Fire and Sword in the Sudan: Personal Recollections of Both Fighting and Serving the Mahdists During the Later 19th Century

The Victorian age was notable for the appearance of gentleman soldiers of fortune in the imperial world and there could be no more exotic and exceptional example of that than the author of this book, Rudolf Slatin. The son of a Viennese merchant, he went to Egypt to work as a bookseller's assistant in Cairo in the early 1870s. He travelled extensively through Egypt and the Sudan and made the acquaintance of the remarkable general, Charles Gordon. After a period of Austrian military service, Slatin returned to Africa at Gordon's invitation. He arrived in early 1879 and after a meteoric rise in career fortunes he secured, in 1881, the governor-generalship of Darfur with the rank of 'bey.' He then engaged in an extended war with the Mahdists, with considerable initial success, but after the annihilation of Hicks Pasha's force eventually surrendered to Mahdists in 1883. Slatin, who had converted to Islam, was taken to the now besieged Khartoum to induce Gordon to capitulate. This failed and the city and country fell, Gordon's severed head was displayed before him and Slatin entered into a period of eleven years captivity in the hands of the Khalifa. He was treated cruelly and indulgently by turns-sometimes employed upon essential services, sometimes a prisoner in the literal sense. In 1895, he eventually escaped and reached Aswan in Egypt after a perilous, 1,000 km journey across the desert. Slatin was appointed 'Pasha' by the Khedive and a host of honours were heaped upon him by the British and others. Subsequently he rejoined the Egyptian Army and was present for the final defeat of the Mahdists at Omdurman. This book, written by Slatin immediately after his escape, is a remarkable account of endurance and fortitude and provides us with a unique insight into events rarely reported by European witnesses.
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