'Omdurman: The First Battle - 6.30 a.m. 2 September 1898'

Chromolithograph by A Sutherland, published by G W Bacon and Company, 1898.

Imperial interest in North Africa grew after the construction of the Suez Canal in 1869, because of the swift access the waterway gave British shipping to India. To protect that interest the British government bought up shares in the Egyptian company that ran the canal, and in 1875 moved to take over Egypt's financial administration.

In 1881 a religious rebellion against Egyptian control broke out in neighbouring Sudan. A British attempt to withdraw Egyptian garrisons backfired: General Gordon was besieged and eventually killed at Khartoum along with the 7,000-strong Egyptian garrison.

It would not become politic for the British Army to return to the Sudan for another 20 years, when the Mahdist regime's army was decisively defeated at Omdurman in 1898. Over two-thirds of the 'British' army that fought at Omdurman was made up of Egyptian and Sudanese troops. Although this illustration depicts the British wearing red uniforms, these had in fact been superseded by khaki by the time of the Omdurman battle.