Battle of Khartoum
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| Siege of Khartoum | |||||||
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| Part of The Mahdist War (War of the Sudan) |
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 A painting of the death of General Gordon |
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| Combatants | |||||||
 United Kingdom Egypt |
Mahdist Sudan | ||||||
| Commanders | |||||||
| Charles George Gordon† | Muhammad Ahmad | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 8,000 Egyptian troops | 50,000 warriors | ||||||
| Casualties | |||||||
| Entire garrison killed | Unknown | ||||||
| Battles of the Mahdist War |
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| El Obeid – El Teb – Tamai – Khartoum – Abu Klea – Toski – Ferkeh – Atbara – Omdurman – Umm Diwaykarat |
The Battle of Khartoum or Siege of Khartoum lasted from March 12, 1884 to January 26, 1885. It was fought in and around Khartoum between Egyptian forces led by British General Charles George Gordon and a Mahdist Sudanese army led by the Mahdi Muhammad Ahmad. Khartoum was besieged by the Mahdists and defended by a garrison of 8,000 Egyptian and loyal Sudanese troops. After a ten-month siege the Mahdists finally broke into the city and the entire garrison was killed.
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[edit] The appointment of General Gordon
In the wake of the defeat at El Obeid, the situation in Sudan was becoming critical for the Egyptians. The Mahdist rebels had captured huge amounts of equipment and had overrun large parts of Sudan, including Darfur and Kordofan. The British, who since the Anglo-Egyptian War had taken over the Government of Egypt, didn't wish to become involved in Sudan. The Prime Minister William Gladstone and his War Secretary Lord Hartington were particularly averse to the idea. Accordingly, the British representative in Egypt, Sir Evelyn Baring, persuaded the Egyptian Government that all their garrisons in Sudan should be evacuated. General Gordon, then a popular figure in Great Britain and who had already held the Governor-Generalship of Sudan (in 1876) was appointed to accomplish this task.
Gordon's ideas on Sudan were radically different from Gladstone's: he believed that the Mahdi's rebellion had to be defeated, or he might control the whole of Sudan, and from there sweep over Egypt. His fears were based on the Mahdi's claim to dominion over the entire Islamic world and on the fragility of the Egyptian army, which had suffered several defeats at the hands of the Sudanese.
[edit] The siege begins
Gordon entered Khartoum on February 18, 1884 and instead of organizing the evacuation of the garrisons, set about administering the city.
To win back areas controlled by the Mahdists, Gordon wished to call on the help of Al-Zubayr Rahma, whose charisma he thought could counter the influence of the Mahdi. But Zubayr, as a former slave trader, was very unpopular in Britain, and his choice was refused. Gordon also proposed for a small unit of British or Indian troops to be sent to Khartoum to strengthen the defenses but the Gladstone cabinet, still intent on evacuation, refused.
Knowing full well that the Mahdists would soon attack, Gordon fortified the town. To the North it was protected by the Blue Nile and to the West by the White Nile. To defend the river banks, he created a flotilla of gunboats from nine small paddle-wheel steamers, until then used for communication purposes, which were fitted with guns and protected by metal plates. In the Southern sector of the town, which faced the open desert, he prepared an elaborate system of trenches, makeshift land mines, and wire entanglements. Also, the surrounding country was controlled by the Shagia tribe, which was hostile to the Mahdi.
From March 1884, the tribes North of Khartoum rose in support of the Mahdi, and cut the Egyptian traffic on the Nile and the telegraph to Cairo. Communications were not entirely cut, as runners could still get through, but the siege had begun and Khartoum could only rely on its food stores, which could last only 5 or 6 months.
[edit] The fall of Khartoum
Gordon's plight excited great concern in the British press, and even Queen Victoria intervened on his behalf. The Government ordered him to return, but Gordon refused, saying he was honour-bound to defend the city. By July 1884, Gladstone reluctantly agreed to send an expedition to Khartoum. However, the expedition, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, took several months in organizing and entered Sudan eventually in January 1885. By then, Gordon's situation had become desperate, with the food supplies running low, many inhabitants dying of hunger and the defenders' morale being at its lowest.
The relief expedition was attacked at Abu Klea, and later at Abu Kru. Though their square was broken at Abu Klea, the British managed to repel the Mahdists. The Mahdi, hearing of the British advance, decided to press the attack on Khartoum. On the night of the 25th to the 26th of January, taking advantage of the low level of the Nile, which could be crossed on foot, an estimated 50,000 Mahdists rushed into the town. The entire garrison, along with 4,000 inhabitants were slaughtered, while many others were carried into slavery. Gordon himself was killed, despite the Mahdi's orders, who had wanted to capture him alive. The General's head was cut off and brought to the Mahdi as a trophy.
Advance elements of the relief expedition arrived within sight of Khartoum two days later. Following the fall of the city, the surviving British and Egyptian troops withdrew from the Sudan, with the exception of the city of Suakin on the Red Sea coast, leaving Muhammad Ahmad in control of the entire country.
[edit] Consequences
The British press put the blame of Gordon's death on Gladstone, who was charged with the slowness which he showed in sending relief to Khartoum. An acronym applied to him, G.O.M. (Grand Old Man) was changed to M.O.G.(Murderer Of Gordon). This led to his resignation, though he was back in office the next year. In reality, Gladstone had always viewed the Egyptian-Sudanese imbroglio with distaste and had felt some sympathy for the Sudanese striving to throw off the Egyptian colonial rule. He once declared in the House of Commons: "Yes, those people are struggling to be free, and they are rightly struggling to be free." Also, Gordon's arrogant and insubordinate manner did nothing to endear him to Gladstone's Government.
However this public outcry soon paled, firstly when press coverage and sensationalism of the events began to diminish and secondly when the government released details of the £11.5 million military budget cost for pursuing war in the Sudan.
After his victory, Muhammad Ahmad became the ruler of the entire Sudan and established a religious state, the Mahdiyah, that was governed by a harsh enforcement of the islamic law, the Sharia. He died shortly afterwards, in June 1885, though the state he founded survived him.
In Britain, Gordon came to be seen as a martyr and a hero. In 1898, an expedition against the Mahdists led by Horatio Kitchener was sent to avenge his death and reconquer Sudan.
[edit] Trivia
These events are depicted in the 1966 film Khartoum, with Charlton Heston as General Gordon and Laurence Olivier as Muhammad Ahmad.
[edit] References
- Monick, S.; The Political Martyr: General Gordon and the Fall of Kartum; in Military History Journal - Vol 6 No 6[1]
- Strachey, Lytton (1918), Eminent Victorians[2]
- Churchill, Winston S. (1952), The river war - an account of the Reconquest of the Sudan, Eyre and Spottiswoode, London.
