Sudan Archives - Mark Simner

Face-off at Fashoda: How Close Did Britain and France Come to War in 1898?

By Mark Simner | 29 May 2019

On 2 September 1898, Major-General Horatio Herbert Kitchener fought his most famous action of his military career, the Battle of Omdurman. It was the finale of a long campaign against the Mahdists of Sudan, and the even longer awaited avenging of General Charles Gordon’s killing over a decade earlier. Thousands of fanatical Islamic warriors lay…

The ‘Immortal’ Osman Digna

By Mark Simner | 30 August 2018

Demonised by some but highly respected by others, Osman Digna (sometimes spelt ‘Uthman Diqna) was a Mahdist leader who remained a thorn in the side of the British in Sudan for almost two decades during the late Victorian period. He was, perhaps, the ablest commander of the Ansar – the Mahdist army – who, despite…