Onwards to Omdurman

On 2 September 1898, the Anglo-Egyptian army under General Kitchener crushed the Mahdist Sudanese army of the Khalifa Abdallahi at the battle of Omdurman. Depictions of the battle, in books and films, have too often depicted it as the hapless slaughter of the Mahdists by a modern, well-equipped professional army. This book seeks to show, however, that the battle was not a foregone conclusion and that the result might have been closer if the Mahdists had conformed to their battle-plan. By examining the battle in fair detail, the book emphasises that the Mahdists battle plan was poorly executed, hence their defeat. Although it took another year before the Khalifa was defeated and killed, the battle at Omdurman ended a two-year campaign that had utilised the power of modern Victorian technology.