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MILITARY OPERATIONS IN EGYPT AND THE ...

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Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 127 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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MILITARY OPERATIONS IN See also:

EGYPT AND THE See also:SUDAN , 1885 TO 1896 The operations against Mandism during the eleven years from the end of the See also:Nile expedition and the withdrawal from the Sudan to the commencement of the See also:Dongola See also:campaign will be more easily understood if, instead of narrating them in one See also:chronological sequence, the operations in each See also:province are considered separately. The See also:mandi, Mahommed Ahmed, died at See also:Omdurman on the 22nd of See also:June 1885. He was succeeded by the See also:principal See also:khalifa, Abdullah el Taaisha, a See also:Baggara Arab, who for the next thirteen years ruled the Sudan with despotic See also:power. Cruel, vicious, unscrupulous and strong, the See also:country groaned beneath his oppression. He removed all possible rivals, concentrated at Omdurman a strong military force composed of men of his own tribe, and maintained the ascendancy of that tribe over all others. As the See also:British troops retired to Upper Egypt, his followers seized the evacuated country, and the khalifa cherished the See also:idea, already formulated by the mandi, of the See also:conquest of Egypt, but for some years he was too much See also:Battle of Hashin. occupied in quelling risings, massacring one Egyptians in the Sudan, and fighting See also:Abyssinia, to move ,seriously in the See also:matter. Upper Egypt.—Mahommed el Kheir, See also:dervish See also:amir of Dongola, however, advanced towards the frontier in the autumn of 1885, and at the end of See also:November came in See also:touch with the frontier See also:field force, a See also:body of some 3000 men composed in nearly equal parts of British and See also:Egyptian troops. A See also:month of harassing skirmishes ensued, during which the Egyptian troops showed their mettle at Mograka, where 20o of them held the fort against a See also:superior number of dervishes, and in combats at Ambigol, Kosha and Firket. See also:Sir See also:Frederick See also:Stephenson, commanding the British See also:army of occupation in Egypt, then concentrated the frontier field force at Firket, and attacked the See also:main body of the enemy at Ginnis on the 3oth of See also:December 1885, completely defeating it and capturing two guns and twenty See also:banners. It was here the new Egyptian army received its See also:baptism of See also:fire and acquitted itself very creditably. Although checked, the dervishes were not discouraged, and continued to See also:press upon the frontier in frequent raids, and thus in many bloody skirmishes the fighting qualities of the Egyptian troops were See also:developed.

In See also:

April 1886 the frontier was See also:drawn back to See also:Wadi Halfa, a fortified See also:camp at the See also:northern end of the desolate See also:defile, Batn-el-Hagar, through which the Nile tumbles amid See also:black, rocky hills in a See also:succession of rapids, and debouches on a wide See also:plain. The See also:protection of the frontier was now See also:left in the hands of the Egyptian army, a British force remaining at See also:Assuan, 200 m. to the See also:north, as a reserve in See also:case of emergency, and two years later even this precaution was deemed unnecessary. In See also:October 1886 See also:Wad en Nejumi, the amir who had defeated See also:Hicks See also:Pasha in See also:Kordofan three years before, and led the See also:assault at See also:Khartum when See also:General See also:Gordon was slain in See also:January 1885, replaced Mahommed'el Kheir as " See also:commander of the force for the conquest of Egypt," and brought large reinforcements to Dongola. An advanced See also:column under Nur-el-Kanzi occupied Sarras in April 1887, was attacked by the Egyptian force under See also:Colonel H. Chermside on the 28th of that month, and after a stubborn resistance was defeated with See also:great loss. Nur-el-Kanzi was killed and ten See also:standards taken. The troubles in See also:Darfur and with Abyssinia (q.v.) induced the khalifa to reduce the garrisons of the north; nevertheless, the dervishes reoccupied Sarras, continued active in raids and skir- mishes, and destroyed the railway See also:south of Sarras, which during the Nile expedition of 1884 and 1885 had been carried as far as Akasha. It was not until May 1889 that an invasion of the frontier on a large See also:scale was attempted. At this See also:time the power and See also:prestige of the khalifa were at their height: the rebellions in Darfur and Kordofan had been stamped out, the See also:anti-mandi was dead, and even the dervish defeat by the Abyssinians had been converted by the See also:death of See also:King See also:John and the See also:capture of his body into a success. It was therefore an opportune time to try to sweep the See also:Turks and the British into the See also:sea. On the 22nd of June Nejumi was at Sarras with over 6000 fighting men and 8000 followers. On the 2nd of See also:July Colonel J.

Wodehouse headed off a See also:

part of this force from the See also:river at Argin, and, after a See also:sharp See also:action, completely defeated it, killing 900, among whom were many important amirs, and taking 500 prisoners and 12 banners, with very small loss to his own troops. A British See also:brigade was on its way up stream, but the See also:sirdar, who had already arrived to take the command in See also:person, decided not to wait for it. The Egyptian troops, with a See also:squadron of the loth Hussars, concentrated at Toski, and thence, on the 3rd of See also:August, Battle of Toskl General Grenfell, with slight loss, gained a decisive . victory. Wad en Nejumi, most of his amirs, and more than 1200 See also:Arabs were killed; 4000 prisoners and 147 standards were taken, and the dervish army practically destroyed. No further serious attempts were made to disturb the frontier, of which the most southerly outpost was at once advanced to Sarras. The See also:escape from Omdurman of See also:Father Ohrwalder and of two of the See also:captive nuns in December 1891, of Father Rossignoli in October 1894, and of See also:Slatin See also:Bey in See also:February 1895, revealed the See also:condition of the Sudan to the outside See also:world, threw a vivid lighton the See also:rule of the khalif a, and corroborated See also:information already received of the discontent which existed among the tribes with the oppression and despotism under which they lived. The Eastern Sudan.—In 1884 Colonel Chermside, See also:governor of the Red Sea littoral, entered into arrangements with King John of Abyssinia for the See also:relief of the beleaguered Egyptian garrisons. See also:Gera, Amadib, Senhit and See also:Gallabat were, in See also:con-sequence, duly succoured, and their garrisons and Egyptian populations brought away to the See also:coast by the Abyssinians in 1885. Unfortunately See also:famine compelled the See also:garrison of See also:Kassala to capitulate on the 3oth of July of that See also:year, and See also:Osman Digna hurried there from Tamai to raise a force with which to meet the Abyssinian general, See also:Ras Alula, who was preparing for its relief. By the end of August Osman Digna had occupied Kufit, in the Barea country, with 10,000 men and entrenched himself. On the 23rd of See also:September Ras Alula attacked him there with an equal number of men and routed him with great slaughter.

Over 3000 dervishes with their principal amirs, except Osman Digna, See also:

lay dead on the field, and many more were killed in the pursuit. The Abyssinians lost 40 See also:officers and 1500 men killed, besides many more wounded. Instead of marching on to Kassala, Ras Alula, who at this time was much offended by the See also:transfer of See also:Massawa by the Egyptians to See also:Italy, made a triumphant entry into See also:Asmara, and absolutely refused to make any further efforts to extricate Egyptian garrisons from the grip of the khalifa. Meanwhile Osman Digna, who had fled from Kufit to Kassala, wreaked his vengeance upon the unhappy captives at Kassala. In the neighbourhood of See also:Suakin there were many tribes disaffected to the khalifa's cause, and in the autumn of 1886 Colonel H. See also:Kitchener, who was at the time governor of the Red Sea littoral, judiciously arranged a See also:combination of them to overthrow Osman Digna, with the result that his stronghold at Tamai was captured on the 7th of October, 200 of his men killed, and 50 prisoners, 17 guns and a vast See also:store of rifles and See also:ammunition captured. For about a year there was See also:comparative quiet. Then at the end of 1887 Osman Digna again advanced towards Suakin, but his force at Taroi was routed by the " Friendlies," and he See also:fell back on Handub. Kitchener Handub. unsuccessfully endeavoured to capture Osman Digna on the 17th of January 1888, but in the attack was himself severely wounded, and was shortly after invalided. Later in the year Osman Digna collected a large force and besieged Suakin. In December the sirdar arrived with reinforcements from See also:Cairo, and on the loth sallied out and attacked the dervishes in their trenches at Gemaiza, clearing the whole See also:line and inflicting considerable loss on the enemy, who retired towards Handub, and the country was again fairly quiet for a time. During 1889 and 1890 Tokar became the centre of dervish authority, while Handub continued to be occupied for the khalifa.

In January 1891 Osman Digna showed signs of increased activity, and Colonel (afterwards Sir See also:

Charles) Holled See also:Smith, then governor of the Red Sea littoral, attacked Handub successfully on the 27th and occupied it, then seized Trinkitat and Teb, and on the 19th of February fought the decisive action of Afafit, occupied Tokar, and drove Osman Digna back to Temrin with a loss of 700 men, including all his See also:chief amirs. This action proved the final See also:blow AfafltB°ttfe of . to the dervish power in the neighbourhood of Suakin, for although raiding continued on a small scale, the tribes were growing tired of the khalif a's rule and refused to support Osman Digna. In the See also:spring of 1891 an agreement was made between See also:England and Italy by which the See also:Italian forces in See also:Eritrea were at See also:liberty, if they were able, to capture and occupy Kassala, which lay See also:close to the western boundary of their new See also:colony, on condition that they restored it to Egypt at a future See also:day when required to do so. Three years passed before they availed themselves of this agreement. In 1893 the dervishes, 12,000 strong, under Ahmed All, invaded Eritrea, and were met on the 29th of December at See also:Agordat by Colonel Arimondi with 2000 men of a native force.

End of Article: MILITARY OPERATIONS IN EGYPT AND THE SUDAN

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