Charles George Gordon, having reached Khartoum in…

Charles George Gordon, having reached Khartoum in February 1884, had at first been greeted with jubilation, as many of the tribes in the immediate area are at odds with the Mahdists.

Transportation northward was still open and the telegraph lines intact.

However, the uprising of the Beja soon after his arrival had changed things considerably, reducing communications to runners.

Considering the routes northward to be too dangerous to extricate the garrisons, Gordon has pressed for reinforcements to be sent from Cairo to help with the withdrawal.

He has also suggested that his old enemy Al-Zubayr Rahma Mansur, a fine military commander, be given tacit control of the Sudan in order to provide a counter to the Ansār.

London rejects both proposals, so Gordon prepares for a fight.

Gordon had tried a small offensive to clear the road northward to Egypt in March 1884 but a number of the officers in the Egyptian force had gone over to the enemy and their forces had fled the field after firing a single salvo.

This had convinced him that he could carry out only defensive operations and he had returned to Khartoum to construct defensive works.

By April 1884, Gordon has managed to evacuate some twenty-five hundred of the foreign population that are able to make the trek northwards.

His mobile force under Colonel Stewart then returns to the city after repeated incidents where the two hundred or so Egyptian forces under his command turn and run at the slightest provocation.

This month, the Ansār reach Khartoum and Gordon is completely cut off.

Nevertheless, his defensive works, consisting mainly of mines, prove so frightening to the Ansār that they are unable to penetrate into the city.