Second Battle of Agordat

The Second Battle of Agordat was fought in late December 1893, between Italian colonial troops and Mahdists from the Sudan. Emir Ahmed Ali campaigned against the Italian forces in eastern Sudan and led about 10–12,000 men east from Kassala. This force encountered 2,400 Italians and their Eritrean askaris at Agordat, west of Asmara, commanded by Colonel Arimondi.[2] Over 1,000 Dervishes, including the Emir, were killed in severe fighting.[3][5] The outcome of the battle constituted:[9]

"...the first decisive victory yet won by Europeans against the Sudanese revolutionaries,..."

Second Battle of Agordat
Part of the Mahdist War

Colonel Giuseppe Arimondi
Date21 December 1893[1][2]
Location
Agordat, Eritrea
Result Italian victory[1][3][4]
Belligerents
Kingdom of Italy Mahdist Sudan
Commanders and leaders
Giuseppe Arimondi
[2][3][5]		 Emir Ahmed Ali
[2][3][6]
Strength
Eritrean askaris 400 with spears shields and award also called gurade Mahdi troops:[3][4][5]
10,000–12,000 Mahdists
6,000 armed with rifles
Casualties and losses
108 killed[5][7][8]
124 wounded[7][8]		 1,000+ killed[4][5]
hundreds wounded[7][8]
180 men, 700 rifles and
72 flags captured [7][8]

A year later, Italian colonial forces seized Kassala.

Sources
  1. Wylde, Augustus Blandy (1900). Modern Abyssinia. London.
  2. Jaques, Tony (2007). Dictionary of Battles and Sieges: A-E. Westport.
  3. Arthur, Sir George (1920). Life of Lord Kitchener: Vol.1. New York.
  4. Chisholm, Hugh (1911). The Encyclopædia Britannica: Vol.15. Chicago.
  5. Manchester Geographical Society (1893). The Journal of the Manchester Geographical Society: Vol.9–10. Manchester.
  6. Hill, Richard Leslie (1951). A biographical dictionary of the Sudan. Oxford.
  7. McLachlan, Sean (2011). Armies of the Adowa Campaign 1896. Colchester.
  8. Anthony D'Avray, Richard Pankhurst (2000). The Nakfa documents: Aethiopistische Forschungen 53. Wiesbaden.
  9. Barclay, Glen St John (1973). The rise and fall of the new Roman empire: Italy's bid for world power, 1890–1943. London.

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