By Kevin Seabrooke
Hart, the oral historian for the Imperial War Museum in London, constructs a highly engaging narrative of the British Egyptian and Sudanese campaigns (Egypt in 1882, Sudan in 1883-85 and 1896-98) by alternating his own prose with first-hand accounts from soldiers and journalists who were there in the desert.
A fascinating insight into a violent period of European colonialism in North Africa and the roles of larger-than-life figures like Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener and one who would later be, Winston Churchill. Also present were men who would become senior officers during the Great War 16 years later: David Beatty, Douglas Haig, Ian Hamilton, Henry Rawlinson, Horace Smith-Dorrien and Charles Townshend.
Chain of Fire: The Siege of Khartoum and the Campaign of Egypt and the Sudan (Peter Hart, Pegasus Books/dist. Simon & Schuster, New York, NY, 464pp., maps Oct. 7, 2025 $35 HC)
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