The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan
Few historians have witnessed the events they chronicle. Winston Churchill did. As a young cavalry officer, he rode with Kitchener's forces at Omdurman, the last great cavalry charge in British military history, and watched the Mahdist army slaughtered by Maxim guns. This is not distant academic history but vivid, firsthand observation from a writer who would later command the free world. Churchill traces the chain of events from Gordon's doomed siege at Khartoum through the political firestorm in England that demanded revenge, to Kitchener's methodical reconquest, powered by telegraph, railroad, and modern firepower. Yet the book transcends mere military chronicle. Churchill examines what the war meant for Egypt, for England, and for the Sudanese peoples themselves. He questions the logic of empire, the cost of conquest, and the fates determined by distant London diplomats. Written with the rhetorical force that would define its author's later career, this is imperial history told with literary ambition and moral complexity.
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“How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries. Improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement; the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property – either as a child, a wife, or a concubine – must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the faith: all know how to die but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilisation of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilisation of ancient Rome.””
— Winston Churchill
“The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men.””
— Winston Churchill
“Individual Moslems may show splendid qualities. Thousands become the brave and loyal soldiers of the Queen: all know how to die. But the influence of the religion paralyzes the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world.””
— Winston Churchill
“Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science”
— Winston Churchill
“A wide humanitarian sympathy in a nation easily degenerates into hysteria. A military spirit tends towards brutality. Liberty leads to licence, restraint to tyranny. The pride of race is distended to blustering arrogance. The fear of God produces bigotry and superstition. There appears no exception to the mournful rule, and the best efforts of men, however glorious their early results, have dismal endings, like plants which shoot and bud and put forth beautiful flowers, and then grow rank and coarse and are withered by the winter.””
— Winston Churchill
“All great movements, every vigorous impulse that a community may feel, become perverted and distorted as time passes,””
— Winston Churchill
“A man will perhaps tolerate an offensive word applied to himself, but will be infuriated if his nation, his rank, or his profession is insulted.””
— Winston Churchill
“The ugly truth is revealed that fear is the foundation of obedience.””
— Winston Churchill
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Churchill, Winston. The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan. Lex, lex-books.com/book/the-river-war-an-account-of-the-reconquest-of-the-sudan-839d713b-0f0e-45c9-9d8d-b064c5e18a2f.Churchill, W. (n.d.). The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-river-war-an-account-of-the-reconquest-of-the-sudan-839d713b-0f0e-45c9-9d8d-b064c5e18a2fChurchill, Winston. The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan. Lex. https://lex-books.com/book/the-river-war-an-account-of-the-reconquest-of-the-sudan-839d713b-0f0e-45c9-9d8d-b064c5e18a2f.
