THE RIVER WAR An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan (1902 edition) By Winston S. Churchill CONTENTS: Chapter I. The Rebellion of the Mahdi II. The Fate of the Envoy III. The Dervish Empire IV. The Years of Preparation V. The Beginning of War VI. Firket VII. The Recovery of the Dongola Province VIII. The Desert Railway IX. Abu Hamed X. Berber XI. Reconnaissance XII. The Battle of the Atbara XIII. The Grand Advance XIV. The Operations of the First of September XV. The Battle of Omdurman XVI. The Fall of the City XVII. 'The Fashoda Incident' XVIII On the Blue Nile XIX. The End of the Khalifa APPENDIX B ____________________________________________________________________ THE SOUDAN >>> to illustrate the military operations <<< 1896-1898 |* Wady Halfa / (The Nile) / _/ | \_ / | __* Abu Hamed | _/ \ Dongola *\ _/ \ Suakin * \ Merawi / \ \ */ \ \_ _ / \ Berber \* /\__ (The Atbara River) _/ \_ Metemma */ \ / | Omdurman */ Khartoum /*\_ | \_ | \_ (The Blue Nile) \ \ KORDOFAN \ | (The White Nile) ____________________________________________________________________ CHAPTER I: THE REBELLION OF THE MAHDI The north-eastern quarter of the continent of Africa is drained and watered by the Nile. Among and about the headstreams and tributaries of this mighty river lie the wide and fertile provinces of the Egyptian Soudan. Situated in the very centre of the land, these remote regions are on every side divided from the seas by five hundred miles of mountain, swamp, or desert. The great river is their only means of growth, their only channel of progress. It is by the Nile alone that their commerce can reach the outer markets, or European civilisation can penetrate the inner darkness. The Soudan is joined to Egypt by the Nile, as a diver is connected with the surface by his air-pipe. Without it there is only suffocation. Aut Nilus, aut nihil!