Omdurman 1898: Kitchener's victory in the Sudan

Osprey Campaign #29

by Donald F. Featherstone

This volume tells the story of the conquest of the Dervish Empire, culminating at Omdurman in 1898: one of the great desert battles in the imperial drama of the Victorian era. This dramatic conflict witnessed hordes of native warriors set against British discipline and firepower, gunboats on the Nile, a dramatic cavalry charge and Kitchener, the Sirdar, as conqueror. This book explores the events, weaponry and leaders of both sides, and accompanying illustrations and colourful graphics bring the whole campaign vividly to life.

Genres: Military History, History, Nonfiction, Africa

96 pages, Paperback

First published January 27, 1994

About the author

Featherstone (who sometimes used his middle initial and sometimes didn't) served in the Royal Armoured Corps in World War II before becoming a physiotherapist. He worked for Southampton Football Club and Hampshire County Cricket Club, writing books on sporting, dancing, and industrial injuries.

Later, he turned his attention to his childhood hobby of toy soldiers, writing dozens of books on the subject and becoming instrumental in the development of wargaming as a pasttime. He also wrote books on military history.

Reviews

[Marcus · Rating 2 out of 5]

On several occasions I feel that 90+ pages of this series isn't enough to cover the topic in depth. On this occasion however, those 90 pages were more than sufficient - Omdurman is after all such horribly lopsided affair. The author must have felt the same, because the narrative of the battle is exceptionally brief even for this series. There is however a lot of photographs, often full-page-sized. I guess the allotted space had to be filled somehow.

If you're after orders of battle and some very nice maps, this book may be of value to you. For people interested in the event itself, there must be something much better out there.

[Vircenguetorix · Rating 2 out of 5]

De la trilogía que escribió Donald Featherstone para Osprey en los años 90 sobre las campañas y conflictos en Egipto y Sudán en el último tercio del siglo XIX, este es el más flojo con diferencia.

No sé si el autor llegó agotado ya, después de las dos estupendas obras anteriores -sobre todo la segunda-, pero este cierre no es el mejor para la serie. Falta mucho texto e información, que en otros volúmenes sí se encontraba, y se sustituye con abundante material fotográfico y dibujos que siendo muy interesantes, no cubre la carencia de sustancias narrativas de gran nivel.

Es una lástima porque toda la reconquista final por parte británica del Sudán (1896-1899), es realmente apasionante, pero está claro que la naranja estaba exprimida. Quizá lo mejor sea la presentación de los ejércitos enfrentados, y sobre todo las alternativas a las decisiones del Califa, totalmente desacertadas en la batalla de Omdurmán. El autor propone otros escenarios, desde una retirada hacia el interior del Sudán, para impedir los suministros vía Nilo de Kitchener e ir adentrando en el desierto en el profundo desierto a los británicos como ya sucedió en la expedición de Hicks, que terminó en desastre. También haber esperado en las colinas cercanas de Omdurmán en vez de hacer un ataque frontal contra armamento moderno, o incluso atacar solamente de noche como proponía Osman Digan, el gran lugarteniente del Califa. Nada de eso se hizo y la batalla terminó siendo una carnicería por las ametralladoras Maxim y supuso el cierre a 17 años del Estado Mahdista.

[Andrew Schneider · Rating 3 out of 5]

Comprehensive and informative. But it was also over 90% quoting the dispatches from Kitchener and the language is definitely slightly dated. Very full of dense, database compendium content in ways that later editions in this series avoid falling into. The narrative is easy enough to follow, but the amount of original content is dwarfed by the quoting of the dispatches, so I wonder why they devote whole pages to such verbatim quotes.

Assumes overfamiliarity with why the British are even in Egypt in the first place. Not a mention of Winston Churchill’s presence in the action, even cursory, unless I am mistaken. Maybe it might be better to read installments about the Battles of Khartoum or Adwa first before this one.

[Sean Chick · Rating 2 out of 5]

He mostly directly quotes Kitchener's report making this not really a history book.

[Cimuchowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

It will always be a mystery why the British were allowed to move right up to the capital.