The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan Paperback – Facsimile, January 24, 2013

Ever read something that made you feel wholly inadequate in your writing…if not your thinking? I am on my fourth reading of “The River War” and each time I read it, the sheer brilliance and eloquence of Winston Churchill dumbfounds, confounds, and hounds me. Churchill is a man genius and this book, a history written so very early in his life and career at the very end of the 19th Century, give great insight into the man much later in life and career who was to forge some of the greatest decisions and make history in the 20th Century.“The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan” is magisterial in register, poetic in meter, and completely modern in manner. Magisterial because Churchill speaks from his personal experiences in the War as well as his interactions with other soldiers and leaders, not-to-forget the extensive research Churchill did to cut through the fog and friction of battle to clearly outline the progression of the military campaign and its history. Poetic because Churchill uses a beautiful English, precise syntax, but easy voice throughout—perfectly balanced with care for the ear and an absolute joy to read. Modern because Churchill astoundingly breaks with the first-person, highly personal, often stiff, travelogue or memoire style of the time for an incredibly modern and sweeping account of this conflict with global reach. It is here where I give Churchill the greatest deference: he incorporates an astounding quantity of information from a huge region to place the conflict, and specifically his experiences, into a far-reaching geopolitical and socio-cultural context. Although this is really the standard today-it was not then and almost unheard of in his day. I cannot think of anything like it before him outside Tolstoy, and Tolstoy was writing fiction (although based upon a profound understanding of real events and personalities), although Thucydides comes to mind.It is his sense of “the political” (in the translated words of Clausewitz; “der Politik” from his famous "Der Krieg ist eine bloße Fortsetzung der Politik mit anderen Mitteln") in military affairs which is both so rare and so important…surely becoming critical to Churchill when the world most needed a cool and deliberate leader at the helm—one can easily hear him with his gruff voice advising to “Keep Calm and Carry On.” His coolness and deliberation were surely constructed out of experiences and projects such as “The River War.” In his later words: “Character may be manifested in the great moments. But it is made in the small ones.” I often imagine Churchill drawing upon the character formed from an infinite number of small moments bitterly fighting The Mahdiyya in the wilds, hardships, and deprivation of the Sudanese desert.Which brings me to my final point of praise: the timelessness of truth. In setting the stage in Chapter 1, he observes that “Fanaticism is not a cause of war…. It has therefore been stated, and is to some extent believed, that the revolt in the Soudan was entirely religious. If the worst untruths are those that have some appearance of veracity, this impression must be very false indeed. It is, perhaps, an historical fact that the revolt of a large population has never been caused solely or even mainly by religious enthusiasm.” Well said, old Chap.In a world where Osama Bin Laden started a renegade terrorist organization translated as “The Refuge” (Al Qaeda) founded some strange form of Islamic "extremism" in the very same Sudan where Churchill fought, where the United States embarked on a “Global War On Terrorism” largely aimed at attacking the sins of "extremists" like Bin Laden, where groups not far from Sudan are forming “Islamic States” which seem strikingly similar to The Mahdiyya of 19th Century Sudan, and today where the Sudanese military has recently overthrown President Bashir with no clear way forward, “The River War” should be read by all—with an aim at understanding its many lessons.

The River War: An Account of the Reconquest of the Sudan was Winston Churchill's second book, long out of print but brought back by print on demand. He was a lieutenant in the 21st Lancers, a British cavalry unit with the Egyptian Army at the Battle of Omdurman in the Sudan on September 2, 1898. This is history made more exciting than adventure fiction by one of the best writers the English language has produced. With a historian's attention to detail, Churchill relates nearly a century of warfare and political maneuvering as Egypt dominated a land mass three times its size containing a thousand miles of the Nile River. Egyptian rule was based on slavery as they taxed their Arab subjects to collect slaves from the black population of the southern swamps. A series of self proclaimed khalifas, or Muslim leaders emerged to challenge Egypt, and in 1896 their rule threatened Egypt itself as jihadists surged north. Britain had sent a series of military leaders to bring order to the chaos, and finally mobilized an army to back up the Egyptians and they plunged south along the Nile and the Desert Railway.Even the young Churchill was a consummate writer. Thoroughly researched, The River War has 22 maps, dozens of tables listing units, staffing, supplies and casualties, dispatches between the various leaders, transcripts of debate in Parliament, newspaper accounts and other background material. It has no index. All this background can be used as reference, or ignored. Churchill's prose carries this fascinating story along so well I ripped through it in a couple days.The best part is Churchill's eye witness account of the Battle of Omdurman. A cavalry charge with sabers and pistols into the teeming center of the Dervish army; reading it, I was there!I bought this book as research for my novel The Devil on Chardonnay, which deals partly with war in Sudan. I have read Churchill's history of World War II, and consider it one of my favorites; it's five volumes. The younger Churchill is wordier than the mature Churchill, and his prose can be a bit flowery. I skimmed some of the history in the first hundred pages. I give this book a 4 star rating.Here's an excerpt: "The real Soudan, known to the statesman and the explorer, lies far to the south--moist, undulating, and exuberant. But there is another Soudan, which some mistake for the true, whose solitudes oppresses the Nile from the Egyptian frontier to Omdurman. This is the Soudan of the soldier. Destitute of wealth or future, it is rich in history. The names of its squalid villages are familiar to distant and enlightened peoples. The barrenness of its scenery has been drawn by skillful pen and pencil. It's ample deserts have tasted the blood of brave men. Its hot, black rocks have witnessed famous tragedies. It is the scene of the war."