The Sudan 1882-1914

Question 1

How did the British positively benefit their economy?

Answer 1

• Economic development in Nile Valley after occupation in 1898
• 1906 Port Sudan

Question 2

How did the British positively benefit their infrastructure?

Answer 2

Extended telegraph and railway lines to link areas in Northern Sudan

Question 3

What was the Gezira Scheme?

Answer 3

1911, improved irrigation systems

Question 4

Describe the Battle of Omdurman

Answer 4

• 2nd September 1898 under Kitchener
• Long-range rifles, machine guns and artillery killed 11,000 of Khalifah’s army and wounded 16,000
• Tantamount to a massacre as Sudanese weaponry was not as modern

Question 5

Describe Sudanese tribes in the South refusing to cooperate and British response

Answer 5

• Mahdist uprisings 1900, 1902-03, 1904 and 1908
• British were excessively violent
• 33 punitive expeditions mounted to force tribesmen to accept new order
• Rebels weren’t even put on trial and publicly hung

Question 6

Long term consequences of occupation of the Sudan

Answer 6

• Destruction of Sudanese economy
• Population decline of 50% due to consequent famine
• Disease and persecution/war

Question 7

Background to Battle of Omdurman evidencing challenges

Answer 7

• Mahdists dominating Sudan since 1885
• Ahmed Mahdi had complete control around Khartoum since 1882
• Joint British-Egyptian expedition under Colonel Hicks in 1883 as a counter attack against the Sudanese Mahdi in which Hicks was killed
• Gladstone was reluctant to further conflict so ordered Ben Gordon to oversee British and Egyptian troops’ evacuation from Khartoum 1884
• These forces overrun in January 1885 and almost the entire garrison killed w/ General Gordon beheaded in the attack