Author(s): Michael Asher

History

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, resulting in a national scandal that 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. Covering every inch of ground and examining all eyewitness reports, he presents new evidence questioning several accepted aspects of the story. The result sheds new light on the most riveting tale of honour, courage, revenge and savagery of late Victorian times.