British Responses to Mahdist and Other Unrest in North and West Africa, 1919–1930*

Several aspects of the phenomenon of world unrest after the First World War have been scrutinized in recent years. However, little has been said of its North‐African dimension in the context of British imperial interests. Drawing upon a wide range of official and private archival material this article examines the origins and nature of British concerns about conspiracies connected with followers of the Mahdi in Northern Nigeria and the Sudan. It also considers the efforts made to investigate these conspiracies against the wider backdrop of nationalist unrest in Egypt and concerns about Bolshevik intrigues world‐wide. The official perception of these conspiracies as well as the various investigations into their source is also considered.