Anglo-Sudan War

AD – MPE: 1

ND – MPE: 2

Britain was a leading democracy during its wars with the Mahdist forces in the Sudan from 1881 to 1898.

White cites five estimates for overall population loss in the Sudan, which range from 4 to 6 million. He considers 5.5 million to be the most plausible estimate. Historian Steven Serels has written two books, in which he investigates several root causes for this massive population decline in the Sudan: “Starvation and the State: Famine, Slavery, and Power in Sudan, 1883-1956” and “The Impoverishment of the African Red Sea Littoral, 1640-1945”. He identifies a rinderpest epidemic and droughts as the most important factors. But he also shows in great detail how the misrule and war strategies of all war parties – Mahdist rebels, Anglo-Egyptian forces and their allies – greatly contributed to severe food insecurity, malnutrition, starvation and the spread of diseases. All sides regularly used economic manipulations and embargoes against the enemy which massively hurt the civilian population. The British even kept massive grain imports at the Red Sea Coast from reaching the interior at the height of the famine. Serels paints a very complex picture of war, destruction, famine and disease. But his analysis suggests that Mahdist misrule, war and dictatorship had a stronger impact than British policies.

Plausible estimates for the number of victims of British colonial policies in the Sudan range from 0.5 to 1.5 million. Plausible estimates for the number of people killed by the Mahdist state range from 1 to 3 million.