Osprey Men-at-Arms 215 : Queen Victoria's Enemies (2) : Northern Africa

Unlike the situation in southern Africa, where the wars waged against the different local inhabitants were often politically and economically interconnected, the British Army in Queen Victoria's reign had to fight a series of separate and unrelated regional campaigns across the northern half of the continent. The local conditions and peoples varied greatly, from the forest-dwellers of Asante to Moslem fundamentalists in the burning desert wastes of the Sudan, requiring considerable flexibility and professionalism from an Army often popularly held to be rigid and traditionalist. Many of these African groups had complex military traditions which were well suited to their environment, and the outcome of the ensuing fighting was by no means one-sided. Ian Knight tells the stories of some of these campaigns, the organisation, costume and weapons of the forces involved, complemented by many museum and contemporary photographs, and eight full page colour plates by Richard Scollins. He relates the story of Gen. Lord Napier's engagement with the 'mad' Emperor of Abyssinia, Tewdros, and the storming of his mountain fortress, to the struggle against the Mahdi in the Sudan.

Contents

• Introduction
• Abyssinia 1868
  Costume and Weapons
  The Campaign
  
• Asante
  Organisation
  Weapons and Tactics
  Costume
  The Campaign
  The 1900 Rebellion
  
• Egypt 1882
• The Sudan
  Costume
  Organisation
  Weapons
  
• Kenya, Northern Nigeria, Somaliland
  The Nandi
  The Nigerian Emirates
  Somaliland
  
• The Plates