The only known photo of Muhammad Ahmad al Mahdi, the revolutionary leader that led a successful war against the Ottoman and later British Empire. The Mahdi created one of the few nineteenth-century African states to have defeated a foreign colonial power. Sudan, c. 1880's ⠀
// ⠀
Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdallah was religious leader who combined orthodox religious study with a mystical interpretation of Islam. In 1881, he was proclaimed the Mahdi by his disciples, the messianic redeemer of Islam. He led a successful war against Ottoman-Egyptian military rule and achieved a remarkable victory over the British, in the Siege of Khartoum. He then created a vast Islamic state extending from the Red Sea to Central Africa and founded a movement that still remains influential in Sudan a century later, with his great-grand-son Sadiq al-Mahdi serving twice as the PM (until 1989)
// ⠀
His most famous victory was against the famed British general Charles Gordon - known for his role in the Crimean war and the Taiping Rebellion in China - during the Siege of Khartoum.