Customer Reviews

Three Empires on the Nile: The Victorian Jihad, 1869-1899

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Truly good popular history should inform, entertain, and provoke further thought. Green's relatively slim (266 pages) volume does all three far more effectively than many a longer tome from better-known, longer established authors. If, like me, your knowledge of European imperialism in the Middle East, Ottoman decay, the stirrings of both Arab nationalism and Islamist reawakening was pretty much framed by movies such as "Khartoum", "Lawrence of Arabia" and the works of H. Rider Haggard, this volume will make sense of a key era of history mainly perceived in the West as a time of quaintly romantic chaos.

Green makes his cast of characters, Gladstone, Gordon, the Madhi, et al come alive in ways I never recall from my collegiate history days, and frames their actions, motivations, and the results of their choices in a coherent way that provides the reader with an excellent intelligence brief, not only on the era described, but on the issues topical to the region today. Green shows with great precision how personality often drives public policy, and illustrates the apparent paradoxes of how liberal, anti-imperialist humanitarian impulses can sometimes create empires of misery, and how elitist conservatism can sometimes create social improvements and upward mobility for the masses. Mr. Gladstone, meet Mr. Carter.

Green's discussion of the origins of modern Islamism in the odd stew of Western and Eastern ideas bubbling in the dying Ottoman hinterlands is alone worth the price of admission to this book. Without demonizing nor idealizing the iconic figures of Muhammed Ahmad, Chinese Gordon, Winston Churchhill, or Herbert Kitchener, we get a better understanding of the Mahdist revolt and a glimpse of how yesterday's news headlines drive those of today. A note to George Clooney and other well-heeled would-be humanitarians who hope to stop genocide in Darfur- READ THIS BOOK!

In summary, this is excellent book on a little-known subject that the reader will find very entertaining and enlightening, and I cannot recommend it highly enough. I look forward to more works by Mr. Green.

This is a well documented, yet very readable, recitation of British involvement in Sudan and Egpt in the years leading up to WWI, and the reverberations down to the present day. While many are aware of the actions of Kitchener and the hysterical reaction back home in England to Gordon's fate (thank you Charlton Heston), few have a clear view of the deeper objectives and consequent military and economic policies that drove England's actions. This history is a useful reminder of the importance of deeply held worldviews of two cultures riven by much, but especially religion.

This book was one of the best history books I've ever read (I actually listened to it while commuting to NYC and while finishing chores).

I have no idea what one of the other reviewers was referring to when they said it was generally hard to follow. I was able to follow it nearly in its entirety even when listening to it as a disjointed audio book.

I highly recommend this amazing historical account, that reads as smoothly as even the best historical fiction I've read.

I really wanted to like this book and looked forward to reading it. However, poor organization and what appears to be hasty editing turned this from an enjoyable to stumbling, confused read.

Tackling the multiple cultures, religions and characters in this 'drama' is tricky business, and unfortunately I don't think the author was up to it. Its also appears that book was hastily trimmed down - because there are references to people and events that author assumes the reader already knows no matter how obscure. For example one passage read (i am paraphrasing) "the voyeagers turned out not to be hardy backwoodsmen, but clerks", well when did we ever expect them to be hardy backwoodsmen? I don't even know who they are.

He also spends much of his time describing Gordon (of Khartoum fame) in the negative - then goes on to say how much he was admired by the Victorian public - he never shows or tells us why. I suppose he assumes we're all familiar with Gordon, but most people these days are not.

On the upside, there some interesting insights into the "Jihad" in the Sudan and the confused and conflicting ambitions and goals of various factions - some like the anti-slavery society, were moral but misguided or impractical, others, simply wanted to keep the Suez and the passage to India safe at all costs.

I love this time period and stories about it, and, as I said I really wanted to like this one but couldn't .

Exceedingly well written. Essential history. A very volitile period of history brought on my Khedive Ismail's economic corruption, and the fanatical Madi of Sudan, and many other players, some benign, some haphazard, and some great historical figures such as Garnet Wolsley, Charles Gordon, General Kitchener, and others. Reads like a series of interwoven biographies. Dominic Green is very adept at metaphore.

I really enjoyed this book. This is a book about British involvement in Egypt and Sudan between 1869 and 1899. Much of the policies undertaken then by the British parliament echo present day policies in the Middle East. If you are interested in the history of the Middle East, read this book!

I most enjoyed the chapters on the Mahdi. According to Islamic traditions, the Mahdi will come to save Muslims from their imminent collapse in society and deliver them from the hands of the unbelievers (the non-Muslims). His name will be Mohammad, like the prophet be peace upon him, and his father will likewise be named Abdullah, like the prophet's father. His appearance will signal the end of days, or the coming of the Day of Judgment. During the Mahdi's lifetime, Jesus Christ will also return to rule the world, according to Islam.

It is quite clear that the self-proclaimed Sudanese Mahdi was not the awaited Mahdi Moslems all over the world are waiting for. Yet he was able to save his people from British rule, and successfully retook Khartoum and killed General Gordon after a 300 days siege. Gordon's body was mutilated, and his head severed and taken to the Mahdi. Yet in the process hundreds of thousands of Sudanese died. Was the price worth the freedom from British rule? Interestingly, the Mahdi at first refused to use guns and rifles to fight the British armies, believing that since God was on his side, guns and rifles would be unnecessary. He soon realized though that this was foolishness at its best, not to mention suicide.

Another suicidal strategy was to run in masses towards the armed British forces, equipped with rifles and cannons. Thousands of Sudanese died this way, their bodies piled on top of each other. Since any Muslim who dies in Jihad goes straight to Heaven, the Sudanese army was keener of dying in battle and going to Heaven than actually winning the battle. This attitude is clearly shown today in unnecessary terrorist attacks.

The Mahdi died quite young, in his early forties and shortly after defeating the British forces. His dreams were of conquering Egypt and then the Gulf states (Middle East), thus cutting the British forces from their Empire in the East (mainly India) and defeating the Ottoman Empire. But right after his death, chaos erupted between the Sudanese and civil war arose between them. The British forces, seeing an opportunity, re-conquered Sudan. The Mahdi's dream was destroyed.

Interestingly, during the Sudanese Mahdi's time, another self-proclaimed Mahdi appeared in Libya. However, the Libyan Mahdi did not want anything to do with the Sudanese Mahdi. This demonstrates how religion is used for political ambitions. None of them was the true awaited Mahdi, yet both believed they were.

The chapters on General Gordon (Chinese Gordon) and Mr. Gladstone were also very interesting. It is really amazing to read that Gordon was abandoned by the British during the siege of Khartoum. If only the British sent reinforcements to Gordon, the city would never have fallen and the Mahdi would have been defeated. But politicians back in London, mainly Mr. Gladstone, thought that Gordon was not in need of reinforcements, despite his repeated insistence. Politics! Politicians! Being behind a desk thousands of miles away is much different than being under the line of fire, and this is as true today as ever.

It is interesting that some in the British parliament thought that the Sudanese have a right to rule their own country and that the British forces should leave Sudan. Debates actually arose on this point, and this was one of the reasons the British forces were delayed in coming to Gordon's aid. When they finally arrived, it was too late. Gordon was dead and Khartoum had fallen. Another reason for the delay in troop deployment was that Sudan was a burden on the British economy, with more money being invested than actual returns. Sudan was not financially attractive, but rather a financial drain.

The chapters on the ruling Egyptian khedive (viceroy) Ismail Pasha were also interesting. Ismail Pasha was westernized, having been educated in Paris, and he liked living the life of an aristocrat. He spent a lot of money for his self entertainment and on acquiring land. But he also borrowed a lot of money from the British to build his country; money that he couldn't pay back. It was Ismail Pasha, together with a French engineer, who built the Suez Canal, separating the Continent of Africa from the Middle East and turning it into an island!

His administrative policies, notably the accumulation of an enormous foreign debt, were instrumental in leading to British occupation of Egypt in 1882. When he assumed power, the Egyptian national debt stood at £7,000,000; by 1876 this debt had increased to almost £100,000,000. Eventually Ismail was exiled from his country after bankrupting it and left with all his personal belongings and his personal harem (probably his most important asset) aboard a ship headed for Sicily. He never returned, yet his legacy lives on today by the city named after him, Ismailia. He died on March 2, 1895, in Istanbul.

This book reads like a novel, and apart from being informative, is very entertaining. I highly recommend it.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It did an excellent job of portraying the scene in 1870's Egypt and Sudan without being overly long or too detailed. The author knows his material and conveyed the story in a readable and entertaining manner.

This review pertains to the MP3 audio CD. It is a very well written story, very well read, and very well produced. Often the Urabia revolt and resulting Battle of Tel el-Kebir (1882) are treated as separate events from the Mahdi's rise in the Sudan, the siege of General Gordon in Khartoum (1884), and the reconquest of Khartoum through the Battle of Omdurman (1898). This story ties those together along with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and attempts at Western European alliances with each other, with the Ottoman Empire, and with Egypt for economic and political influence and military action in Egypt and the Sudan as well as the struggle in English politics between the faction thirsting for a "Cape to Cairo" empire in Africa and the anti-colonialist faction.

The Islamic fundamentalist movement and its quest for world domination is hardly a recent trend, as this well-crafted and hugely interesting book well illustrates. Over a hundred years ago, Victorian Britain, The Ottoman Empire, and an Islamic ascetic who self-declared himself as The Mahdi (the "chosen" or "guided" one) wrestled for power and dominion in Egypt and the Sudan, with Britain eventually gaining the upper hand in the pivotal battle of Omdurman in 1898. The latter battle is noteworthy for involving a young Winston Churchill in the last mounted charge in history undertaken by British cavalry. This book is interlaced with the involvement of some of the most influential, colorful, and powerful figures in the 19th Century: Generals Wolseley, Kitchener, and Gordon; Winston Churchill; Queen Victoria; Prime Ministers Disraeli and Gladstone of Great Britain; Ferdinand De Lesseps, architect of the Suez Canal; and of course The Mahdi -- a charismatic and dogmatic leader, who after the fall of Khartoum and the death of General Gordon appears to have opted for a dissolute lifestyle that may have contributed to his death instead of promoting the former call to Jihad. A great read, and for a more micro view of the same events I would heartily recommend Byron Farwell's "Prisoners of The Mahdi", recounting the experiences of some of the Mahdi's European prisoners during his reign.

This concise and well-written book brings together strands of history from other books about the same period, and puts all of them into one shorterer publication. Of course, doing that does not give the average reader the depth of information available in one of the other books covering only one subject, but this one does have the advantage of telling the entire story, albeit in more condensed form. This is good for the general reader, and anyone interested in delving more deeply into one of the subjects told in the book would be well advised to search out and read the more inclusive works on a perticular matter. This is excellent entry level material about this period in history in and around the Nile delta.