Dervish: the Rise and Fall of an African Empire by Philip Warner

Dervish: the Rise and Fall of an African Empire by Philip Warner

Dervish is the vivid and colourful story of one of the more remarkable episodes in the 'high Empire' period of British history. The Mahdi's rising in the Sudan in the 1880s starting as a localized Holy War against the 'decadent' Turkish/Egyptian overlords, engulfed a million square miles of arid territory and forced the British Liberal Government to get involved after the early disasters of the Hicks expedition and Gordon's death at Khartoum.The narrative, which makes excellent use of the first-hand diaries and reports, including those of Rider Haggard's brother Andrew and of Father Ohrwalder (the Austrian missionary who spent ten years of captivity in the Mahdi's camp), brilliantly describes the growth and strength of the Mahdist movement and the extraordinary devotion and discipline of the Dervish troops. Facing such opponents with stoic endurance were the British, Egyptian and Sudanese Negro soldiers, and the resulting military engagements evoked amazing feats of courage and derring-do on both sides.The Dervish Empire outlasted the Mahdi by thirteen years. It ended in the battle of Omdurman and Kitchener's reconquest of the Sudan, which was well supported by Reginald Wingate's military intelligence operations. It lasted a comparatively brief span of time, but it had been established at the expense not only of the neighbouring Abyssinians but also of the European white man, at a time when Britain was approaching the zenith of its imperial power.Philip Warner is author of Passchendale and The Zeebrugge Raid and numerous other first rate histories. He wrote the biographies of Auchinleck and Horrocks. He was the military obituary writer of The Daily Telegraph for many years. In WW2 he was a POW of the Japanese for 1,000 days. He died in 2000.

Warner, Philip: - Philip Warner was a Cambridge graduate who joined the Army in 1939\. He was a POW of the Japanese for three years. He was a highly successful academic historian, the writer of some 50 military history works and the military obituary writer on The Daily Telegraph.

Pen and Sword have published numerous of his titles including D-Day Landings (official Daily Telegraph 60th Anniversary book), Phantom and Secret Forces of the Second World War. Philip Warner died in 2000.Philip Warner was a Cambridge graduate who joined the Army in 1939\. He was a POW of the Japanese for three years. He was a highly successful academic historian, the writer of some 50 military history works and the military obituary writer on The Daily Telegraph.

Pen and Sword have published numerous of his titles including D-Day Landings (official Daily Telegraph 60th Anniversary book), Phantom and Secret Forces of the Second World War. Philip Warner died in 2000.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781848841109
ISBN 10	1848841108
Title	Dervish: the Rise and Fall of an African Empire
Author	Philip Warner
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Pen & Sword Books Ltd
Year published	2010-05-20
Number of pages	235
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.