1883 Defense Military Reshuffle Report

At Ernst's request, the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff of the Army drew up arrangements for East Africa's land-based military redeployments in 1883.

Yalman and Svit submitted a detailed report on this military reshuffle:

"Your Highness, in accordance with your requirements, we have made the following deployments. Forces in Jezira City of Nile Province, which borders Egyptian Sudan, will be reinforced. If the British invade East Africa from the north, Jezira City will be the only passage," Svit said.

Jezira City lay along the Nile River and was very close to Khartoum, Sudan's important city. To the east of Jezira was the Ethiopian Highlands, namely the Abyssinian Empire; to the west stood the Nuba Mountains, beyond which lay the Kordofan Plateau.

This made Jezira City's plains terrain particularly prominent. It was naturally an important military thoroughfare, while the Ethiopian Highlands to the east and the Nuba Mountains to the west were both formidable natural barriers.

Deserts were widespread across the Kordofan Plateau. The British army presumably did not have the patience to circle through the desert and launch a surprise attack on East Africa. Moreover, there was scarcely any population in the parts of Nile Province bordering the Kordofan Plateau.

Most of the population was concentrated near Jezira City in the east and Juba City in the southeast. This meant that even if an enemy risked crossing the Kordofan Plateau to enter Nile Province in East Africa, it would still face desolate tropical grasslands, while Nile Province itself was crisscrossed by rivers and blanketed in swamps and wetlands.

To leave an arid desert region and suddenly enter the stiflingly hot, humid west of Nile Province was no less difficult than a "Long March"; the conditions would be even harsher. Ernst himself did not dare imagine that such an