Khartoum: The Ultimate Imperial Adventure

By Michael Asher

Book Overview

The British campaign in the Sudan in Queen Victoria's reign is an epic tale of adventure more thrilling than any fiction. The story begins with the massacre of the 11,000 strong Hicks Pasha column in 1883. Sent to evacuate the country, British hero General Gordon was surrounded and murdered in Khartoum by a vast army of dervishes commanded by the Mahdi. The relief mission arrived two days too late. The result was a national scandal that shocked the Queen and led to the fall of the British government. Twelve years later it was the brilliant Herbert Kitchener who struck back. Achieving the impossible he built a railway across the desert to transport his troops to the final devastating confrontation at Omdurman in 1898. Desert explorer and author Michael Asher has reconstructed this classic tale in vivid detail. Having covered every inch of the ground and examined all eyewitness reports, he brings to bear new evidence questioning several accepted aspects of the story.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0670870307
• ISBN13: 9780670870301
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Viking Books
• Length: 449 Pages
• Weight: 2.05 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Excellent engrossing account

A well written account of the Mahdist War (1881-1898). One of the pivotal events in the later years of the British Empire. It was followed immediately by the Second Anglo-Boer War and then after a short respite World War One. Many of the folks involved with the Mahdist War would go on to see action in South Africa and then World War One. Of course, Winston Churchill would wrap everything up with World War II, but that's Churchill for you. No half measures. I believe it can be argued that the seventeen-year conflict set into motion forces that led to 9/11 and all that has taken place since. Of course, it isn't that simple, but it is connected in my opinion. Mr. Asher has spent years living and traveling through Africa and the Middle East. He also served in the British Army Paratroopers (Northern Ireland) and the Special Air Service (SAS). His writing is based on both solid research and real-world experience. It shows on every page. Especially when he details what life was like for those who were trying to survive not only the war but the desert environment. Despite the title this is not a glorification of Imperialism or the British Empire. Nor is it a leftist leaning histography with Marxist ideology providing the seasoning. In my opinion this is a solidly written piece of military history that neither glorifies nor destroys the participants. I found it to be a well written book that details the long running conflict without the need to heap guilt on top of the reader for enjoying the experience vicariously.