SUDAN CAMPAIGNS, Accounts of the wonderful progress which Egypt had made during British occupation, notably Sir Alfred Milner's England in Egypt (1892), together with the revelation of the character of the khalifa's despotism in the Sudan and the miserable condition of his misgoverned people made by Father Ohrwalder and Slatin Bey after their escape from captivity at Omdurman, stirred public opinion in Great Britain, and brought the question of the recovery of the Sudan into prominence. A change of ministry took place in 1895, and Lord Salisbury's cabinet, which had consistently as sailed the Egyptian policy of the old, was not unwilling to con sider whether the flourishing and settled condition of Egypt, with a capable little army ready to hand, warranted an attempt to recover gradually the Sudan provinces abandoned by Egypt in 1885 on the advice of Mr. Gladstone's Government. Such being the condition of public and official sentiment, the crushing defeat of the Italians by the Abyssinians at the battle of Adowa on March 1896, and the critical state of Kassala—held by Italy at British suggestion, and now closely invested by the dervishes— made it not only desirable but necessary to take immediate action. On March 14, 1896, Maj.-gen. Sir H. Kitchener, who had suc ceeded Sir Francis Grenfell as sirdar of the Egyptian army, received orders to reoccupy Akasha, 5om. S. of Sarras, and to carry the railway on there. Subsequent operations were to de pend upon the amount of resistance he encountered. The advance to Akasha, occupied on March 20, was followed by and contrib uted to an easing of the pressure at Kassala, for Osman Digna took part of his investing force for an abortive move toward Suakin. Concentrating at Akasha on June 6 Kitchener moved to the attack of Firket 16m. away, where the amir Hamuda was encamped. The attack was made in two columns : one marching along the river-bank, approached Firket from the north ; while the other making a detour through the desert, approached it from the south. The co-operation of the two columns was admi rably timed, and on the morning of the 7th the dervish camp was surrounded, and, after a sharp fight half their force was destroyed and the rest dispersed. The dash and discipline of the Egyptian troops in this victory were a good augury for the future. The railway was then pushed forward to Kosha and in September Kitchener made a fresh spring. Dongola was bombarded by the gunboats and captured by the army on the 23rd. The pursuit was pressed until the dervish Dongola army had practically ceased to exist. With the province recovered for Egypt, the work of consolidation began, and preparations were made for a farther advance.
The railway up the right bank of the Nile was continued to Kerma, in order to evade the difficulties of the 3rd cataract ; but the sirdar had conceived the bold project of cutting off the great angle of the Nile from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamed, involving nearly 600m. of navigation and including the 4th cataract, by constructing a railway across the Nubian desert, and so bringing his base at Wadi Halfa within a few hours of his force, when it should have advanced to Abu Hamed, instead of ten days. Early in 1897 this new line of railway was commenced from Wadi Halfa across the great Nubian desert 23om. to Abu Hamed. By July it had advanced Qom. into the desert towards Abu Hamed, when it became necessary, before it was carried farther, to secure that terminus by an advance from Merawi.
In the meantime the khalifa was not idle. He brought to Omdurman the army of the west under Mahmud—some io,000 men; entrusted the line of the Atbara to Osman Digna; con structed defences in the Shabluka gorge; and personally super intended the organization and drill of the forces gathered at Omdurman, and the collection of a vast reserve of supplies. On July 29 Maj.-gen. Hunter, with a flying column, marched up the Nile from near Merawi to Abu Hamed, 133m. distant. He arrived on Aug. 7 and captured it by storm. By the end of the month the gunboats had surmounted the 4th cataract and reached Abu Hamed. Berber was next occupied, and a reconnoitring raid made thence on Adarama. The railway reached Abu Hamad on Nov. 4, and was pushed rapidly forward along the right bank of the Nile towards Berber.
The forces of the khalifa remaining quiet, the sirdar visited Kassala and negotiated with the willing Italians for its restoration to Egypt. An Egyptian force from Suakin took it formally over on Christmas day 1897. On his return to Berber the sirdar received information of an intended advance of the khalifa north ward. He at once ordered a concentration of Egyptian troops towards Berber, and telegraphed to Cairo for a British brigade. Disagreement among the khalifa's generals postponed the dervish advance and gave Kitchener much-needed time. But at the end of February, Mahmud crossed the Nile to Shendi with some 12,000 fighting men, and with Osman Digna advanced along the right bank of the Nile to Aliab, where he struck across the desert to Nakheila, on the Atbara, intending to turn Kitchener's left flank at Berber. The sirdar took up a position at Ras el Hudi, on the Atbara. His force consisted of Gatacre's British brigade and Hunter's Egyp tian division, with cavalry, a camel corps and artillery. The der vish army reached Nakheila on March 20, and entrenched them selves. It was ascertained from prisoners that Mahmud's army was short of provisions and Kitchener therefore did not hurry. He sent his flotilla up the Nile and captured Shendi, the dervish depot, on March 27. On April 4 he advanced and, taking the pre caution to construct a strong zariba on the night of the 7th he marched to the attack of Mahmud's zariba, which, after an hour's bombardment in the morning was stormed with complete success. Mahmud was captured with several hundred of his men, and 3,000 were killed. The sirdar lost 8o killed.
Preparations were now made for the attack on the khalifa's force at Omdurman, and the railway carried on to the Atbara. Reinforcements were forwarded from Cairo, including a second British brigade; and on Aug. 24 nearly 26,00o men were concen trated for the advance at Wad Hamad. Kitchener's advance up the west bank of the Nile met with no opposition; and on Sept. 1 the army bivouacked in zariba at Egeiga within four miles of Omdurman. Here, on the next morning the khalifa's army, 40,000 strong, attacked the zariba, but was repulsed. Kitchener then moved out and marched towards Omdurman, when he was again twice fiercely attacked on the right flank and rear, MacDonald's brigade bearing the brunt. MacDonald distinguished himself by his tactics, and completely repulsed the enemy. The 21st Lancers gallantly charged a body of 2,000 dervishes which was unexpect edly met in a khor on the left flank, and drove them westward. The khalifa was now in full retreat, and the sirdar, sending his cavalry in pursuit, marched into Omdurman. The dervish loss was over io,000 killed, as many wounded, and 5,000 prisoners. The British and Egyptian casualties together were under 500. The European prisoners found in Omdurman were released and a short service held in memory of Gen. Gordon, near the place where he met his death. For the plan of the battle, see OMDURMAN. The results of the battle of Omdurman were the practical destruction of the khalifa's army, the extinction of mandism in the Sudan, and the recovery of nearly all the country formerly under Egyptian authority. The khalifa fled to Kordofan. The British troops were quickly sent down stream to Cairo, and the sirdar, shortly afterwards created Lord Kitchener of Khartoum, was free to turn his attention to restoring order in the country. He had first, however, to deal with a serious development—the arrival of a French expedition at Fashoda, on the White Nile, some 600m. above Khartoum. He started for the south on Sept. Jo with five gunboats and a small force, and on the 19th arrived at Fashoda, to find the French Capt. Marchand, with i20 Senega lese soldiers, entrenched there and the French flag flying. He arranged with Marchand to leave the political question to be settled by diplomacy, and contented himself with hoisting the British and Egyptian flags to the south of the French flag, leaving a gunboat and a Sudanese battalion to guard them. The French expedition had experienced great difficulties on its way, and at Fashoda had been attacked by a dervish force on Aug. 25, and was anticipating another when Kitchener arrived and probably saved it from destruction. The Fashoda incident was the subject of important diplomatic negotiations, which at one time ap proached an acute phase ; but ultimately the French position was found to be untenable, and on Dec. 11 Marchand and his men returned to France by the Sobat, Abyssinia and Jibuti. In the following March the spheres of interest of Great Britain and France in the Nile basin were defined by a declaration making an addition to Article IV. of the Niger convention of the previous year.
During the sirdar's absence from Omdurman Col. Hunter com manded an expedition up the Blue Nile, establishing garrisons, and Col. Parsons had marched with 1,400 men from Kassala to capture Gedaref. He encountered 4,00o dervishes outside the town, and after a desperate fight, defeated them. At Gedaref he was assailed by Ahmed Fedil, but the latter moved south on the approach of reinforcements, only to be caught and cut up in crossing the Blue Nile at Dakheila. Early in 1899 a reconnais sance in force under Col. Walter Kitchener was despatched against the khalifa, but found him strongly posted in Kordofan. How ever, towards the end of the year when, order having been estab lished throughout the rest of the Sudan, it was decided to extend it to Kordofan_ A strong expedition in October failed to pin the khalifa, but next month a flying column of 31700 men under Col. Wingate was concentrated at Faki Kohi. On reaching Gedid the khalifa was ascertained to be at Om Debreikat. Wingate marched at midnight of the 24th, and was resting his troops on high ground in front of the khalifa's position, when at daybreak the dervishes attacked. They were repulsed with great slaughter, and Wingate advancing, carried the camp. The khalifa, unable to rally his men, gathered many of his principal amirs around him, and they met their death unflinchingly from the bullets of the advancing Sudanese infantry. Three thousand men and 29 amirs of importance, including the khalifa's eldest son and intended successor, surrendered. The dervish loss in the two actions was estimated at i,000 killed and wounded, while the Egyptian casualties were only 4 killed and 29 wounded. Thus ended the power of the khalifa and of mandism.
On Jan. 59, 1900, Osman Digna, who had been so great a sup porter of mandism in the Eastern Sudan, and had always shown great discretion in securing the safety of his own person, was surrounded and captured among the hills beyond Tokar. He died in captivity at Wady Halfa on Dec. 8, 1926, aged 85. The re conquest of Dongola and the Sudan provinces during the three years from March 1896 to Dec. 1898 was achieved at an un precedentedly small cost, while the main item of expenditure— the railway—has remained a permanent benefit to the country. The figures were :— Towards this expense the British Government gave a grant-in-aid of £800,000, and the balance was born by the Egyptian treasury.
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