riveting adventure story. The descriptions of the various battles are incredible, both in terms of what happened as how vividly they are described. The Battle of Omdurman in 1998 featured "the last regimental cavalry charge in British military history" - where they catastrophically overlooked many enemy forces hiding in a depression. It still reverberates today as the book argues as it influenced the formation of an Islamic state in Sudan and fed the ideology of Bin Laden. Herodotus - and this I gathered from Kapuscinski's book "Travels with Herodotus" - argued that revenge is a driving force (my words) in history, and in this case, the killing of thousands of dervishes had significant future consequences. The story brings to life many interesting characters such as Gordon (described in the book as "in a sense a mystic masquerading as a soldier"), Wolseley, and Kitchener (the book argues that the Omdurman battle was the highlight of his life).
August 7, 2025
Narrative history at its very best. A brilliantly told story of the British involvement in Sudan in the 1880’s and of the Mhadist revolution that took control of the country. The battles and atrocities inflicted are told in vivid detail and it has a cast of truly compelling characters. At its centre stands Major General Charles Gordon. Gordon of Khartoum’s reputation took a serious hit after Lytton Strachey’s book Eminent Victorians was released. Michael Asher tries to resurrect it and does a damn fine job of it. As he puts it “among the British heroes of all ages, there is perhaps no other who stands out so prominently as an individualist, a man ready to die for his principles. Here was one man among men who did not do as he was told, but what he believed to be right. In a world moving towards conformity, it would be well to remember Gordon of Khartoum”. I can’t praise this book highly enough. Just read it.
August 25, 2025
Does justice to Major-General Charles Gordon, a true Victorian hero. When my family visited London last summer, I sought out his statue on the Victoria Embankment. I'm glad I was able to see it, but I agree with Winston Churchill that it should be returned to its original (and much more prominent) location in Trafalgar Square next to Admiral Nelson. At least it hasn't been torn down.
Glad to see the author didn't buy into the nonsense Lytton Strachey wrote about Gordon in Eminent Victorians.
In the final pages, Asher draws a through line from the Mahdi to Osama bin Laden. I hadn't considered that before, but it demonstrates that groups like Al-Qaeda and Hamas have deeper roots than some might care to acknowledge.
Overall, a thrilling read. Asher does an excellent job describing battles and an even better job creating fully realized portraits of all the players involved.
Glad to see the author didn't buy into the nonsense Lytton Strachey wrote about Gordon in Eminent Victorians.
In the final pages, Asher draws a through line from the Mahdi to Osama bin Laden. I hadn't considered that before, but it demonstrates that groups like Al-Qaeda and Hamas have deeper roots than some might care to acknowledge.
Overall, a thrilling read. Asher does an excellent job describing battles and an even better job creating fully realized portraits of all the players involved.
August 1, 2021
After a few attempts, I am giving up on the book. Asher describes on multiple occassions the arduous process of getting accross the dry desert and this is exactly how forcing myself through the first roughly 20% of the book has felt like. It is quite a shame really, because the history is capitvating and Asher is definitely knowledgable of the subject, but the writing style just leaves way to much to be desired.
The book is probably recommendable to individuals that are heavily into military novels and completely captivated by the history of Sudan.
The book is probably recommendable to individuals that are heavily into military novels and completely captivated by the history of Sudan.
August 24, 2019
Brilliant writing with horrifying battle scenes playing out within the larger regional and international context. The frenzy of the relentless fighting frenzy of the “dervish” warriors is astounding. Amazing real life characters like “Chinese Gordon” the Mahdi and Kitchener of Khartoum. Author related how these events occurring over a century ago had a link to Osama bin laden. And the recent “revolution” in Sudan is a direct result of the post colonial world.
October 27, 2018
Very interesting story about one of the last great British imperial adventures. I'm led to believe that I'm related to Kitchener in some obscure manner, so that connection made it an even more impactful read. Hard to imagine how those dervish hordes must've looked when at full charge. This is history with the descriptive punch of a novel. Great stuff!
January 15, 2024
What a great book. It carries you along page after page of the trials and tribulations of this classic Victorian campaign..
So easy to become completely immersed as you read through the very entertaining narrative ..
Full of swashbuckling characters, hell bent
on maintaining a presence in this hostile land..
So easy to become completely immersed as you read through the very entertaining narrative ..
Full of swashbuckling characters, hell bent
on maintaining a presence in this hostile land..
June 20, 2022
Enthralling and well written story of the British campaigns in the Sudan in 1885 and 1898, with just enough background to add to the story.
February 8, 2023
Batallas por el control de Sudán entre anglo-egipcios y sudaneses islamistas del siglo XIX.
January 5, 2025
Really good book with vivid details of battles and the characters of british involvement in Sudan.
February 20, 2025
Excellently history on a slice of time and events I knew little about. Well written with lots of use of first hand accounts. Highly recommend this to students of history.
September 10, 2024
Strong, well-researched book about a fascinating historical episode but two major failings reduced it for me to 3.5 stars rounded up to 4. Firstly, there's too much detail and after a certain point all of the battles in remote desert outcrops begin to bleed together and the book just feels too long. Secondly, after doing a sterling job covering the events leading up to and including the expedition to rescue Gordon in 1884-85, the book jumps ahead over a decade to cover Kitchener's expedition back into Sudan with almost no account of what happened in Sudan and Egypt during the intervening years. I feel the logical place to conclude the narrative was with the fall of Khartoum given the level of detail the book aspires to, otherwise the whole thing should have been cut down. I also felt the author went perhaps just a little to light on the British officers.
June 23, 2019
"The English have a great hunger for desolate places." --Prince Faisal I bin Hussein
Asher's "Khartoum" relates the history of the Mahdist War in Sudan at the tail-end of the Victorian Era, when the might of the British Empire was at its apogee. I believe the author could have done a better job in contextualizing the conflict and detailing the roots of British interests in the Sudan and Egypt. Unfortunately, I found myself looking up alternate sources to wrap my head around why the Khedivate of Egypt, a tributary state of the moribund Ottoman Empire, was also a Protectorate of the British Empire. (Hint: Suez Canal). And that was not, sadly, the only matter I needed to consult in other books or online. I hate needing to stop and start my reading and this was pretty annoying.
He exceeds superbly, however, in the narration of the most important battles and engagements during the war. The vivid and graphic details put the reader right in the thick of it via a minute by minute chronicle and you can actually relate to the fear and anxiety the soldiers of both sides might have felt in the heat of battle. Warning: Gory deaths are abundant. The narrative strength also rests in the minutiae of late 19th-century British battle tactics and formations (e.g. Square formation) as well as the discussion of the armaments technology of the era (e.g. Maxim gun).
On another note, the Sudanese desert is a character on its own. You have to admire both armies for fighting in an environment that, by itself, could kill them.
Recommended for anyone interested in the history of the British Army in the late Victorian era.
Asher's "Khartoum" relates the history of the Mahdist War in Sudan at the tail-end of the Victorian Era, when the might of the British Empire was at its apogee. I believe the author could have done a better job in contextualizing the conflict and detailing the roots of British interests in the Sudan and Egypt. Unfortunately, I found myself looking up alternate sources to wrap my head around why the Khedivate of Egypt, a tributary state of the moribund Ottoman Empire, was also a Protectorate of the British Empire. (Hint: Suez Canal). And that was not, sadly, the only matter I needed to consult in other books or online. I hate needing to stop and start my reading and this was pretty annoying.
He exceeds superbly, however, in the narration of the most important battles and engagements during the war. The vivid and graphic details put the reader right in the thick of it via a minute by minute chronicle and you can actually relate to the fear and anxiety the soldiers of both sides might have felt in the heat of battle. Warning: Gory deaths are abundant. The narrative strength also rests in the minutiae of late 19th-century British battle tactics and formations (e.g. Square formation) as well as the discussion of the armaments technology of the era (e.g. Maxim gun).
On another note, the Sudanese desert is a character on its own. You have to admire both armies for fighting in an environment that, by itself, could kill them.
Recommended for anyone interested in the history of the British Army in the late Victorian era.
May 13, 2018
A fascinating read. Picked this up to make sense of a whistle stop two hour tour round the historical landmarks of Khartoum, and found myself gripped by two fascinating campaigns. Lots of really interesting insights into the late C19 versions of mission command, civ/mil coordination, political appetite, coalition warfare, failure to understand technological change, logistics. Plus finally understanding the back story to some of the characters that re-emerge over the following decades in British history, and the themes that still resonate a more than a century later in the Middle East.
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