Battles & Wars › Industrial wars › Colonial conquest of Africa (Scramble for Africa)
Battle of Omdurman
September 2, 1898· Battle· Middle East & Africa
Well documentedSolid records, physical evidence or scientific consensus.
Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army destroyed the Mahdist army outside Omdurman, Sudan, ending the Mahdist state.
See it on the Battles & Wars map →What happened
The Mahdist movement took Khartoum in 1885, killing General Charles Gordon. In 1896–98 General Herbert Kitchener advanced up the Nile, building a desert railway and using armed gunboats. On September 2, 1898, about 50,000 Mahdist fighters under the Khalifa Abdallahi charged across open ground at roughly 25,000 Anglo-Egyptian troops armed with magazine rifles, artillery and Maxim guns. About 10,000 to 12,000 Mahdists died; Kitchener's force lost under 50 killed. Young Winston Churchill rode with the 21st Lancers.
Why it matters
One of the most lopsided battles of colonial conquest, it showed what industrial firepower did to brave armies in the open, and gave Britain control of Sudan until 1956.
How we know
Eyewitness books such as Churchill's The River War (1899) and G. W. Steevens's With Kitchener to Khartum, official dispatches, Sudanese accounts, and photographs.
Still debated
Kitchener's troops were accused of killing wounded Mahdists, and Kitchener was condemned for destroying the Mahdi's tomb; how widespread the killings were is debated.
Connections (3)
▸Machine gun (Maxim gun) helped decide Battle of OmdurmanMostly agreed
The connection
Hiram Maxim's 1884 gun used each shot's recoil to fire the next, about 500 to 600 rounds a minute. At Omdurman Kitchener's Maxims, on land and on gunboats, joined artillery and magazine rifles against massed charges across open ground. Hilaire Belloc's ironic 1898 verse: 'Whatever happens, we have got / The Maxim gun, and they have not.'
When and how
Kerreri plain outside Omdurman, Sudan, September 2, 1898; Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army, with about 20 Maxim guns on land, against the Khalifa's army.
How sure are we?
Eyewitnesses, including Churchill and war correspondents, described the firing; official returns record ammunition used and the hugely uneven casualties.
Debates and open questions
Historians debate the Maxim's share: rifle volleys and artillery probably did as much of the killing, so crediting one weapon may go too far.
▸Battle of Omdurman secured Sudan for Britain in Colonial conquest of Africa (Scramble for Africa)Well documented
The connection
Omdurman destroyed the Mahdist state. Days later Kitchener steamed up the Nile to Fashoda, where a small French expedition had raised its flag, and France backed down. In January 1899 Britain and Egypt set up a joint 'condominium' over Sudan, in practice British rule, which lasted until Sudan's independence in 1956.
When and how
Omdurman, September 2, 1898; Fashoda, mid-September 1898, Kitchener and French Major Jean-Baptiste Marchand; Anglo-Egyptian Agreement, January 19, 1899.
How we know
The 1899 condominium agreement, the Anglo-French accords that ended the Fashoda crisis, and colonial records of Sudan's administration.
Debates and open questions
Mahdist resistance went on until the Khalifa was killed in November 1899. How much Egypt actually shared in ruling Sudan is debated.
▸Winston Churchill rode in a cavalry charge at Battle of OmdurmanWell documented
The connection
As a young cavalry officer and part-time war correspondent, Churchill lobbied to join Kitchener's campaign to retake Sudan. At Omdurman he rode with the 21st Lancers in one of the British army's last full cavalry charges. His book The River War (1899) praised the soldiers but criticized Kitchener's treatment of enemy wounded and the Mahdi's tomb.
When and how
Omdurman, near Khartoum, Sudan, September 2, 1898; Lieutenant Churchill attached to the 21st Lancers under General Herbert Kitchener.
How we know
Churchill's letters and dispatches for the Morning Post, his book The River War, and the 21st Lancers' regimental records.
Debates and open questions
His accounts can be self-dramatizing, so historians check them against other officers' records. Whether the charge was useful or a costly blunder is debated.