Troubles in Sudan then pulled the British into involvement at the headwaters of the Nile. In 1883 followers of the Islamic fundamentalist ruler, the Mahdi, wiped out an Egyptian army of 10,000 men and preserved the independence of the Sudan for another decade.

In 1896, however, the British under General Horatio Kitchener began a systematic conquest of the region. Supported by a railroad constructed as his advance proceeded, Kitchener brought modern military power to bear on his opponents.

At Omdurman, an army of 40,000 Dervishes struck Kitchener's Anglo-Egyptian army of 26,000 troops, but commitment was not proof against rapid-fire weapons and artillery. The high point of the battle saw the 21st Lancers launch one of the last cavalry charges in history to crush a final Dervish attack. When it was over the British had suffered fewer than 500 casualties (only fifty dead), while 30,000 Sudanese lay dead and wounded

Further south on the continent, the British regarded South Africa as of great importance for its links to India until construction of the Suez Canal. Here they encountered hostility not only from the original Dutch settlers, the Boers, but also from native Blacks, in particular the Zulus.

With construction of the Canal the British might have let South Africa slide into oblivion, but for the fact that the world's greatest lode of diamonds was discovered along the Orange River; further discoveries of South Africa's mineral worth only fuelled British ambitions.

In April 1877, the British annexed the Transvaal, a Boer stronghold, and thereby acquired the locals' problem with their Zulu neighbours. The Zulu king in the early nineteenth century, Shaka, had created an extraordinary military system that could deploy 40,000 well-trained, highly disciplined warriors; yet one that possessed the arms and tactical capabilities of the primitive Romans.

Fighting with shields and short spears, Zulu formations (impis) displayed extraordinary fortitude, as well as an amazing capacity to move great distances on foot and camouflage themselves when need arose. Nevertheless, the British underestimated their opponents.

The leader of the expedition to punish the Zulus in 1879, Lord Chelmsford, split his forces, and the Zulus moved around his advance troops unseen. On 22 January they smashed into the British base camp at Isandhlwana; there, because of serious tactical errors by British officers on the spot and the imbecility of a supply system that required written receipts from the defenders for ammunition as it was being used, the Zulus slaughtered almost everyone.

Later that day and night, victorious Zulus struck the small outpost of Rorke's Drift, defended by barely 100 soldiers - including the sick. In an epic defence, the British fought off waves of Zulus; the killing power of rifles devastated the attackers.

A series of desperate engagements then occurred that allowed substantial reinforcements to arrive. On July 4, 1879, Chelmsford, leading 4,200 European and 1,000 native troops, reached the Zulu capital; despite coming under attack from Zulu impis of over 10,000 soldiers, the Europeans slaughtered the attackers and broke the back of Zulu power.

But Britain's troubles in South Africa were far from over. In late 1880 the Boers rose in the Transvaal. Within a month they had invaded Natal and defeated British forces that - as with the Zulus - thoroughly underestimated their opponents.

In February 1881 the Boers again caught the British in the open and with superior use of cover and rifle fire inflicted a second defeat, this time killing the general officer commanding. The British government, deciding that the Boers were not worth the effort, recognized their independent republic; but the two battles should have underlined the fact that the Boers were formidable opponents
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