The Khalifa however continued to probe north, and the following years were punctuated by several minor battles both on the frontier, and in the area around the town of Suakin on the east coast. Actions were fought at Ginnis in 1885, the last battle where British soldiers wore red coats, Gemaizah in 1888, and at Toski in 1889, at all of which, in spite of their usual fanatical courage, the Dervishes were defeated.


Repulse of the Khalifa at Toski in 1889


When the Ansar heavily defeated an Abyssinian army at Gallabat, killing the Christian King Yohannes (John) IV, the Khalifa's power reached its peak, and he turned his mind to the Mahdi's dream of the conquest of Egypt. In the summer of 1889 he sent a large force north under the command of the Emir Wad el Nejumi. This Dervish force was annihilated at Toski by an Anglo-Egyptian force under the command of the new Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Egyptian Army, Sir Frances Grenfell. The Emir was killed, along with 1,200 of his followers, and over 4,000 taken prisoner. The British government seemed to consider this defeat a salutary enough lesson, and did not take any follow up action. Amongst those who distinguished themselves at Toski, were Herbert Kitchener (C.B.), Leslie Rundle (D.S.O.), Archibald Hunter (D.S.O.), John Maxwell (D.S.O.) and Hector “Fighting Mac” Macdonald (D.S.O.), names which would, in the years to come, become synonymous with the story of the reconquest of the Sudan. The battle of Toski ended the Khalifa’s dream of conquering Egypt, and as time passed, he descended into an unstable despot, whose rule was punctuated by mass executions, political murder, and famine.


Events leading to the reconquest of Dongola


The inactivity of the British however could not last for much longer, as events in the west and the south-east of the Sudan were beginning to cause the British government serious concern. In March 1896 an Italian army of 17,000, which was seeking to expand Italy’s east African empire from Eritrea into Abyssinia, was destroyed by the new Abyssinian King Menelik II at the battle of Adowa. The destruction of the Italian Army now made their colony of Eritrea susceptible to invasion by the Khalifa, who had himself long been keeping one eye on Italian expansionism in the area.


Following their disaster, the Italians turned to Britain for help in finding a way to reduce the potential threat to their now precariously held colony. As if this was not enough, rumours were circulating throughout Europe of French plans for a vast Central African Empire, which would spread to encompass the Southern Sudan, and, in addition, the Belgians were moving East from the Congo Free State and showing an unhealthy interest in Sudanese Equatoria - and just to add more fuel to the fire, the inexorable slide into chaos, and the Khalifa’s tenuous grip on the southern Sudan weakening, the vultures were beginning to gather. The British had to act.


To assist the Italians, and to finally put an end to the menace of possible further Mahdist attacks on Egypt, an experienced frontier campaigner, Brigadier General Sir Herbert Horatio Kitchener was appointed Sirdar, or Commander-in-Chief of the Anglo-Egyptian force, and ordered south to re-capture the Sudanese border province of Dongola. This was expected to draw the Khalifa’s attention to his north, and relieve the pressure on the Italians, while also acting as a buffer zone for Egypt. Kitchener was to go no further south as it would be too expensive, and the Egyptians, still heavily in debt, would be paying for this expedition.


Thus the stage was set for the reconquest of Dongola.


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