Mahdi flag

In 1881 Mohammed Ahmed Ibn el-Sayyid Abdullah (1844-1885) declared himself "al-Mahdi," the Proclaimed One, successor to the prophet Mohammed. A scholar and an ascetic, he criticized the corruption of both local religious leaders and the intrusive Egyptian colonial officials who governed the Sudan. Egypt was officially part of the Ottoman Empire of Turkey, but its ruling khedives (viceroys) had a great deal of autonomy and controlled the Sudan as a provincial colony. In 1882 a nationalist-driven revolt by the Egyptian army led the British to intervene and assume control in Egypt to counter what they perceived as a threat to the Suez Canal. England then found itself involved in an existing holy war in the Sudan--one that the Mahdi was winning, and would continue to win against the combined Anglo-Egyptian forces. Soon after taking the capital at Khartoum in 1885, the Mahdi fell ill and died suddenly. Khalifa Abdullah Ibn Mohamed, leader of one of the army divisions, was declared Khalifa al-Mahdi, the Madhi's successor. Under his direction, the Sudan took on more the aspect of an established administration than of a moving rebellion, a condition that prevailed until he met with a series of defeats by British Major General Sir Herbert Kitchener in the 1896-98 campaign to retake the Sudan. Khalifa al-Mahdi died in battle in 1899.