Abdullah Ibn-Mohammed or Abdullah et Taaisha (1846 - November 24, 1899), also known as "The Khalifa" was a Sudanese Dervish General and ruler.
Abdullah was born into the Ta'aisha Baqqara tribe in Darfur in 1846 and was trained and educated as a preacher and holy man. He became a follower of Mohammed Ahmed "the Mahdi" in 1880 and named Khalifa by the mahdi in 1881 and became one of his chief lieutenants. He first fought at the Battle of El Obeid , where William Hicks's Anglo-Egyptian army was destroyed (November 5, 1883), and was the principal commander at the siege of Khartoum, (February 1884 - January 26, 1885).
He succeeded as leader of the Mahdists on the death of the Mahdi, after suppressing several revolts (1885-1886, 1888-1889, 1891). He invaded Ethiopia and sacked Gondar in 1887, then successfully repulsed the Ethiopians at the Battle of Metemma on March 9, 1889, where the Ethiopian emperor Yohannes IV was killed. He created a river flotilla, an arsenal, and a local telegraph system. Following the loss of Dongola in 1896, then Berber and Abu Hamed to Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army in 1897, he took the field in person and was defeated at the battle of the Atbara River (April 8, 1898), afterwards falling back on Omdurman, where his army was destroyed on September 2. He then fled with a few followers but was finally caught and killed by Sir F. R. Wingate 's Egyptian column at Umm Diwaikarat in Kordofan on November 24, 1899.
Devout, intelligent, and an able General and administrator, the Khalifa was unable to overcome tribal dissension to unify the Sudan, and was forced to employ Egyptians to provide the trained administrators and technicians he needed to maintain his military dictatorship.
Bibliography
- David Levering Lewis, "Khalifa, Khedive, and Kitchener" in The Race for Fashoda. New York: Weidenfield and Nicholson, 1987. ISBN 1555840582
