Click2Flicks - The Four Feathers, The Story Behind the Movie, Death of the Mahdi, Chapter 5

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b><i>THE FOUR FEATHERS</i></p> <p><font size="4">CHAPTER 5 - DEATH OF THE MAHDI</b></font></p> </div>  </font> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">Mahdist forces destroyed Khartoum in 1885, but the victory for <a href="http://sudanhome.com/cards/cards/el_mahdi.jpg" target="_blank"><b>the Mahdi</b></a> himself was short-lived. Soon after capturing Khartoum, he <a href="http://www.mpmbooks.com/amelia/GORDON.HTM" target="_blank"><b>died</b></a> on 20 June 1885. Although the facts are not totally clear, he most likely succumbed to <a href="http://www.ento.vt.edu/IHS/typhus.html" target="_blank"><b>typhus</b></a>. After his death and burial in an impressive tomb, with a mosque, at Omdurman, the Sudan was damaged by constant warfare. Mohammad Ahmed’s successor, <a href="http://www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/stsmith/research/nubia_history.html" target="_blank"><b>Khalifa Abdallahi</b></a>, made Omdurman his capital.</p> <p>Omdurman grew because it was the place where the Mahdi was buried. Although adherents to his form of Islam were forbidden from making pilgrimages to Mecca - one of the five pillars of a Muslim’s faith - Mahdists made pilgrimages to Omdurman where they visited the tomb of their fallen leader.</p> <p>For thirteen years, until 1898, the Mahdists were in charge. (The "period of the Mahdists" is called "the Mahdiyya.") But the end of the story was far from over. Revenge for Gordon’s death, and the desecration of his body, would erupt into the battle for Omdurman.</p> <p>It is here, just before the <a href="http://www.nls.uk/experiencesofwar/weewindows/pic-early-large-8.html" target="_blank"><b>long-anticipated</b></a> battle begins, that A.E.W. Mason begins his tale of <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/0743448219.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><i><b>The Four Feathers</b></i></a>.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="four_feathers_ch4.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="four_feathers_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>    <a href="four_feathers_ch6.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</p><br> </a> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>