Editing Atbara (section)

== History ==
The confluence of the [[Nile]] and its most northern tributary, the [[Atbarah River]]  (Bahr-el-Aswad, or Black River) was a strategic location for military operations.  in the year 1619 Atbara was conquered and sacked by forces of the [[Ethiopian Empire]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xeM8AAAAIAAJ |title=A History of the Arbas in the Sudan and Some Account of the People who Preceded Them and of the Tribes Inhabiting Darfur3 |publisher=CUP Archive |language=en}}</ref>  In the [[Battle of Atbara]], fought on 8 April 1898 near Nakheila, on the north bank of the river, [[Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener|Lord Kitchener]]'s Anglo-Egyptian army defeated the [[Mahdi]]st forces, commanded by Amir Mahmud Ahmad.  Kitchener's strengthened position led to a decisive victory at the [[Battle of Omdurman]] on 2 September 1898,{{sfn|Chisholm|1911|p=823}} giving the [[United Kingdom|British]] control over the Sudan.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/gutbook/lookup?num=4943 |title=The River War from Project Gutenberg |publisher=Onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu |access-date=2013-12-10}}</ref>

The town was the centre of the [[Rail transport in Sudan|Sudanese railway industry]]. Few trains are made here now and rail traffic is much reduced. The original station and unusual dome-shaped houses of railway workers remain.  The first [[trade union]] in Sudan formed in 1946 among [[railroad]] workers in Atbara. 

Perhaps because of the influence of the railway unions, Atbara is also considered by many to be the home of Sudanese communism. [[Jaafar Nimeiri]], Sudan's president from 1969 to 1985, alternated between communism, capitalism, and Islamic fundamentalism – depending on who he was trying to get on his side and extract money from – and the communist phase had its stronghold around Atbara.

Atbara was also the starting point for [[Sudanese Revolution|mobilizations against the regime]] in December 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://orientxxi.info/magazine/les-espoirs-d-une-troisieme-revolution-au-soudan,2834|title=Les espoirs d'une troisième révolution au Soudan|first=Tarek|last=Cheikh|date=28 December 2018|website=Orient XXI}}</ref>