The River War

About This Book

Published in 1899, The River War: An Historical Account of the Reconquest of the Soudan is a work of military history by Winston S. Churchill (1874–1965), written when he was a twenty-four-year-old cavalry officer and war correspondent. The book chronicles the Anglo-Egyptian campaign against the Mahdist forces in Sudan from 1896 to 1898, culminating in the Battle of Omdurman, in which Churchill participated as a mounted officer in the 21st Lancers' famous charge. The River War is both a detailed military account and an early example of Churchill's literary power — his vivid descriptions of battle, landscape, and colonial politics already display the rhetorical command that would define his later career. The work is in the public domain.

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