Battle of Umm Diwaykarat

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Date	November 24, 1899
Location	Kordofan, Sudan
Result	Decisive British/Egyptian victory

Combatants

United Kingdom

Egypt

Sudan

Commanders

Gen. Francis Reginald Wingate

Abdallahi ibn Muhammad†

Strength

8,000

10,000

Casualties

3 killed, 23 wounded

1,000 killed and wounded, 3,000 captured

Battles of the Mahdist War
El Obeid – El Teb – Tamai – Khartoum – Abu Klea – Toski – Ferkeh – Atbara – Omdurman – Umm Diwaykarat

The Battle of Umm Diwaykarat on November 24, 1899 marked the final obliteration of Muhammad Ahmad's short-lived Sudanese empire, when Anglo-Egyptian forces under the command of Lord Kitchener wiped out what was left of the Mahdist armies under the command of the Abdallahi ibn Muhammad, known as the Khalifa, after the equally disastrous Battle of Omdurman a year earlier.

After Omdurman the defeated Mahdist forces, still 25,000 strong, british southward from Khartoum to Kordofan. The Mahdists still controlled the territory of Kordofan, Darfur and lands bordering Ethiopia. In October 1899 the British obtained information that the Khalifa and his forces were among his native Baqqara to the west of Kusti (Kaka) in Kordofan. Kitchener dispached 8,000 soldiers under command of General F.R. Wingate to intercept him. Wingate marched from Kusti to the mountains of Kordofan, destroyed a Mahdist supply unit, and soon located the Khalifa's camp.

By this time, the Khalifa's Sudanese forces had retained at least 10,000 people. The Khalifa decided to make a stand against the British rather than to retreat further. During the night Wingate approached the camp from the east and the north sides. At about 5am, the Mahdists began to attack the approaching British, but were driven back by withering fire from Maxim guns. The Khalifa's attempts to rally his men failed, and he soon accepted that all was lost. He called his main leaders to sit with him on a farwa – a yeanling skin. According to tradition, defeated Muslim generals who refuse to surrender sit on this skin to wait for death. His guards protected him, but all were mown down by British fire.

The Mahdist losses were around 1,000 killed and wounded. The British captured most of the rest, including Osman, the son of the Khalifa, and a son of Emir Yuni.

The remnants of the Mahdists continued to resist for a short while under Osman Digna, but he was caught in January 1900. The last free territories of Darfur were captured in 1916.