66: The Nile Expedition & the Battle of Abu Klea 1885

Send me a messageThe Battle of Abu Klea was fought  in January 1885 between the British and the Mahdist forces in Sudan.It was part of the British effort to rescue General Charles Gordon who had been besieged by the Mahdists in Khartoum.General Sir Garnet Wolseley, commanding the Nile Expedition (Gordon Relief Expedition) sent a flying column across the desert to speed up the rescue effort.Before the wells at Abu Klea it ran into a huge Sudanese army.The ensuing battle saw the Mahdists actually getting into the British square and for a short time a British military disaster looked certain.Support the show