The River War

The River War

The Project Gutenberg EBook of The River War, by Winston S.
Churchill (#1 in our series by Sir Winston S. Churchill)
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Title: The River War
Author: Winston S. Churchill
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4943] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on April 2,
2002]

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, THE
RIVER WAR ***

This etext was produced by Ronald J. Goodden

THE RIVER WAR
An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
(1902 edition)

By Winston S. Churchill

CONTENTS:


Chapter I.
The Rebellion of the Mahdi II. The Fate of the Envoy III. The Dervish
Empire IV. The Years of Preparation V. The Beginning of War VI.
Firket VII. The Recovery of the Dongola Province VIII. The Desert
Railway IX. Abu Hamed X. Berber XI. Reconnaissance XII. The Battle
of the Atbara XIII. The Grand Advance XIV. The Operations of the
First of September XV. The Battle of Omdurman XVI. The Fall of the
City XVII. 'The Fashoda Incident' XVIII On the Blue Nile XIX. The
End of the Khalifa APPENDIX

_________________________________________________________
_______________
THE SOUDAN >>> to illustrate the military operations <<<
1896-1898

|* Wady Halfa / (The Nile) / _/ | \_ / | __* Abu Hamed | _/ \ Dongola *\
_/ \ Suakin * \ Merawi / \ \ */ \ \_ _ / \ Berber \* /\__ (The Atbara River)
_/ \_ Metemma */ \ / | Omdurman */ Khartoum /*\_ | \_ | \_ (The Blue
Nile) \ \ KORDOFAN \ |
(The White Nile)
_________________________________________________________
_______________


CHAPTER I
: THE REBELLION OF THE MAHDI

The north-eastern quarter of the continent of Africa is drained and
watered by the Nile. Among and about the headstreams and tributaries
of this mighty river lie the wide and fertile provinces of the Egyptian
Soudan. Situated in the very centre of the land, these remote regions are
on every side divided from the seas by five hundred miles of mountain,
swamp, or desert. The great river is their only means of growth, their
only channel of progress. It is by the Nile alone that their commerce
can reach the outer markets, or European civilisation can penetrate the
inner darkness. The Soudan is joined to Egypt by the Nile, as a diver is
connected with the surface by his air-pipe. Without it there is only
suffocation. Aut Nilus, aut nihil!
The town of Khartoum, at the confluence of the Blue and White Niles,
is the point on which the trade of the south must inevitably converge. It
is the great spout through which the merchandise collected from a wide
area streams northwards to the Mediterranean shore. It marks the
extreme northern limit of the fertile Soudan. Between Khartoum and
Assuan the river flows for twelve hundred miles through deserts of
surpassing desolation. At last the wilderness recedes and the living
world broadens out again into Egypt and the Delta. It is with events that
have occurred in the intervening waste that these pages are concerned.
The real Soudan, known to the statesman and the explorer, lies far to
the south--moist, undulating, and exuberant. But there is another
Soudan, which some mistake for the true, whose solitudes oppress the

Nile from the Egyptian frontier to Omdurman. This is the Soudan of
the soldier. Destitute of wealth or future, it is rich in history. The names
of its squalid villages are familiar to distant and enlightened peoples.
The barrenness of its scenery has been drawn by skilful pen and pencil.
Its ample deserts have tasted the blood of brave men. Its hot, black
rocks have witnessed famous tragedies. It is the scene of the war.
This great tract, which may conveniently be called 'The Military
Soudan,' stretches with apparent indefiniteness over the face of the
continent. Level plains of