THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY

Stratford Evening Post, Issue 19, 17 January 1929, Page 3

THIS WEEK'S ANNIVERSARY

BEITAItf IN THE SUDAN, jjg RE-CONQUEST BY KITCHENER, " A convention was signed on January 19th, 1899, between Egypt and Britain, vesting the command of the Sudan in a Governor-General, Sir, Francis Wingate, and excluding foreign political influence from- the entire region south of (the! 22nd' parallel. In 1876 British and French holders of Egyptian bonds induced ' their Governments to intervene in the affairs of Egypt/During the course' .of the revolt of Arabi Pasha a British force'bombarded Alexandria, in July 1882, in retaliation for the kill- - ih^foT Europeans in "a riot in the; • city,' and some weeks later British ' 'troops-Were landed at Ismailia. Arabi was defeated, Cairo was occupied, Zand then began the occupation of; - fEgypt by British troops. Khedive ' Tewfik was replaced on (the throne, • and Mr Gladstone announced thai) the British occupation of the country would be temporary—that Britaijr would evacuate whenever Khedive could maintain himself on the 'throne unassisted. The pledge was honestly given, but events were: to prove that its fulfilment was impracticable. Then came the revolt in the Sudan under trie Mahdi) a! religious reformer, who overwhelmed ithe Egyptian garrisons one after. i another. •';..', '.•.'' r *ljf GOVERNMENT'S DILEMMA. T' The Gladstone Government could nqtidecide on action. The cost of the reconquest of the Sudan was held to great, and at ithe same time it ; wtsrecognised that the garrison at Khartoum could not be left to its fate. In c their difficulty the" Government turned to General Charles Gordon, who had been governor of the Sudan under Ismail Pasha, it being'ttipught that by his personal influence he'could bring the Egyptian tro'opp' away "from Khartoum. ,GQ rd on left' for Khartoum l,ate in) iianuaryi;. 1884.' Some military oper''*%tlons' were undertaken in support pf-Gordon, but in May he publish-:

ed a complaint that the British Govment had . deserted Khartoum, Inj August the House of Commons passed a vote of credit for an expedition to relieve Gordon, if such was; required. In September Lord Wolseley went to Egypt "and organised transport by rail and river, and it was 'the end of December, before a' military force set out on a desert march of 250 miles _to Khartoum, lifter gallant fights at Abu Klea and Abu' Kru the troops proceeded to •Khartoum by boat up the Nile. They arrived on January 28th within a mile and a half of Khartoum, which they found had been taken by the Mahdi on January 26th, Gordon being killed. ABANDONED. The British forces were recalled and the Sudan was abandoned. In 1892 Sir Herbert Kitchener became Sirdar of the Egyptian army and for six- years he laboured aitl the problem of fitting thi s army for the; t'ask of reconquest of the, Sudan. iKitchener got instructions to advance on Khartoum, the tobject being twofold—to recover the Sudan and to prevent France from securing sovereignty over any portfim of the upper Nile Valley, Major Marchard having been despatched with this intention. Kitchener • met and beat the dervishes on April 7th, 1898, at the Atbara River. A period of inaction followed till the end of August', when the Sirdar found himself with 8000 British and 17,000 Egyptian soldiers, with 44 guns.and 20 maxims, and 36 guns and 20 maxim s on the flotilla on ithe Nile. The final march was then undertaken and on September 2nd was fought the great battle ; of Onidurman, Kitchener's"2s,oo'o' defeating the, Khalifa's forced which was estimated at anything from 50,000 to 75,000 in number. The Khalifa's losses were nearly ten thousand killed and from ten to sixteen thousand wounded. In the Sirdar's army 47 were killed and 428 wounded. Kitchener then proceeded up the Nile to Fashoda, where he found Major Marchard, with eighty Senegalese soldiers. The withdrawal of the French force was arranged by the diplomatists, and the reconquest of the Sudan was complete.