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Battles of El Teb

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Battles at El Teb

Date	February 4, 1884 February 29, 1884
Location	El Teb, nine miles southwest of Trinkitat
Result	Sudanese victory, British victory

Combatants

Sudanese

Egyptian and then British

Commanders

Osman Digna

Valentine Baker and then Sir Gerald Graham

Strength

12'000

3500 men and then 'a little over a brigade(3000–5000)'"[1]

Casualties

- and then 1'500

2'360 and then 39"[2]

The Battles of El Teb (February 4, 1884) and (February 29, 1884) took place during the British Sudan Campaign where a force of Sudanese under Osman Digna won a victory over an 3500 strong Egyptian force under the command of General Valentine Baker which was marching to relieve Tokar on the 4th. A second British force under Sir Gerald Graham arrived on the 29th, engaging and defeating Osman Digna with few casualties.

1 The Background
2 The Battle
3 Consequences of the battle
4 References and Useful links

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The Background

Main article: History of Sudan (1884-1898)

In 1869, the Suez Canal opened and quickly became Britain's economic lifeline to India and the Far East. In order to protect this interest, Britain began to take a great interest in Egyptian affairs. In 1873, the British government initiated an Anglo-French debt commission to assume control of Egypt's fiscal affairs.

In this troubled atmosphere, which tax levels being increased arbitrarily, Muhammad Ahmad ibn as Sayyid Abd Allah, a faqir, or holy man, who combined personal magnetism with religious zealotry, emerged, determined to expel the Turks and restore Islam to its primitive purity, and Muhammad Ahmad's sermons attracted an increasing number of followers, the Ansar. He was ignored as a religious fanatic until he turned to denunciation of tax collectors. Early in 1882, the Ansar, armed with spears and swords, overwhelmed a 7,000-man Egyptian force not far from Al Ubayyid and seized their rifles and ammunition. As the situation deteriorated, Charles George Gordon argued that Sudan was essential to Egypt's security and that to allow the Ansar a victory there would invite the movement to spread elsewhere, hence the British involvement.

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The Battle

Tokar, on the Red Sea was surrounded by the Mahdists by February 1884. A 3500 strong force under General Valentine Baker was dispatched to relieve the beleaguered force. At the halting place of El Teb nine miles southwest of the port of Trinkitat on the road to Tokar near the Red Sea, Baker's force encountered a powerful Mahdists army under Osman Digna.

The men under Baker became panic-stricken at the first rush of Mahdists forces, suffering heavy losses. Baker survived by cutting a way through the enemy forces accompanied by a small number of fellow officers, however 2'360 of his 3500 force were cut down.

On the 29th, British troops arrived at Suakin under the command of Sir Gerald Graham. Accompanied by Baker, the British force made its way to El Teb and engaged the Mahdists for in a hard fought battle during which Baker was wounded. The Mahdists did not fight in a similar way to the Zulus as the British had expected, instead they attacked in small groups of twenty to thirty, sometimes in twos and threes, sometimes alone[3]. They often hid in trenches to avoid incoming British rifle and artillery fire [4]. One Mahdists tactic was to pretend to lie dead on the battlefield as British cavalry charged through, then, as the cavalry returned at a slower pace back through the ranks of the 'dead', the Mahdists would rise up and slit the hamstrings of the horses then proceed to kill the riders [5]. Despite these tactics, however, at the end of the day the Mahdists lay defeated.

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Consequences of the battle

Upon Sir Graham's return to England, he received the thanks of parliament and was made a lieutenant-general for distinguished service in the field [6]. During the second battle itself, actions by Sir Arthur Wilson, then a Captain, were rewarded by a Victoria Cross [7] The battle was part of the escalation of the conflict in the Sudan, a conflict which led to the reconquest of Sudan in 1892, Herbert Kitchener (later Lord Kitchener), involving 25,800 men, 8,600 of whom were British, including Winston Churchill.

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