general gordon > lord kitchener

timeline of events:

pre 1881: Sudan effectively a colony of Egypt
- control of the Nile
- slave trade
1881: extremist religious leader Mohammed Ahmed (known as the Mahdi) led an uprising against Egyptian occupation
1883: Mahdi’s forces annihilated an Egyptian army but Egyptian garrisons (with some British support) continued to hold out in Khartoum and other Sudanese towns. The British position and intentions were ambiguous
Gladstone didn’t want to get involved and sent Major-General Gordon in 1884 to evacuate Egyptians and Europeans

Had served in the Crimean war
Had suppressed a major rebellion in China in 1864
In 1874 was employed by the Khedive of Egypt
British governor of Sudan 1877-1880
Was a fervent imperialist
Was a very odd character
described as a man with no soul
Gordon reached Khartoum in Feb 1884.
Become convinced that they shouldn’t abandon it to the Mahdi and instead organised its defence.
Gladstone dithered –was worried Gordon was trying to force the annexation of Sudan for Britain.
Eventually sent a relief force.
Gordon killed in Jan 1885 – two days before the relief force arrived – when Khartoum was overrun by the Mahdi’s forces.
Gordon became a hero amongst the imperialists.
Gladstone stuck to his policy of staying out of Sudan – to the disgust of Queen Victoria

lord kitchener:

in 1871, he joined in the Royal Engineers
he took part in the unsuccessful operation to relieve General Charles Gordon at Khartoum in 1884-1885
his army built train tracks n battleships otw to battling mahdi
- used to transport military resources
in 1886 was appointed governor general of eastern Sudan
six years later served he became commander in chief of the Egyptian army
In 1896, he began the reconquest of Sudan from the forces of al-Mahdi, culminating in the Battle of Omdurman and the reoccupation of Khartoum in 1898
Kitchener was then made governor of Sudan, having become a national hero.