Osman Digna
Mahdi in Sudan
Osman Digna (c. 1840–1926) was a follower of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi, in Sudan, who became his best known military commander during the Mahdist War. He was claimed to be a descendant from the Abbasid family. As the Mahdi's ablest general, he played an important role in the fate of General Charles George Gordon and the end of Turkish-Egyptian rule in Sudan. In Britain, Osman Digna became a notorious figure, both demonised as a savage and respected as a warrior. Winston Churchill described him as an "astute" and "prudent" man, calling him "the celebrated, and perhaps immortal, Osman Digna." Osman Digna's father was a Kurd and his mother hailed from the Hadendoa tribe of the Beja people. His birthplace is not documented, but Suakin was said to be the town, where he was born. He was originally known as Osman Ali. He lived in Alexandria, Egypt, where he dealt in the selling of slaves. After the English forced him to quit this business, he took part in the revolt of Ahmed 'Urabi. After the failure of the revolt at the Battle of Tel al-Kebir (13 September 1882), he attached himself to the cause of the Mahdi in Sudan. About this time he received the name "Digna" because of the fullness of his beard ("the bearded one," from dikn, "the beard"). He was the leader of a powerful army around Suakin. His
first battle was an attempt to capture a Turkish-held fort at Sinkat in 1883. His initial attack was repulsed, but the fort eventually fell after a siege. At the First Battle of El Teb he inflicted a severe defeat on a much larger Egyptian force led by Baker Pasha near Tokar, on 4 February 1884. Immediately after this victory, however, a new British-Egyptian force was sent to retrieve the situation, and he was defeated by General Graham near Tokar at the Second Battle of El Teb. Both sides withdrew to restore their forces, but Graham soon launched a second attack designed to crush Osman Digna completely. At the Battle of Tamai, the Mahdist forces exploited a gap in the British position, and succeeded in breaking an infantry square. They were almost able to cut off parts of the British force, but the British were able to rally and consolidate their position. The Mahdists were subjected to intense flanking fire and were finally defeated. Despite his defeat, as the only foreign commander who broke the British infantry square, Osman Digna and his troops acquired a reputation amongst the British for immense fighting-prowess. The prowess of his troops is celebrated in Rudyard Kipling's poem "Fuzzy-Wuzzy". He is also named in The Battle of El-Teb, a poem by William McGonagall. The defeats did not, however, destroy the Mahdists, and Osman Digna remaining in control of his supporters. Graham later withdrew, and Osman Digna restored his army. He presented the battle as a victory, saying that the British had fled "in fear". He wrote to the Mahdi claiming that he had inflicted 8,000 casualties on the British, with only 2,000 of his own troops killed. Official British losses were 100 killed. Nevertheless, the British campaign had achieved very little, as Osman Digna "retained both Sinkat and Tokar and the Suakin-Berber route was controlled by the Ansar [Mahdists]". The situation led to the increasing isolation of General Gordon, who was under siege in Khartoum. Gordon finally was unable to withdraw to Egypt, and British troops were not quickly sent to relieve him. After the fall of Khartoum to the Mahdists and the death of Gordon, Osman is said to have been given Gordon's watch and sword to show to the Mahdists at Suakin as proof of the victory. Osman Digna later served under the Mahdi's successor Abdallahi ibn Muhammad (known as the Khalifa), who launched a series of military operations in subsequent years. Osman Digna took command of a Mahdist force invading Ethiopia in 1885, but was defeated by Ethiopian general Ras Alula at the Battle of Kufit on 23 September. In December, 1888, he fought at the Battle of Suakin, attempting to capture the local water forts. He suffered a bloody reverse at the hands of General Grenfell, and was wounded at the arm. Until 1891, Osman Digna continued to direct Mahdist forces in eastern Sudan, fending off Egyptian forces. In February 1891, a combined British-Egyptian force captured Tokar. Local tribes defected from the Mahdists, forcing Osman Digna to retreat to the mountains. After this, he remained a leader in the Mahdist army, but was only marginally involved in the conflicts that led to the final defeat and death of the Khalifa. When the British under Herbert Kitchener moved into the Sudan in 1898, the Khalifa sent a force under Emir Mahmud Ahmad to join with Osman's army. Osman's plan to outflank Kitchener by moving up to Atbara was approved by the Khalifa, but Mahmud overruled Osman, when he proposed to move their forces even further upriver to Adaramra, threatening Kitchener's line of communications. Instead Mahmoud created a fortified defensive camp at Atbara.[8] This became a sitting target for Kitchener. At the ensuing Battle of Atbara, he launched a barrage followed by a rapid attack. The Mahdist position collapsed. Osman managed to lead a few thousand warriors on a retreat to the south, and most of the remainder were killed or captured, including Mahmud, who was captured by Sudanese troops of the Egyptian Brigade. In 1899 Osman Digna fought in the last campaign of the Mahdist forces, whose strength had been broken in the previous year at Omdurman. At the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat he was injured, but was the only leader who escaped and continued the resistance. He tried to reach safety in the Hejaz, but on 19 January 1900, he was captured near Tokar and sent as a prisoner to Rosetta. There, he served in prison for eight years, and after his release stayed in Egypt until he died in 1926.
The Mahdist State had a large military which became increasingly professional as time went on. From an early point, the Mahdist armies recruited defectors from the Egyptian Army and organized professional soldiers in the form of the jihadiya, mostly Black Sudanese. These were supported by tribal spearmen and swordsmen as well as cavalry. The jihadiya and some tribal units lived in military barracks, while the rest were more akin to militia. The Mahdist armies also possessed limited artillery, including mountain guns and even machine guns. However, these were few in numbers, and thus only used as defenses for important towns and to the river steamers that acted as the state's navy. In general, the Mahdist armies were highly motivated by their belief system. Exploiting this, the Mahdist commanders used their riflemen to screen charges by their melee infantry and cavalry. Such attacks often proved effective, but also led to extremely high losses when employed "unimaginatively". The Europeans generally called the Mahdist soldiers "dervishes". Muhammad Ahmad's early insurgent force which was mostly recruited among the poor Arab communities living at the Nile. The later armies of the Mahdiyah were recruited among various groups, including mostly autonomous groups such as the Beja people. The early forces of the Mahdi were termed the "ansar", and divided into three units led by a Khalifa. These units were termed raya ("flags") in accordance to their
standards. The "Black Flag" was mostly recruited from western Sudanese, mainly Baggara, and commanded by Abdallahi ibn Muhammad. The "Red Flag" was led by Muhammad al-Sharif and mostly consisted of riverine recruits from the north. The "Green Flag" under Ali Hilu included troops drawn from the southern tribes living between the White and Blue Nile. After the Mahdi's death, the command of the "Black Flag" was passed to Abdallahi ibn Muhammad's brother Yaqub and became the state's main army, based at the capital Omdurman. As the Mahdist State expanded, provincial commanders raised new armies with separate standards which were modelled on the main armies. The most elite forces within the Mahdist armies were the Mulazimiyya, Abdallahi ibn Muhammad's bodyguards. Commanded by Uthman Shaykh al-Din, these were based at the capital and 10,000 strong, most armed with rifles. The "flags" were further divided into rubs ("quarters") consisting of 800 to 1200 fighters. In turn, rubs were split into four sections, one administrative, one jihadiya, one sword- and spear-wielding infantry, and one cavalry. The jihadiya units were further split into "standards" of 100 led by officers known as ra's mi'a, and into muqaddamiyya of 25 under muqaddam. At the start of his insurgency, the Mahdi encouraged his followers to wear similar clothing in form of the jibba. As a result, the core army of the Mahdi and Abdallahi ibn Muhammad had a relatively regulated appearance from an early point. In contrast, other armies of supporters and allies initially did not adopt the jibba and maintained their traditional appearances. Riverine forces recruited from the Ja'alin tribe and the Danagla mostly wore simple white robes (tobe). The Beja also did not adopt the jibba until 1885. As time went on and the Mahdist State became better organized under Khalifa Abdallahi ibn Muhammad's leadership, its armies became more and more professional. By the 1890s factories in Omdurman and provincial centers were mass-producing jibba to provide the troops with clothing. Although the jibba still varied in their style, with certain tribes and armies favoring certain patterns and colors, the Mahdist forces became increasingly professional in appearance. The jibba also indicated a fighter's rank within the Mahdist armies. Lower-ranking commanders (emirs) wore more colorful and elaborate jibba. The most senior military leadership preferred the most simple designs, however, to indicate their piety. The Khalifa wore plain white. Some Mahdist troops possessed mail armour, helmets, and quilted coats, although these were more often used in parades than in combat. One unit within the Mahdist armies, the Mulazimiyya, adopted a full uniform, as all their members wore identical white-red-blue jibba.
The Mahdist State, also known as Mahdist Sudan or the Sudanese Mahdiyya, was a state based on a religious and political movement launched in 1881 by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah (later Muhammad al-Mahdi) against the Khedivate of Egypt, which had ruled Sudan since 1821. After four years of struggle, the Mahdist rebels overthrew the Ottoman-Egyptian administration and established their own "Islamic and national" government with its capital in Omdurman. Thus, from 1885 the Mahdist government maintained sovereignty and control over the Sudanese territories until its existence was terminated by the Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1898. Mohammed Ahmed al-Mahdi enlisted the people of Sudan in what he declared a jihad against the administration that was based in Khartoum, which was dominated by Egyptians and Turks. The Khartoum government initially dismissed the Mahdi's revolution; he defeated two expeditions sent to capture him in the course of a year. The Mahdi's power increased, and his call spread throughout Sudan, with his movement
becoming known as the Ansar. During the same period, the 'Urabi revolution broke out in Egypt, with the British occupying the country in 1882. Britain appointed Charles Gordon as General-Governor of Sudan. Months after his arrival in Khartoum and after several battles with the Mahdi rebels, Mahdist forces captured Khartoum, and Gordon was killed in his palace. The Mahdi did not live long after this victory, and his successor Abdallahi ibn Muhammad consolidated the new state, with administrative and judiciary systems based on their interpretation of Islamic law. The Coptic Christians, who composed a substantial portion of the country's population, were forced to convert to Islam. Sudan's economy was destroyed during the Mahdist War and famine, war and disease reduced the population by more than half. Muhammad Ahmad al-Mahdi declared all people who did not accept him as the awaited Mahdi to be infidels (kafir), ordered their killing and took their women and property. The British reconquered Sudan in 1898, ruling it after that in theory as a condominium with Egypt but in practice as a colony. However, remnants of the Mahdist State held out in Darfur until 1909.
Awards: Sash and star of the Order of Glory.
