Book overview
The complete and unabridged First Edition of Winston Churchill's enthralling history of the 1896-1899 reconquest of the Sudan by Lord Alfred Kitchener, which saw the destruction of the Dervish Empire, those fanatical followers of the "Mahdi"- the Islamist leader responsible for the 1885 siege of Khartoum and death of the famous British General Charles Gordon.
Widely regarded as the most authoritative account of the Sudan War-which the author dubbed the River War, on account of the importance of the Nile River in the region-this work was originally published in two volumes. This was later condensed down to a single volume, a work which cut out swathes of Churchill's highly relevant observations and commentary.
The River War Volume II is the second part of a new edition of the original two volume set which contains the complete and unabridged text of the original First Edition.
This meticulously researched history was backed up by the author's personal presence during the military campaign as correspondent for the Morning Post newspaper in London.
Volume II starts where the first volume left off: at the preparations for the final assault on the Dervish capital of Omdurman, built next to the older city of Khartoum. The author, having been attached to the 21st Lancers, provides a personal account of the hardships of the trek into the interior and the astonishing efforts made to prepare the Anglo-Egyptian forces.
Thereafter follows an eye-witness account of the opening actions, and the tremendous battle of Omdurman, which saw a Dervish army of around 60,000 defeated by the combined Anglo-Egyptian army of just 25,000. The author points out that the crucial and decisive factor in the battle was the fact that the Anglo-Egyptians were able to deploy vastly superior technologically-advanced weapons in the field.
The narrative then moves on to a number of smaller incidents which drove the Dervish leaders deep in the south of Darfur, where the original Volume I ended. For the sake of completeness, this new edition also contains the final chapter of the book's Second Edition, which dealt with the final defeat of the Dervish leader in December 1899.
This Volume II also contains all the original illustrations and maps, digitally restored to the highest standards possible. It has also been indexed.
