The slave-dealing tribes had been the principal instrument of vengeance upon Egypt. It was now their turn for chastisement. The Egyptian Sirdar, Sir H. Kitchener, who fought with the railway as well as with troops, advanced to Dongola in September, 1896, and the banks of the river were again occupied up to Merowe. Next year Abu Hamed and Berber were taken, and the new railway laid from Wadi Halfa across the Korosko desert. Early in 1898 the battle of the Atbara was won by the Anglo-Egyptian troops. In September the great battle of the campaign was fought at Kerreri, Omdurman was taken, and the Egyptian flag was once more flying at Khartoum, this time with the British flag beside it. By the end of the year the authority of the new rulers was established, after some difficult and troublesome campaigning, throughout the Eastern Soudan as far south as Fazokhl and Famaka; gunboats, though blocked in the Bahr el Gebel, had proceeded up the Bahr el Ghazal and hoisted the flags near Meshra el Rek. Before the end of 1899 the Khalifa and the remnant of his supporters still in the field had fought their last fight. In the hour of their downfall the dervish chieftains displayed a splendid courage worthy of their race. Proudly disdaining to be fugitives in the lands they had ruled, they perished to a man with their faces to the foe. But of far greater importance than the final destruction of the Khalifa were the events that followed on the fall of Omdurman, which are inseparably connected with the name of Fashoda. Since the time when the Khedive Ismail was pursuing his wild career of annexation without attracting any particular attention except from the natives of the countries annexed, the whole position of affairs had entirely altered. In every direction European Powers had appeared upon the scene. In the east Massowah had been handed over to the Italians in 1885, and they had inflicted several severe defeats upon the dervishes. In 1893 a British Protectorate had been declared over Uganda and Unyoro, and in 1895 the British flag was hoisted at Duffile. The Belgians from the Congo Free State had pressed on to the Nile, and in 1897 an expedition under Chaltin was successful in taking Rejaf, which had long been the southernmost dervish post on the river.