(This historic book may have numerous typos and missing te...)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ... CHAPTER X. THE SIEGE AND FALL OF KHARTUM. Gordon returns to the Sudan--The Siege of Khartum--I join tha Mahdi at Rahad--Interviews and First Impressions of the Mahdi-- The Oath of Allegiance--Description of the Khalifa--The Arrival of Hussein Pasha--Criticisms on Gordon's Mission--The Abandonment of the Sudan Proclaimed--Incidents in Various Parts of the Sudan--The Arrival of Olivier Pain--His Mission, Illness, and Death -- Arrival outside Khartum--I write to Gordon--I am Arrested and thrown into Chains--Incidents during my Imprisonment--The Surrender of Omdurman--The Delay of the British Expedition--Khartum is Attacked and Taken--Gordon's Head is brought to me--Account of the last Days of Khartum--Massacres and Atrocities after the Fall--The Retreat of the British Expedition--The Rigours of my Imprisonment increased--My Comrade in Captivity, Frank Lupton--We are both released--I enter the Khalifa's Body-guard--Illness and Death of the Mahdi--Khalifa Abdullahi succeeds him--The Rules and Ordinances of the Mahdi. After the destruction of Hicks Pasha's expedition, the Mahdi well knew that the whole Sudan was at his feet: to take possession of it was only a question of time. His first step was the despatch of his cousin Khaled to Darfur, where he knew no resistance was possible. Through the influence of Karamalla he was able to acquire possession of the Bahr el Ghazal, the employes having merely transferred their allegiance from the Khedive to the Mahdi. Already Mek Adam of Tagalla had submitted, and had come to El Obeid with his family. Mahdism had seized a firm hold of the Eastern Sudan, and found a ready home amongst the brave Arabs of those regions; Egyptian troops had been annihilated at Sinkat and Tamanib; General Baker's disaster at...
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Rudolf Carl Slatin was born on the 27th of June 1857 at Ober St Veit near Vienna. He was the fourth child of the merchant Michael Slatin, who had converted from Judaism to Roman Catholicism, and his second wife, Maria Anna Feuerstein. Their other children were the twins Maria and Anna (born in 1852), Heinrich (1855), Adolf (1861), and Leopoldine (1864). Their father died on 13 March 1873.
At the age of seventeen he made his first journey to the Sudan, reaching Khartum by the Nile route in October 1875 in company with Theodor von Heuglin. Thence he went through Kordofan to Dar Nuba, exploring the mountains of that region. He returned to Khartum in consequence of a revolt of the Arabs against the Egyptian government. There Slatin met Dr Emin (Emin Pasha) and with him purposed visiting General C. G. Gordon at Lado, Gordon at that time being governor of the equatorial provinces. Slatin, however, was obliged to return to Austria without accomplishing his desire, but Emin went to Lado and at Slatin's request recommended the young traveller to Gordon for employment in the Sudan. In 1878, while Slatin was serving as a lieutenant in the crown prince Rudolf's regiment in the Bosnian campaign he received a letter from Gordon inviting him to the Sudan, of which country Gordon had become governor-general. At the close of the campaign Slatin received permission to go to Africa and he arrived at Khartum in January 1879. After a brief period during which he was financial inspector, Slatin was appointed mudir (governor) of Dara, the south-western part of Darfur, a post he held until early in 1881, when he was promoted governor-general of Darfur and given the rank of bey. While administering Dara, Slatin conducted a successful campaign against one of the Darfur princes in revolt, and as governor of Darfur he endeavoured to remedy many abuses. He had soon to meet the rising power of the mandi Mahommed Ahmed. Early in 1882 the Arabs in southern Darfur were in revolt. With insufficient resources and no succour from Khartum, Slatin gallantly defended his province. Though victorious in several engagements he lost ground. His followers attributing his non-success to the fact that he was a Christian, Slatin nominally adopted Islam. But all hope of maintaining Egyptian authority vanished with the news of the destruction of Hicks Pasha's army and in December 1883 Slatin surrendered, refusing to make any further sacrifice of life in a hopeless cause. In the camp of the mandi an attempt was made to use him to induce Gordon to surrender. This failing, Slatin was placed in chains, and on the morning of the 26th of January 1885, an hour or two after the fall of Khartum, the head of Gordon was brought to the camp and shown to the captive. Slatin was kept at Omdurman by the khalifa, being treated alternately with savage cruelty and comparative indulgence. At length, after over eleven years' captivity, he was enabled, through the instrumentality of Sir Reginald (then Major) Wingate of the Egyptian Intelligence Department, to escape, reaching Egypt in March 1895. In a remarkable book, Fire and Sword in the Sudan, written in the same year and issued in English and German in 1896, Slatin gave not only, as stated in the sub-title, "a personal narrative of fighting and serving the dervishes" but a connected account of the Sudan under the rule of the khalifa. Raised to the rank of pasha by the khedive, Slatin received from Queen Victoria the Companionship of the Bath. On the eve of his surrender to the mandi at Christmas 1883 he had resolved, if he regained his liberty, to use the knowledge he would acquire while in captivity for the eventual benefit of the country, and after a year's rest he took part, as an officer on the staff of the Egyptian army, in the campaigns of 1897-98 which ended in the capture of Omdurman. In 1900 he was appointed Inspector-General of the Sudan, in which capacity his mastery of Arabic and his profound knowledge of the land and peoples proved invaluable in the work of reconstruction undertaken by the Anglo-Egyptian government in that country. In 1907 he was made an honorary major-general in the British army.
He died on 4 October 1932, during an operation for cancer in Vienna.
For his services he was made a K. C. M. G. and in 1899 was ennobled by the emperor of Austria.
In 1918, on behalf of the Austrian government led by Renner, he was instrumental, through his British contacts, in ensuring the supply of food and coal from Czechoslovakia for the beleaguered and starving inhabitants of Vienna. For this he was made an honorary citizen of Vienna in June 1932.
In 1919, a Scout group of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Klosterneuburg was named Slatin Pascha.
In 1936, a drinking fountain was erected in Khartum in his memory, but the bronze portrait plaque and dedication were removed in 1956 by the Sudanese government, after Sudan became independent. A Commemorative plaque is placed on his former house in Khartum.
The Spitzvilla in Upper Austria near Traunkirchen is a memorial site for Rudolf Carl von Slatin. He bought it in 1897 and there entertained many grand persons of his epoch.
In 1967 the public-service German television channel ZDF produced a movie in two parts about Rudolf Carl von Slatin. It was titled Slatin Pascha. A documentary film about Slatin Pascha, Sudanese history and Sudan today was produced by Thomas Macho for the Austrian company Fischer Film in 2011. The film, entitled "Slatin Pasha-On Her Majestys Service" (German: Slatin Pascha-Im Namen ihrer Majestät) started in the Austrian Cinemas on 1 June 2012.
At the Austrian National Jamboree in 1961 a Subcamp was named Slatin Pascha.
An Old Scouts Guild, affiliated with the Pfadfinder-Gilde Österreichs is named Slatin Pascha. An Old Scout Group, belonging to the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund in Vienna is named Slatin Pascha. A Scout Group in Vienna, belonging the National Scout Organisation Pfadfinder Österreichs, was also named Slatin Pascha.
In October 2011 a stamp was issued commemorating Slatin Pascha, Emmerich Teuber and the Viennese Scoutleader Kara Barteis.
His captivity and escape inspired the comics creators Mino Milani and Sergio Toppi for a comic story with the title "L'Uomo del Nilo" (The man of the Nile) in a series with the title "Un uomo un'avventura" (A man, an adventure) by Sergio Bonelli Editore.
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While administering Dara, Slatin conducted a successful campaign against one of the Darfur princes in revolt, and later, as governor of Darfur. Early in 1882 the Rizeigat tribesmen of Southern Darfur rebelled, led by Sheikh Madibbo ibn Ali, a convert to the cause of the religious leader known as the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad. Slatin gallantly defended his province and though he fought many successful battles, he gradually lost ground. At Om Waragat he lost 8, 000 of his men in the first 20 minutes of the battle and was himself wounded three times but he managed to fight his way back to Dara. Believing his troops attributed their failure in battle to the fact that he was a Christian, Slatin publicly adopted Islam in 1883 and took the Islamic name, Abd al Qadir.
He was asked to serve within the new founded Austrian Scout organisation. From 1914 to 1918, he was the Honorary Chief Scout of the Österreichischer Pfadfinderbund.
He was also a Honorary member of the Royal Geographical Society.
During the years he served the British Empire, he became acquainted with Robert Baden-Powell and became his friend.
He was a close friend of the governor general, F. R. Wingate, and was free to define his role as inspector-general without much interference from his colleagues and superiors. Never before or since did any official hold the title of inspector-general.
On 21 June 1914, Rudolf Carl von Slatin married Baroness Alice von Ramberg. The wedding took place in the Votivkirche in Vienna. In 1916, their daughter Anne Marie Helene was born.
