Mahdist War · War Crimes & Atrocities
The Mahdist War was fought with great brutality on both sides. The fall of Khartoum ended in the massacre of its defenders and much of its population, and the Mahdist state's long rule brought harsh repression and catastrophic famine. In turn, the reconquest brought the killing of wounded Mahdists on the field of Omdurman and the deliberate desecration of the Mahdi's tomb — acts that troubled observers even in imperial Britain and fed the era's debate about the limits of war.
10,000+
deaths
Victims: The garrison and inhabitants of Khartoum(Estimates of those killed in the sack of the starving, fallen city run to several thousand of the garrison and civilians; precise figures are unknown.)
5,000+
deaths
Victims: Wounded Mahdist warriors on the battlefield(Thousands of Mahdist wounded are believed to have been killed on and around the field in the hours and days after the battle; exact numbers are unknown.)
Victims: The civilian population of the Sudan(The population loss of the Mahdist period from war, famine, and disease is estimated by some scholars in the millions, but the true toll is deeply uncertain.)