13 - Reconquest of the Sudan, 1896–1898

Summary

The outbreak of the war in the Sudan was not prompted by vengeance or propaganda as some have argued but by the desire of the Salisbury government to meet Italy’s strategic wishes and relieve pressure on its beleaguered garrison at Kassala. The relatively small Anglo-Egyptian army of 1896 more than doubled to 23,000 by 1898 (with only 8,000 British soldiers) but even this was dwarfed by the Khalifa’s army in excess of 50,000 with riflemen, gunners, and cavalry. The aims of the British commander, Kitchener, were initially limited to striking a blow in the most northerly province of Dongola. Later Kitchener widened his goals to prevent any Mahdist attempts to expand their interests. The Battle of Omdurman, 2 September 1898, proved to be the decisive engagement of the war. Unlike in other battles of the war, where Anglo-Egyptian forces went on the offensive because the Sudanese were unwilling to give up defensive advantages, the Sudanese ruler, the Khalifa, allowed Kitchener to deploy his forces in line formation with artillery support and attacked in broad daylight. The result was a decisive British victory. The Anglo-Sudanese War employed modern technology, the railway, heavily-armed gun-boats, machine guns, and dum dum bullets, which contributed to Kitchener’s triumph.