1.3 Getting the whole story from "the egyptian red book": general

The story

Historical background

In the 1820's, Egyptian and British forces invaded Sudan, the African region lying just south of Egypt, designating it a subject state of Egypt. By themid-nineteennth- century, the British interest in Sudan had increased markedly due to its strategic location for their trade routes to India and the threat of agrowing French influence in Africa. The combination of increasing Egyptian and European control over Sudan sparked the emergence in 1882 of a man known as theMahdi, meaning "the expected one" in local tradition. The Mahdi, a man named Mohammad Ahmed, was expected to liberate the Islamic world from the oppression offoreign occupation. Ahmed called upon all of the true believers of Islam to stand up and resist foreign oppression, who then rose up and engaged the local authoritiesthroughout the region. Although the British had not officially colonized Egypt or taken possession of the region, they were in occupation of it and all but controlledthe Egyptian government at this time. Bloody battles ensued and the Mahdi was victorious against both the British and Egyptian armies sent to defeat him. In lightof their failures, British and Egyptian officials decided to abandon the region and evacuate the remaining civilians living there. In January of 1884, General Gordonwas assigned this task and sent to the city of Khartoum for the purpose of facilitating the evacuation of some fifteen-thousand Egyptians and Europeansremaining in, but wishing to leave, the region of Sudan.