On 26 January 1885 Major-General Charles ‘Chinese’ Gordon was killed as the Sudanese city of Khartoum fell to the Mahdists. When news of his death, and the failed expedition sent to save him, reached Britain, a wave of anguish swept through the British public. Newspapers demanding vengeance for this slain ‘Christian martyr’ landed with a heavy thud on Victorian breakfast tables, but it was not to be. British forces withdrew and political issues nearer home slowly drew attention away from Gordon’s demise. Over a decade would pass before Khartoum was retaken and the Mahdists destroyed.
Britain’s involvement in Sudan had come in the wake of the 1882 invasion of Egypt. London had initially been reluctant to intervene militarily in Egypt but felt compelled to act following a nationalistic coup mounted by the Egyptian Army. Similarly, the British government had little desire to involve itself in the affairs of Sudan. Yet Sudan had been governed by Egypt since the early 19th century and Egypt’s problems with its southern neighbour became Britain’s problems by default.
The proposed solution came in the form of Gordon, whom Cairo believed was the man to evacuate Khartoum. Although welcomed by its inhabitants, Gordon became cut off in the city and surrounded by Mahdist forces. Reluctantly the British government authorised an expedition led by Garnet Wolseley to rescue him, but Wolseley failed to reach the city in time to save his friend.
Shortly after Gordon’s death, the Mahdi also died and was succeeded by Abdallãhi ibn Mohammed Al-Khalifa. The Khalifa, as he was known, consolidated the Mahdist regime and established a civil and
