Qualla: Invasion of Darfur (1916)

Invasion of Darfur (1916): Introduction

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit British military photographer, Public domain. An aircraft dropped leaflets over al-Fashir on 12 May 1916, written in Arabic, promising the town that if Sultan Ali Dinar could be removed, there would be religious freedom, justice for all, and an end to repression. The leaflets were the British Empire's calling card in a country the size of France that did not want to be called on. Darfur, which means land of the Fur, had been an independent sultanate for most of its recorded history, including the stretch since 1899 when Ali Dinar had resumed the throne as a British-sanctioned ruler paying annual tribute to Khartoum. In April 1915 he had renounced that allegiance. The leaflets, the aircraft, the two thousand Anglo-Egyptian troops who followed them, and the six-month campaign that killed Ali Dinar on 6 November 1916 ended Darfur's independence for more than a century.

Image: British military photographer | Public domain

Invasion of Darfur (1916): A Sultan and His Kingdom

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Koopinator, CC BY-SA 4.0. Ali Dinar became sultan in 1899 after the British-Egyptian victory over the Mahdist state. Lord Kitchener, the Sirdar in Cairo, approved Dinar's installation on the condition of annual tribute. Rudolf Carl von Slatin, the Inspector-General who had spent years as a captive in Suda...

Image: Koopinator | CC BY-SA 4.0

Invasion of Darfur (1916): The Field Force

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown. Original book page contains credit to W. L. Colls, who probably prepared photogravure printing plates for pictures in the book but no separate photographer credit is given, as appears on other pictures in the book., Public domain. Sirdar Reginald Wingate gathered the Darfur Field Force at Nahud in March 1916. Command went to Lieutenant Colonel Philip Kelly of the 3rd King's Own Hussars, on secondment to the Egyptian Army. The force mustered roughly two thousand men across two companies of mounted infantry,...

Image: Unknown. Original book page contains credit to W. L. Colls, who probably prepared photogravure printing plates for pictures in the book but no separate photographer credit is given, as appears on other pictures in the book. | Public domain

Invasion of Darfur (1916): The Battle of Beringia

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Evon2023, CC0. On 22 May 1916 the Anglo-Egyptian advance met the Fur Army at Beringia. The Fur commander Ramadan Ali had built a crescent-shaped trench concealed by a wadi, planning to ambush the column close enough that the larger Fur force could overrun artillery and machine-guns before they ...

Image: Evon2023 | CC0

Invasion of Darfur (1916): To Jebel Marra

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Max Smith, Public domain. Kelly entered al-Fashir on 23 May. The city was almost empty; some women remained. The captured stores amounted to four artillery pieces, fifty-five thousand rounds of small arms ammunition, and four thousand rifles. Ali Dinar withdrew to the Jebel Marra mountains with about two ...

Image: Max Smith | Public domain

Invasion of Darfur (1916): Death of a Sultan

Thu, 23 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Max Smith, Public domain. On 5 November Huddleston set out from Kulme with 150 men, a field gun, and four Maxims mounted on captured horses. He reached Dinar's camp on the morning of 6 November. When fire opened, the Fur troops fled. The pursuers found the body of Ali Dinar shot through the head. He had n...

Image: Max Smith | Public domain