>The Bogey Man!

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Beware, the bogey man will get you! At least, that’s what the Roman’s thought and said for 16 years as Hannibal, the original bogey man, roamed the Italian countryside.

At a young age Hannibal was due to be sacrificed by his own father, Hamilcar Barca, to his gods. Hannibal on the way to his early death screamed out, “Don’t kill me, I vow to hate and kill the Romans till I die.” Hamilcar was impressed with his son’s vigor, and allowed him to live.

Rome and Carthage had been involved in serious battles over trade and expansion rights. Carthage was the dominant world power, and Rome was the upstart new kid on the block. The first Punic War started brightly for Carthage, as the Romans lost their Sacred Chickens en route to their first battle proved ominous. (Not making this stuff up. The Romans were very superstitious and always killed a chicken to read the future in the chicken’s entrails). Eventually, the dominant Roman land forces figured out a way to take the land battle to the dominant Carthaginian Navy. They used grappling hooks, threw them over to the opposing ship and pulled it in. When close enough, planks were bridged between the two vessels. Carthage lost her powerful navy rapidly. The first Punic war ended in 241 after nearly 20 years fighting. Rome gained Sardinia and Corsica, as well as dealing a serious blow to Carthaginian naval power in the Mediterranean. Between the treaty agreed upon in 238 and 218, Carthage knew it was going to return to war. Rome feared it, but had other things to worry about, such as the Mithridatic Wars in Illyria (Yugoslavia region).

Because Rome was sidetracked, a young Hannibal took advantage in Spain. He crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and began to decimate the small Roman forces sent against him. Soon enough Spain was in chaos, and Carthage took this large colony from Rome. Hannibal did not stop there, he undertook one of History’s greatest feats, he crossed the Alps with his entire army, including 36 African Elephants. Upon leaving the Alps, Hannibal surprised the Roman towns, as they never expected anyone could cross the alps. Quickly assembled armies were sent, and obliterated, first at Lake Trasimene, and then Hannibal’s most comprehensive and famous victory at Cannae in 216. 60,000 Romans died at Cannae, making it the worst Roman defeat ever. It would be another 500 years before the Goths destroyed 40,000 at Adrianople to equal such a massacre. Hannibal had one problem, however, he lost much of his siege-war machines. He did march to Rome, but knew that he could not take it by direct assault, so, Hannibal and his army ravaged the Italian peninsula until a young general from a famous family concocted a genius plan.

Publius Cornelius Scipio theorized that if Rome took an army to Hannibal’s homeland, the Hannibal would leave Italy. It was a daring plan, and many Romans disagreed, but why not, Hannibal was not being dealt with and had not been dealt with for 16 years. Scipio set sail, and in 202 his army linked with a powerful Roman ally Massinissa of Numidia. The combined army began to terrorize the defenseless Carthage. Hannibal was ordered home. Upon his arrival, things seemed to stabilize, yet Scipio proved to be too savvy for Hannibal on October 19, 202. He laid traps and reorganized his army to deal with the elephants, which caused such dread in the Roman army. Once the battlefield was cleared of the elephants, Scipio and his ally Massinissa used their new position advantageously. Hannibal fled, and Carthage surrendered, thus ending the Second Punic War. Scipio returned to Rome a victor, and was given a title of honor “Africanus” for his incredible victory against Carthage.

What happened to the bogey man? Hannibal continued to be a thorn in Rome’s side until his death, fulfilling the vow made to his father. He spent most of the remaining years of his life in the east, involving himself with any nation fighting against Rome. He was invited by the Seleucid, Antiochus III “The Great”, to fight against Rome in the Syrian Wars. Eventually, after a long manhunt, Rome tracked Hannibal down, and his protectors gave him up. Hannibal committed suicide at Libyssa in Modern Turkey. The original bogey man was dead, and Rome breathed a sigh of relief.

 

>Omdurman

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In the mid 1880’s a Sudanese Muslim believed that Allah had chosen him to be the Mahdi, next or sent one. Upon this belief, many of the Sudanese Muslims tired of Christian British rule decided to join the Mahdi’s army. The situation became serious quickly as the Mahdi’s insurgents began attacking British outposts on their way to Khartoum, capital of Sudan and a major British stronghold. As the forces advanced, Sudan entered open rebellion, and the British Colonialists began to fear the worst. Many British detachments were defeated by the Mahdist forces due almost solely to the fact that the British were unprepared for Sudan’s climate and geography. The Mahdi led most forces on a labyrinthine goose chase that tired the Brits, and made crushing colonial defenses easy. Islam was spread to many non-Islamic areas throughout the countryside, most notably, Darfur. Once regions were Islamized, the Mahdi began to “cleanse” the regions with Sharia law, killing many more defenseless “infidels” according to the Koran and Allah’s direction.

Britain decided that this was not a fight they wanted to continue, and sent General Charles Gordon with evacuation orders in 1884. Upon his arrival, and wonderful standing amongst the Sudanese, Gordon began evacuating many. As evacuations were being carried out, Gordon decided that it was too late for him to leave. In the best interest of the remaining British and Sudanese in Khartoum, he would defend against the Mahdi. Gordon created an extensive landmine network as well as rerouted the Nile around Khartoum as an extra defensive barrier. This plan worked for many months until the Nile’s flood waters assuaged, and the Mahdi’s forces finally found enough courage to traverse the mine fields. Khartoum was by this point starving, having been surrounded and cut off by the Mahdi. The British disinterest in the area also left Gordon and Khartoum on their own island in the Muslim ocean to die. January 28-30, 1885 Khartoum was laid siege, and fell. Gordon was beheaded according to Muslim Law dealing with infidels. His head was wrapped and brought to the Mahdi, who hung it in a tree for all to look at in shame. A few months after this battle; however, the Mahdi himself suddenly died.

It would be many years later when the British finally decided that Sudan was too strategic to not have as part of the growing British Empire. Plans were drawn to recapture what the Mahdi and his successors had taken. Britain sent General Kitchener with his orders to retake Khartoum and the rest of Sudan. He arrived from Egypt in 1886 with some success, but it was not until September 1898 that Kitchener scored a major victory in Sudan.

At 6 AM, Kitchener’s mixed British, Egyptian, and Sudanese force totaling 25,000 men met the successor Mahdi’s 52,000 troops. From the outset, it was apparent that British technology was superior. The Mahdists attempted an ill-fated charge into British Maxim guns, and lost 4,000 immediately. Another Mahdist charge was repulsed before Kitchener began his offensive. He separated his army into columns with the 21^st Lancers in front to clear the plains of Omdurman outside of Khartoum. 400 Lancers soon found themselves fighting 2,500 Mahdists, but the British were valiantly victorious (three Victoria’s Crosses were awarded from this skirmish).

Kitchener had to continuously re-establish his army’s form, as the Madhists made many frontal charges against his lines. Each line was reinforced. Maxim guns and artillery proved too much for the enemy forces, and they broke by 1130 AM. Kitchener moved forward and took both Omdurman and Khartoum.

The defeated Mahdidsts lost app. 9,700 dead, 13,000 wounded, and 5,000 prisoners of war. Kitchener’s army lost 47 dead and 340 wounded. The war for Sudan was finally ended in 1899 after the Battle of Umm Diwaykarat, with Britain’s overlordship restored.

Kitchener became a hero and went on to many political and military victories after Omdurman, yet there was someone who made a larger name for himself from this battle, Sir Winston Churchill. His book, The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan, not only detailed what took place in Sudan, but also launched a political career that touched the world during the next half-century.