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With General Charles Gordon besieged in Khartoum and Egyptian authority in Sudan in tatters, British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, was forced to intervene.

Whilst an expeditionary force, led by General Sir Garnet Wolseley, was being assembled, in the short term he diverted a British force en-route to India to the Red Sea coast of Sudan.

Here they met the Mahdist supporting Beja warriors, led by Osman Digna.

Their first encounter was at the Battle of El Teb in February 1884.

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