The Wordsworth Military Library covers the breadth of military history, including studies of individual leaders and accounts of major campaigns and great conflicts.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Civil War in the Sudan in the 1880s and 1890s.,
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This review is from: Dervish (Wordsworth Military Library) (Paperback)
As the recent conflicts in both Afghanistan and Iraq show, the West has had to confront Islamic fundamentalism throughout its history. In the 1880s, the Mahdi rose to prominence as the hidden Iman and confronted both British and Egyptian Imperialism in the Sudan. The British Prime Minister withdrew from the region rather than confront the threat. For close to 15 years, most of the Sudan was ruled by the Mahdi and his successor Khalifa. During those years, many atrocities were committed in the Sudan including slavery and cruel punishment for those who didn't believe. When Britain decided to re-engage in the Sudan, it was only because the French were exploring the area. This is the jist of Warner's book.
As one of the previous reviewers has already noted, this book is a Western perspective and so perhaps is the slant on the cause of the Mahdi. The military campaigns were well detailed, but there is too little perspective from the other side. This is the only criticism of this book.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Could Have Been Better,
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This review is from: Dervish (Wordsworth Military Library) (Paperback)
This book covers one of the more fascinating events of the 19th century--the rise of the Sudanese Mahdist Empire--solely in the terms of the series of Anglo-Egyptian expeditions to crush it. While one-sided histories aren't always bad, this one just sort of falls flat. There are better sources on the Mahdists and I'd recommend looking over this one unless you are solely interested in the military aspects [the British ones]. The maps were also of little use as they were zoomed out so much that the book's locales are hardly distinguishable--despite them being divided by great distances!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A Military History of the 19th Century Mahdists in the Sudan,
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This review is from: Dervish (Wordsworth Military Library) (Paperback)
The book is fairly short and is illustrated with some black and white plates of the Mahdi, Slatin and the young Winston Churchill (slightly blurred) and a few small maps of the area and one or two of the main battles. It largely deals with the rise to power and eventual downfall of the religious and political leader termed the 'Mahdi' in late-19th century Sudan. It focuses particularly on military matters and uses some original sources including the diaries of British army officers involved in the fighting, plus some autobiographies and other writings such as that of Wingate, Slatin and of Fr Ohrwalder, an Austrian missionary captured by the Mahdists and imprisoned in their camp. The descriptions of the conditions and of the various battles are vivid and the author has tried to paint a balanced view, but also gives much detail of the routes followed by the armies and of the tactics employed. I thought that it also had fascinating detail on how the Mahdi became influential and the mistakes made by his adversaries. It is undoubtedly less detailed than some books on the Mahdist era, and the description of the final battle at Omdurman was less of a dramatic climax than I had expected. Overall it is good value for the price and was an interesting read.
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