Slave Soldiers, British Colonial Rule, and Armed Resistance

Abstract

Abstract This chapter traces the roots of South Sudan’s liberation movement to the rise of slave soldiers during the Turkiyyah period (1820–1885) and the efforts by the Mahdist state to end colonial oppression (1885–1899). It then examines British colonial rule and how this divided Sudan into a modernized North and undeveloped South during the first half of the twentieth century. The chapter addresses the impact of Britain’s indirect rule on tribal relations and development in the South. It then moves on to analyze the rise of armed rebellion, or the Anyanya, during Sudan’s first civil war (1955–1972), before finally turning to the new autonomous government in the South (1972–1983). It shows how Khartoum’s lack of investment in its institutions and infrastructure created tensions and problems that eventually led to the outbreak of Sudan’s second civil war.