MAHDIST UPRISING IN SUDAN

In the early years of the 19th century around the year 1805 - 1860, Egypt was a province of the Ottoman Empire under the governorship of Muhammad Ali Pasha as the Khedive of Egypt and thereafter his dynasty. For many years the British and the French had very great interests for the region occupied by Egypt and Sudan. Then came the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 thereby reducing the journey from Europe to the Far East quite significantly. This led to increased interests by the European powers to invest and control Egypt. The Suez Canal was a catalyst for Britain and France to deploy all tricks in the books to take over Egypt and Sudan.

Immediately after opening of the Suez Canal in  1869 the British and the French invested heavily in Egypt in different fields including irrigation, Cotton plantations, Education and railway. Then in 1875 by lack or by design Britain bought 45% stake that the Egyptian government was holding in the Suez Canal. This was after the Khedive Ishmael Pasha government that was then ruling Egypt accumulated huge debts in excess of 100 million sterling pounds. Running the government in the state of debts became a challenge and there was no otherwise but to accept receivership. This effectively led to Egypt be put under an Anglo-France control.

The British having gained the control of Egypt due to its financial crisis focused to take control of the neighboring Sudan in the south. Sudan's economic and strategic importance to the United Kingdom was quite significant owing to the fact that river Nile run through Sudan and could also serve as a stepping stone to explore the region south of Sudan which is Kenya and Uganda.

The British installed an Egyptian administration to rule Sudan and helped set up all the logistics and an embassy. The Egyptian administration moved in fast to entrench their rules. The first casualty was to abolish slave trade in Sudan effectively cutting the main income channel. The beneficiaries were not happy and did not like to see christians such as Charles Gordon placed in higher positions of government. This move resulted into a revolt by the sudanese to oppose the Egyptian rule and the taxes imposed. The revolt was led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah who advocated for the liberation of  Sudan from the Egyptian led administration. In his vocal speeches he preached the renewal of Muslim faith and this made him attract a huge following.

Abdalla proclaimed himself as the "Mahdi" the promised redeemer of the Islamic world. The Egyptian administration felt intimidated by the uprising that was growing by the day. The Egyptian administration sent forces to try to counter and suppress the uprising but on three occasions lost badly with their forces being slaughtered in the battles.

Again the Egyptian administration assembled a force of 4000 troops this time with lots of confidence to win against the Mahdist who looked poorly clothed and starving approaching with sticks and stones. The overconfidence led the Egyptian force to camp within site of the Mahdist without posting soldiers to guard the camp. The Mahdi led a dawn assault on 7th June 1882 slaughtering the entire Egyptian army. The rebels gained arms, ammunition, military clothing and other supplies. 

The European powers became increasingly troubled by the conflict in Sudan and resolved to support the Egyptian administration by offering more artillery and war expertise to try and subdue the Mahdist rebels. A multinational force of 7,300 was assembled and placed under the command of William Hicks who was a retired British Indian Staff Corps Officer. They faced a 40,000 Mahdi assembled army. Hicks was defeated in the battle with his army only 500 Egyptian surviving.

A more aggressive Charles Gordon was dispatched to the region but with instructions to withdraw and evacuate Khartoum and the entire administration back to Egypt. Gordon upon assessing the situation in Khartoum, the population in excess of 34,000 including embassy staffs, civilians and troops felt there was no need to evacuate. He also was of the opinion that leaving Mahdi to control Sudan would pose a great danger to Egypt. His resolve was "Mahdi must be crushed". He requested for Mohammedan regiments from India and Thousands of Turkish troops be sent to help him quell the uprising but his requests were not granted by the British Government.

The British Government insisted for evacuation. A force of 4000 British troops together with Indian troops under Major General Sir Gerald Graham was assembled to face Mahdist Sudanese forces under Osman Digna with the sole purpose of securing Suakim port in the Red Sea and to make way for the evacuation of all European and Egyptian Nationals under siege in Khartoum. The troops fought the Battle of El Teb on the 29th February 1884 and the Battle of Tamai on 13th March 1884. The British won the two battles but with casualties and and a famous quote "You broke the British Square"

Even after the troops led by Major General Sir Gerald Graham cleared the way for evacuation, General Charles Gordon was defiant to leave Khartoum and was prepared to defend the city with his life. The troops were ordered back to Egypt for further deployment.

The situation in Khartoum became intense by the day and by the time there was a resolve dubbed Gordon Relief Expedition was sent to rescue Khartoum and arriving at the end of January 1885, they found Khartoum had fallen two days earlier and captured by the Mahdist and Gordon and the entire garrison massacred. The British Government resolved to temporarily end the Egyptian involvement in Sudan. The Mahdist took charge to control Sudan now with a new name "The Mahdist State"

Muhammad Ahmad died shortly after taking over the control Sudan and his brother Khalifa Abdullahi ibn Muhammad succeeded him. Khalifa was ruthless and ambitious. He was vicious and able to rule the Mahdist State by consolidating the new state with systems based on Islamic laws. The Nubian - Coptic Christians were forced to convert to Islam and those who defied his rule were labelled as rebels (kafir) and faced death.

In the intervening years, Egypt had not renounced their claims over Sudan, and the British authorities considered these claims legitimate. Under strict control by the British administrators, Egypt's economy had been rebuilt, and the Egyptian army reformed, this time trained and led by British officers. The situation evolved in a way that allowed Egypt, both politically and militarily, to reconquer Sudan.

The French muted a plan to advance from Congo and conquer Sudan and the Italians had the same plan to advance and conquer Sudan from Ethiopia. The British interests in that region were under threat and by all means had to conquer Sudan. The British had a silent desire that hoped to link Cape of Good hope in South Africa with Cairo Egypt via railway linking Kenya, Uganda all the way to Egypt. And the French had a similar desire to dominate from West Coast of Africa through Central Africa, Sudan and link the to the Red Sea. 

To safeguard their interest the British ordered Major General Herbert Kitchener an engineer and a veteran of the Indian Army to March Southwards leading the Anglo-Egyptian Army. On the 2nd September 1898 the troops invaded Sudan with the most modern military equipments of the time. The Anglo-Egyptian army numbering 15,000 defeated the Mahdist who were in numbers of 50,000 in what was known as the Battle of Omdurman. The battle proved to be the turning point in the reconquest of Sudan by the combined forces.

The Mahdist regime ended and the British installed a colonial system of the Anglo-Egyptian administration in Sudan. This administration ruled Sudan upto 1956 when Sudan became independent.