Mahdist War
Sudan versus Britain
The Mahdist War was a conflict in Sudan from 1881 to 1899, in which followers of Muhammad Ahmad—who proclaimed himself the Mahdi, a prophesied Islamic redeemer—fought against Egyptian and later British colonial forces.
The war included the famous siege of Khartoum, where General Gordon was killed.
British forces eventually reconquered Sudan at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898.
- KhartoumSudan's largest city
- DarfurSudanese western territory
- reconquestRegaining seized territory
- tribal alliancesPacts among kinship groups
- Nile ValleyAfrican river's agricultural corridor
colonial resistance · White Nile · dervish · Blue Nile · martyrdom · jihad · Nile · spears · uprising · Sudan · cavalry · desert · fanaticism · colonial · British · camel · Egyptian · warriors
- Colonial WarsScramble for Africa, British Raj
- Sudan explorationKhartoum, Nile, Blue Nile, White Nile, Nubia
- Ottoman EmpireOttoman Empire, sultans, grand vizier, Constantinople, Suleiman
type of conflict
Mahdist WarAmerican Civil War
1861-1865 U.S. conflict
English Civil War · Russian Civil War · Spanish Civil War · Chinese Civil War · civil war