Sudan 1885 by Michael Tyquin

Author:Michael Tyquin [Tyquin, Michael]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Big Sky Publishing
Published: 2011-06-15T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 4

OPERATIONS IN THE SUDAN: THE NILE EXPEDITION, 1885

The Mahdi now controlled a vast area from Daru in the west to the Red Sea, and to Gondoroko in the south. Tribes continued to flock to his banner. Aware of the British advance along the Nile, the Mahdi was preparing to meet it between Abu Hamed and Merowe. To the east the hinterland remained largely in Osman Digna’s hands.

From his headquarters at Korti, Wolseley advised the British government to send a fleet to Suakin as a demonstration of force, and to deceive local tribes into believing that a landing was imminent. The presence of warships at Suakin could also curb Osman Digna’s influence and reduce the threat to Suakin itself.

In London the government’s main strategic focus remained on destroying the Mahdi. A plan was devised under which a force from Suakin, supplied by rail, would link up with Wolseley’s force at Berber (a town of around 8500 people, which had been a rendezvous for slave merchants from Sennar and Khartoum before they proceeded to Cairo) before the two forces struck at Khartoum. Wolseley’s two columns made slow progress.

Around Khartoum some 50,000 Mahdist followers laid siege to the city, and the chances of a successful breakout declined as time went on. Gordon could not be relieved without a sizeable British force. With starvation and cholera rampant in the city, and the morale of the Egyptian troops shattered, Gordon’s position became untenable. Khartoum fell after a siege of 313 days on 25 January 1885 and the doomed Gordon and his garrison were massacred.

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