Detail from ‘General Gordon’s Last Stand’, by George W. Joy (1844-1925). The choice of Gordon was justified by his vast experience, having served in the Crimean War of 1853-1856, in China against the Taiping Rebellion of 1864, and then from 1874 to 1880 in the Sudan on behalf of Egypt, where one of his chief responsibilities was shutting down the stubbornly persistent trade in slaves. Gladstone was also influenced in his choice of Gordon by journalist William Stead, a long-standing Gladstonian Liberal who was Gordon’s friend, and who had recently interviewed him for the ‘Pall Mall Gazette’.
IN 1884, the Sudan was faced with rule by Egypt, then in British hands, or rule by the rebel Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed ‘Mahdi’ of Islam.* Back home in London, Prime Minister William Gladstone sympathised with Ahmad, whom he saw as a freedom-fighter. But General Gordon,* who until recently had been Administrator of the Sudan, tasked with stamping out slavery, was better acquainted with the region than most Westerners were, and regarded the ‘Mahdi’ as an extremist.
Gordon’s brief was now to bolster garrisons isolated by the revolt, but he was trapped at Khartoum, and besieged for ten months. With London hesitant, Gordon’s resistance eventually broke on January 26th, 1885; Gordon, the whole garrison and four thousand Sudanese civilians were massacred. The public outcry forced Gladstone’s resignation;* and Ahmad proved the General’s fears well-founded by putting the Sudan under strict Islamic law, until General Kitchener’s victory at the Battle of Omdurman on September 2nd, 1898, helped to restore British control.
Muhammad Ahmad (1840-1885) was one of several Sudanese Muslim rebels and rulers claiming to be the ‘Mahdi’, a quasi-messianic religious and political leader prophesied in both Shia and Sunni Islam (but not the Koran). The Mahdi was expected to visit earth with Jesus to defeat the powers of evil, before ushering in the day of judgement. After Ahmad’s death in 1885, his successor ruled in the Sudan until Kitchener restored British control in 1898.
General Charles Gordon (1833-1885) had been sent to the Sudan on the recommendation of his friend, the journalist William Stead, who had featured Gordon in the ‘Pall Mall Gazette’ in what is regarded as the world’s first newspaper interview. See The Man who Made the Headlines. It was Stead’s poignant reporting of the siege and the death of Gordon, and accusations of dithering under the headline ‘Too Late!’, that helped force Gladstone from office.
Précis
In 1884 Muhammad Ahmad, calling himself the ‘Mahdi’ of Islam, laid siege to Khartoum in the Sudan. After nearly a year, the British garrison was overcome. General Gordon died along with all his soldiers and thousands of townspeople, and the rebels remained in control for over a decade. William Gladstone’s failure to intervene cost him his post as Prime Minister. (59 / 60 words)
