Editing Abdallahi ibn Muhammad (section)

==Defeat and death==
[[File:ALKHALIFA ABD ALLAH DEATH.jpg|thumb|right|The body of the Khalifa (third from the right) on the battlefield of Umm Diwaykarat]]
Following the loss of [[Dongola]] in September 1896, then Berber and [[Abu Hamed]] to Kitchener's army in 1897, the Khalifa Abdullah sent an army that was defeated at the [[Battle of Atbara]] River on 8 April 1898, afterwards falling back to his new capital of [[Omdurman]].

At the [[Battle of Omdurman]] on 2 September 1898, his army of 52,000 men was destroyed. The Khalifa then fled south and went into hiding with a few followers and was eventually caught and killed by [[Reginald Wingate]]'s Egyptian column at [[Battle of Umm Diwaykarat|Umm Diwaikarat]] in [[Kordofan]] on 25 November 1899.{{sfn|Fadlalla|2004|pp=30-31}}<ref name=EB/>

Devout, intelligent, and an able general and administrator, the Khalifa was unable to overcome tribal dissension to unify [[Sudan]], and was forced to employ Egyptians to provide the trained administrators and technicians he needed to maintain the Mahdist State.{{sfn|Lewis|1987}}