Sudanese Mahdist weapons

[colin henshaw]

I found this photograph taken from "The Navy and Army Illustrated" 5th November 1898, which shows a collection of Mahdist weapons and other items seized after the Anglo-Egyptian victory at the Battle Of Omdurman. Its useful as it illustrates a variety of weapons employed by the Sudanese forces. A scholar of this period in Sudanese history told me the Mahdists used basically whatever weapons they could get hold of. This is exemplified by some of the items shown ... Ethiopian shield, Azande shield, Ottoman shamshir sword, cuirass from Lake Chad area. The chain mail hauberk looks like its from India ?

The helmets are especially of note ... could they be Sudanese made ?

Anyway, hopefully the image will be of interest to some forumites, observations etc are welcome.

[CharlesS]

Seeing the Zande shield in the mix shocked me a little bit, but it really shouldn't when one considers how close the Zande were to the southern Sudan.

[Jim McDougall]

Excellent entry!!! and great topic.
Actually it was not so much a matter of using any weapon they could get, as being the arms of many tribal groups from regions in proximity and areas which had been sources for slaves. As noted the Zande were perhaps with tribesmen of many other groups who became in effect 'conscripted' into the army of the Caliph basically in place of the slave potential.

It is amazing that so many weapon forms from these other regions were found and often, if not typically, covered in thuluth. These post dated the death of the Mahdi (1885) I believe, and the techniques as well as many weapons and armor may have come from Mamluk origins in some degree. It seems in effect that tribesmen familiar with their indigenous weapons would fight better with their own weapons, and being imbued with the Mahdi's phrases would add to the fervor in their drive in battle.

While it is possible that Indian mail was present in some cases, again there were examples from Mamluk origins, and with that some Sudanese who could produce mail (Arkell). There was a good deal of mail captured or obtained from the Egyptian forces of the Khedive, whose coats were actually produced in Birmingham, and the British may have supplied helmets as well.
The mail was however not especially favored as it would shatter and actually compound wounding potential becoming shrapnel in addition to the round.

I get carried away with this topic, but its been something that has had me preoccupied with this history for many years

[LJ]

The drum is in now the British Museum. It always reminds me of Azande slit gongs rather than anything typical of northern Sudan, but was it made in Omdurman by an Azande carver or carried north from Azandeland ?

Don't know about the elephant tusk though. Are you supposed to hit people with it ??

[drac2k]

The grouping seems somewhat strange to me; the shield looks Ethiopian and the armor on the top right (I'm 99.5% sure), is Japanese.

[roanoa]

The shield is 100% Abyssinian, which is not surprising. Here is an almost identical one kept in an English museum (forgot which one). If it were not for some minor differences, one could think that it is the same one....

[Jim McDougall]

After Omdurman, as seen in this article, the contents of the Caliph's armoury there were pretty astounding. I don't have the references at hand, but there were as noted, 'collected' items which were from various sources, more like curiosities. These were not intended for use by the forces of the Caliph necessarily, though obviously they are comingled with stores that were.


There were indeed artisans from various other tribal people in these areas in and around Omdurman, and numbers of weapons were crafted in the styles of their indiginous regions. It seems like it was quite a 'melting pot' of these groups. A considerable amount of supply from Khartoum included tons of scrap metal, machinery and it is unclear how many European and other workers remained after Khartoum was sacked, a good number of Greeks had been there.


The elephant tusk was simply a trophy probably, armouries like this were basically the 'collections' of powerful figures such as in this case, the Caliph.
These events and times were pretty fascinating, and I guess my obsession goes back to watching the Charleton Heston movie "Khartoum" MANY MANY yares ago!

[drac2k]

And what is the connection in regards to the Japanese armor?

[Iain]

Originally Posted by drac2k

The grouping seems somewhat strange to me; the shield looks Ethiopian and the armor on the top right (I'm 99.5% sure), is Japanese.

Agreed, the armour does not appear to be the iron cuirass type known from Bornu.