Organization and Uniforms
of the Mahdist Armies
1883-1898

Later Battles and Uniforms 1889-1898

by Doug Johnson
Illustrations by Greg Rose

Very early the Mahdi had divided his forces into "flags, rayya, under his three Khalifas, but these divisions at first represented regional organization.

The Black Flag, al-rayya al-zarqa, under the Khalifa Abdallah was drawn from the West, containing Baggara from Kordofan and Dar Fur, and most of the black riflemen.

The Red Flag, al-rayya al-hamra, of the Khakifa Muhammad al-Sharif was drawn from the riverain peoples north of Khartoum.

The Green Flag, alrayya al-khadra, of the Khalifa Ali and Hilu recruited Arabs from the Gezira region between the Blue and White Niles south of Khartoum.

With the death of the Mahdi and the decline of his family under the Khalifa Abdallah, the Red Flag also declined in importance. The Black Flag became the most powerful division in the central army, acting essentially as the main recruiting center for the army since it was commanded by the Khalifa's brother, Yaqub, who was commander-in-chief for the army.

Outside of Omdurman there were regional garrisons. These contained both long-serving regulars living in barracks (both African riflemen and spear carrying Arabs), and volunteers or recruits from the surrounding areas. Large scale expeditions were also drawn from regulars and recruits.

Under the Mahdi each of the "flags", as well as the regional garrisons were organized into rub's ("quarters"), roughly battalions of irregular size. As it evolved, the rub, by the 1890s, could range anywhere from 800 to several thousand, though the average size was 800-1200.

Each 'rub' had an administrative unit and three combat units: spearmen divided into standards of tribes and sections of tribes; the jihadiyya (regular riflemen) organized into standards of 100 men under an amir; with each standard subdivided into 4 muqaddamiyya of 25 men each under a muqaddam; and the cavalry, usually Baggara, armed with long spears and swords, except on reconnaissance when they were occasionally armed with rifles.

Regulars included riflemen and artillerists, most of whom were Africans who had formerly served in the Egyptian army. The cannons in the regions were usually 18th century brass mountain guns mounted on small carriages which could be dragged by one camel. In the arsenal at Omdurman were Krupp field guns and various multibarrelled, crank-operated machine-guns.

At the end of 1895 the entire Mahdist army was estimated to number the following:

    Omdurman: 15,000 riflemen, 3500 cavarly, 45,000 sword & spearmen, 46 guns (including 6 large calibre Krupp guns and 8 machine-guns).

    Southern Sudan: 1800 riflemen, 4500 sword and spearmen, 3 guns.

    Western Sudan: 6000 riflemen, 350 cavalry, 2500 sword and spearmen, 4 guns.

    Dongola & Egyptian Frontier: 4650 riflemen, 1200 cavarly, 8000 sword and spearmen, 18 guns.

    Eastern Sudan: 6900 riflemen, 2150 cavalry, 4100 sword and spearmen, 4 guns.

Cavalry were rarely massed together in battle and were used mainly for desert reconnaissance and raiding. The artillery was rarely used offensively but was kept in forts and placed on steamers. There were five steamers in use by the Mahdists in 1898.

The following is the organization of the Mahdist forces on the frontier in 1896, and the force that fought at Omdurman in 1898.

DONGOLA, 1896
(after the battle of Firka, 7 June 1896)

The total force in the northern-most frontier district facing the Anglo-Egyptian army after the battle of Firka probably numbered: 1700 riflemen armed with Remington rifles (900 trained African jihadiyya, 800 Arab jihadiyya), about 2800 sword and spearmen, 650 horsemen, 460 camelmen, 6-8 mountain guns, 1 Nordenfelt machine-gun, and one steamer.

The force was organized as follows:

Bodyguard: The Mulazamiyya under the direct command of Muhammad Wad Bishara, the commander of Dongola. They were armed with Remingtons and were mostly Arabs, with some black Africans. They were divided into five companies, each under an amir with his own flag. Wad Bishara's personal following were armed with 10 MartiniHenry rifles and 50 Khashkan elephant guns (fired from a tripod).

Riflemen: The Jihadiyya, divided into three rub's, each under an amir with his own flag, and each further subdivided into groups under a ra's mi'a (head of a hundred, or centurion). Two of the rub's had three ra's mi'as each, and one had two ra's mi'as. This does not mean that the total force numbered 800 riflemen, as it appears that the commands of each ra's mi'a were considerably understrength.

Artillery: The Tobgia, 6-8 brass mountain guns and 1 Nordenfelt machine-gun, all manned by "old bashibazuks and Sudanese soldiers". One mountain gun was sometimes placed on the small steamer, "El Tahera".

Sword & Spearmen: These were organized into four separate rub's. There were 2 Baggara rub's, 1 Ja'aliyin rub' and I Danaqla rub'. In practice the Baggara outnumbered theJa'aliyin and the Danaqla (whowere natives of Dongola province) and a number of Baggara were assigned to the two other rub's to bring them up to strength. The first Baggara rub' was commanded by a Taaish who had 23 amirs under him, each with their own flag and horse. The second Baggara rub' had 16 such amirs, the Danaqla rub'7 and the Ja'aliyin rub' 19. The largest rub's (the2nd & 4th) numbered about 500.

Horsemen: The Khayala, was not a permanent body of horsemen. They were all Baggara armed with swords and spears, but carrying no flags. They were usually divided among the rub's, though occasionally they were brought together under one commander.

Camelmen: The Haggana were a collection of local and Baggara Arabs under one amir, but having no flag. They were used for reconnaissance and other desert duties.

The garrisons in Dongola province after the capture of Firka and Suarda were estimated to contain the following (the figures may not tally exactly with the figures given above, but all numbers were estimates provided by the Intelligence Dept. before the reconquest of Dongola, and no subsequent corrections were made):

Abu Hamid: 13 amirs, 457 riflemen (only 200 trained jihadiyya), 1490 sword & spearmen drawn from 9 different tribes (included 300 horsemen), 2 guns.

Dongola (camped just outside): 620 jihadiyya with Remingtons, 500 Baggara with Remingtons (probably Wad Bishara's Mulazamiyya), 280 Haggana with Remingtons, 300 Baggara horsemen, 1250 sword & spearmen, 6 guns. A total of 2950 men.

El Haffir: 100 jihadiyya with Remingtons, 150 Baggara with Remingtons, 70 Haggana with Remingtons, 80 Baggara horsemen, 1100 sword & spearmen. A total of 1500 men.

Kerma: 150 jihadiyya with Remingtons, 50 Baggara with Remingtons, 50 Haggana with Remingtons, 150 Baggara horsemen, 100 sword & spearmen, I Nordenfelt machinegun. A total of 500 men.

Amri Post: 30 Haggana with Remingtons.

District Tax Gatherers: 15 Baggara with Remingtons, 15 Haggana with Remingtons, 60 sword & spearmen. A total of 90 men.

Reinforcements from Debba and Omdurman: 1000 jihadiyya with Remingtons, 1000 sword & spearmen. A total of 2000 men.

THE BATTLE OF OMDURMAN
(2 September 1898)

There is some dispute over the numbers the Ansar had at the battle, but it is likely that they had not much more than 37,000 men in all.

Khalkifa's private guard (who stayed with him throughout): c.1000 men divided into 2 rub's: 1st rub' armed with Remingtons, 2nd rub' divided into three sections Khashkhashkan, dressed in red waistcoats over theirfibbas and armed with percussion elephant guns mounted on tripods; Mushammaratiya, tall men armed with long spears; Bultagia, armed with axes. There was also a band of drums, bugles, and African instruments including the ummbaya (horn made from a single elephant tusk).

Mulazamiyya (Uthman Shaykh al-Din): c. 10,000 men, most of whom were armed with Remingtons. They were usually divided into 18 rub's each divided into8-10 standards of 100 men each. At Omrudman they were commanded by 6 main amirs, in addition to one commanding Shaykh alDin's personal guard of 2000 men.

Omdurman garrison (Kara) (Ibrahim Khalil): c. 2400, about half of whom were armed with rifles. This unit was usually divided into 500 standards distributed between 4 rub's. At the battle they were divided into 3 main rub's and 3 lesser ones.

Uthman Azraq: c. 8000 men under six main amirs.

Green Flag (Abdallah abu Siwar): c. 2400 men.This unit was normally divided into 3 tribal rub's. At the battle it was commanded by five main amirs and had one section of Dighaym horsemen.

Black Flag (Yaqub): c. 12,000 men divided into 51 units ranging from 25 to 1500 men each. There were only about 1000 firearms of all kinds with the Black Flag during the battle, including elephant guns, revolvers and rejects.

Uthman Diqna: c. 7000 men.

Scouts (Abd al-Baqi abd al-Wakil): c. 300 horsemen armed with rifles.

Artillery: Yaqub was in command of 63 guns which included 35 brass mountain guns, 8 Krupps, 7 machine-guns (mainly Nordenfelts but 1 Remington), and 13 guns of various types. Of these 31 guns were placed in mud forts along the river around Omdurman and Khatrourn (18 mountain guns, 5 Krupp guns, 1 Nordenfelt and 8 other guns). Two of the Ansar's three steamers at the battle were armed with one mountain gun each. There were 19 guns on the battlefield itself, or on the road out, including 13 mountain guns, 1 Krupp, and 4 machine-guns (including the Remington). 10 guns (including 2 Krupps) remained in the arsenals.

UNIFORMS, 1885-90

Throughout this period the standard Mahdist uniform of jibba and turban was worn, through in some cases warriors discarded the turban and wore only an undecorated straw skull-cap or went bare-headed. Jibbas were patched mainly with rectangular and square patches in symmetrical designs, having the same pattern on the back as the front. Patches were centered on the front of thejibba, numbering two or three.

There was usually one large patch on each arm and one patch on each side of the skirt of the jibba. There were sometimes small rectangles under each arm. Collars frequently were bordered by a triangular patch. Cuffs, hems and the edges of collars were often trimmed in red, blue, black or yellow.

The main colours used for patches were: black, dark blue, medium blue, turquoise, red (various shades), and green. Black patches were frequently edged in yellow, blue patches were sometimes edged in red. Amirs usually had embroidery on their patches, especially on the club-shaped breast pocket. fibbas were manufactured in Omdurman and frequently issued to troops at the start of a campaign. There are many identical jibbas on display in various museums, but it is not certain whether whole units wore the same type of jibba. Some jibbas from Dongola show a regular use of black, dark blue and red patches on each jibba. A mulazamin jibba on display in Omdurman shows medium blue patches around the collar and on the front and back, and red patches on the sleeves, under the arms and on the side. The mulazimiyya also wore red turbans and red sashes. Some senior amirs also wore red turbans.

FIGURE II: Later Mahdist Jibbas, 1885-98

Drawings by Greg Rose. Based on photographs supplied by the author.

a& b: Dongolajibbas. B may be the jibba of an amir and has gray-blue cuffs and a turquoise center patch.

c: Jibba on display in the Khalifa's House Museum, Omdurman.

Flags

Flags were used to mark sub-divisions within the army. Each amir had his own, around which his command was formed, and within that command the lesser amirs and ra's mi'as also had their own flags. The flags were embroidered with religious formulae, but usually they were decorated on one side only. Flags usually had a white background with colored borders and letters, but occasionally there were flags of solid colors, such as blue, red or green. The borders of the flags were usually red, blue, green or even brown. Letters were red, blue, black, green or white. in many flags different colors are used for different words, the word "Allah" sometimes being written in green with the other words in red, black or blue. In some cases the diamond shaped dots beneath and above letters would be in a different color from the rest of the word (green dots used with red letters, red dots used with blue or black letters, etc. There were usually four lines to the standard formula:

    1st line: Ya allah, Ya Rahman, Ya Rahim (0 God, 0 Merciful One, 0 Compassionate one)

    2nd line: Ya Hayy, Ya Qiyyum, Ya dhil-Jilal wal-akrarn (0 Living One, 0 Subsisting one, 0 Lord of Majesty and Honor)

    3rd line: La illah ila allah Muhammad rasul allah (There is no god but God. Muhammad is the Apostle of God)

    4th line: Muhammad al-Mahdi khalifa rasul allah (Muhammad al-Mahdi is the Successor of the Apostle of God)

These were usually written in four lines, but sometimes the phrases ran into each other and were put on three lines. Whatever the formula flags had to have the last line, or a similar line proclaiming the Mahdi's relationship to the Prophet Muhammad.

Most flags were rectangular, about 4 feet by 3 feet. They were manufactured in Omdurman and there are some duplicates on display. When not in use flags of a particular division were stored together in the arsenal. The Khalifa's flag was black with white letters.

For more information on the Ansar armies readers are suggested to read 'Ismat Hasan Zulfo, Karari (London, Frederick Warne), 1980, and D. Johnson, The Sudan, 1884. 98, (special publication of Savage & Soldier Magazine).

FIGURE III: Mahdist Flags, c.1898

Drawings by Greg Rose. Based on photographs supplied by the author.

a. Blue background in the center, white borders and letters.

b. White background, red borders, black dividing lines, red, green and black letters.

c. White background, black letters, dark green border (repaired with red cloth).

More Mahdist Armies 1883-1898

More Sudan

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