Gordon returned to the United Kingdom and commanded the Royal Engineer efforts around
Gravesend, the erection of forts for the defence of the
Thames. In October
1871, he was appointed British representative on the international commission to maintain the navigation of the mouth of the
River Danube, with headquarters at
Galatz. In
1872 Gordon was sent to inspect the British military cemeteries in the Crimea, and when passing through
Constantinople he made the acquaintance of the prime minister of
Egypt, who opened negotiations for Gordon to serve under the
khedive. In
1873 Gordon received a definite offer from the khedive, which he accepted with the consent of the British government, and proceeded to Egypt early in
1874. Gordon was made a colonel in the Egyptian army.
The Egyptian authorities had been extending their control southwards since the
1820s. An expedition was sent up the
White Nile, under Sir
Samuel Baker, which reached
Khartoum in February
1870 and
Gondokoro in June
1871. Baker met with great difficulties and managed little beyond establishing a few posts along the
Nile. The khedive asked for Gordon to succeed Baker as governor of the region. After a short stay in
Cairo, Gordon proceeded to Khartoum via Suakin and Berber. From Khartoum, he proceeded up the White Nile to Gondokoro.
Gordon remained in the Gondokoro provinces until October
1876. He had succeeded in establishing a line of way stations from the Sobat confluence on the White Nile to the frontier of
Uganda, where he proposed to open a route from
Mombasa. In
1874 he built the station at
Dufile on the
Albert Nile to reassemble steamers carried there past rapids for the exploration of
Lake Albert. Considerable progress was made in the suppression of the
slave trade. However, Gordon had come into conflict with the Egyptian governor of Khartoum and
Sudan. The clash led to Gordon informing the khedive that he did not wish to return to the Sudan and he left for
London. Ismail Pasha wrote to him saying that he had promised to return, and that he expected him to keep his word. Gordon agreed to return to Cairo, but insisted that he be appointed governor-general of the entire Sudan. After some discussion the khedive agreed, and made him governor-general of the entire Sudan
As governor, Gordon faced a variety of challenges. Relations between Egypt and
Abyssinia had become strained due to a dispute over the district of Bogos, and war broke out in
1875. An Egyptian expedition was completely defeated near Gundet. A second and larger expedition, under Prince Hassan, was sent the following year and was routed at Gura. Matters then remained quiet until March
1877, when Gordon proceeded to Massawa hoping to make peace with the Abyssinians. He went up to Bogos and wrote to the king proposing terms. However, he received no reply as the king had gone southwards to fight with the Shoa. Gordon, seeing that the Abyssinian difficulty could wait, proceeded to Khartoum.
An
insurrection had broken out in
Darfur and Gordon went there. The insurgents were very numerous and he saw that diplomacy had a better chance of success. Gordon, accompanied only by an interpreter, rode into the enemy's camp to discuss the situation. This bold move proved successful, as many of the insurgents joined him, though the remainder retreated to the south. Gordon then visited the provinces of Berber and Dongola, and then returned to the Abyssinian frontier before ending up back in Khartoum in January
1878. Gordon was summoned to Cairo, and arrived in March to be appointed president of a commission. The khedive was deposed in
1879 in favour of his son.
Gordon returned south. He proceeded to
Harrar, south of Abyssinia, and, finding the administration in poor standing, dismissed the governor. He then returned to Khartoum, and went again into Darfur to suppress the slave traders. His subordinate,
Gessi Pasha, fought with great success in the
Bahr-el-Ghazal district in putting an end to the revolt there. Gordon then tried another peace mission to Abyssinia. The matter ended with Gordon's imprisonment and transfer to Massawa. Thence he returned to Cairo and resigned his Sudan appointment. He was exhausted by the years of incessant work.
In March
1880 Gordon visited King Leopold in Brussels and was invited to take charge of the
Congo Free State. In April, the government of the
Cape Colony offered him the position of commandant of the Cape local forces. In May the
Marquess of Ripon, who had been given the post of
Governor-General of India, asked Gordon to go with him as private secretary. Gordon accepted the offer, but shortly after arriving in India he resigned. Hardly had he resigned when he was invited by
Sir Robert Hart, 1st Baronet, inspector-general of customs in China, to Beijing. He arrived in China in July and met Li Hongzhang, and learnt that there was risk of war with Russia. Gordon proceeded to Beijing and used all his influence to ensure peace. Gordon returned to the United Kingdom, but in April
1881 left for
Mauritius as Commanding Royal Engineer. He remained in Mauritius until March
1882, when he was promoted to major-general. He was sent to the Cape to aid in settling affairs in
Basutoland. He returned to the United Kingdom after only a few months. Being unemployed, Gordon decided to go to Palestine, a country he had long desired to visit; he would remain there for a year. The king of the Belgians then asked him again to take charge of the Congo Free State. He accepted and returned to London to make preparations, but soon after his arrival the British requested that he proceed immediately to the Sudan, where the situation had declined badly after his departure -- another revolt had arisen, led by the self-proclaimed
mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed.
The Egyptian forces in the Sudan were insufficient to cope with the rebels, and the northern government was occupied in the suppression of the
Arabi revolt. By September
1882 the Sudanese position had grown perilous. In December
1883, the British government ordered Egypt to abandon the Sudan, but abandonment was difficult to carry out as it involved the withdrawal of thousands of Egyptian soldiers, civilian employees and their families. The British government asked Gordon to proceed to Khartoum to report on the best method of carrying out the evacuation.
Gordon started for Cairo in January
1884, accompanied by
Lt Col J D H Stewart. At Cairo, he received further instructions from
Sir Evelyn Baring, and was appointed governor-general with executive powers. Travelling through Korosko and Berber, he arrived at Khartoum on
February 18, where he offered his earlier foe, the slave-king
Sebehr Rahma, release from prison in exchange for leading troops against Ahmed. Gordon commenced the task of sending the women and children and the sick and wounded to Egypt, and about 2,500 had been removed before the Mahdi’s forces closed in. Gordon hoped to have the influential local leader Sebehr Rahma appointed to take control of Sudan, but the British government refused to support a former slaver.
The advance of the rebels against Khartoum was combined with a revolt in the eastern Sudan; the Egyptian troops at Suakin were repeatedly defeated. A British force was sent to Suakin under General Sir
Gerald Graham, and forced the rebels away in several hard-fought actions. Gordon urged that the road from Suakin to Berber be opened, but his request was refused by the government in London, and in April Graham and his forces were withdrawn and Gordon and the Sudan were abandoned. The garrison at Berber surrendered in May and Khartoum was completely isolated.
Gordon organized the defence of Khartoum, with a siege starting on
March 18, 1884. The British had decided to abandon the Sudan, but it was clear that Gordon had other plans, and the public increasingly called for his relief. It was not until August that the government decided to take steps to relieve Gordon, and only by November was the British relief force, called the
Nile Expedition under the command of Field Marshal
Garnet Wolseley, ready.
The force consisted of two groups, a "flying column" of camel-borne troops from
Wadi Halfa. The troops reached Korti towards the end of
December, and arrived at Metemma on
January 20, 1885. There they found four gunboats which had been sent south by Gordon four months earlier, and prepared them for the trip back up the Nile. On the 24th, two of the steamers started for Khartoum, but on arriving there on the 28th, they found that the city had been captured and Gordon dead, having been killed two days previously (2 days before his 52nd birthday). After he had been beheaded by
Mahdi Mohammed Ahmed's soldiers, his head was displayed on a pike.
