The Nile River is the longest in the world stretching for 4,187 miles running south to north. It is formed by two major tributaries -- the Blue Nile which is the Eastern branch, originates in the Ethiopian Highlands, while the White Nile, being the Western branch springs from Lake Victoria.
At the juncture of these two tributaries, in the middle of the vast Sudanese desert lies the city of Khartoum.
Since 1819, Khartoum had been under Egyptian colonial administration. Egypt itself became a de facto British protectorate in 1882.
This colonial system was resented by the Sudanese because of the high taxes it imposed, and because of its opposition to the slave trade.
In the 1870s, a Muslim cleric by the name of Muhammad Ahmad preached renewal of the faith and liberation from colonial powers. He eventually proclaimed himself as the Mahdi "the promised one" and preached holy war.
Egypt was ill-prepared to deal with the Mahdi, whose followers were now in the tens of thousands -- and growing, but they started to assemble troops at Khartoum in the summer of 1883.
This forced consisted of around 7,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry plus artillery, and was commanded by a retired British staff officer by the name of William Hicks.
It was an unpaid, untrained,and undisciplined force.
The Mahdi led Hicks' army into the vastness of the Sudan desert and then annihilated it at the battle of El Obeid.
Worse for the Egyptians, The Mahdi now had obtained thousands of rifles, ammunition, and artillery.
The remaining Egyptian forces in the Sudan were insufficient to cope with the revolt, and in December 1883, the British government ordered that the Egyptians should be evacuated from the Sudan -- particularly Khartoum. In Khartoum were thousands of Egyptian soldiers and civilians. There were also many foreign European embassies.
The British government was reluctant to send troops into the region, but prevailed upon General Charles "Chinese" Gordon to go to the Sudan and help the Egyptians effect the evacuation.
Gordon was no stranger to the Sudan as he had earlier helped the Egyptians quell the slave trade in the region.
Gordon arrived in Khartoum on February 18th, 1884 and immediately saw how difficult such an evacuation would be. He also believed that the Mahdi must be stopped there in the Sudan lest his armies threaten Egypt itself.
He did manage to get a few of the Egyptians out of the Sudan, but soon the Mahdi closed the Nile above Khartoum making further evacuation difficult if not impossible.
So Gordon proceeded to fortify Khartoum. With the White Nile to the west, the Blue Nile to the east, and fortified walls and a water filled ditch to the south, it was a strongly fortified position. There was also ample provision for the garrison and civilian occupants for more than 6 months.
But the depth of the Nile River come next winter would begin to fall as the dry season commenced in the tributary sources next winter.
Gordon had around 10 months to convince the British government to act and to send troops to the region.
The Mahdi and his army began the siege of Khartoum on March 18th.
Food supplies eventually began to run low. An outbreak of Cholera began to decimate the population and the garrison.
In the meantime, the British had decided to abandon the Sudan, but under tremendous public pressure decided to send a relief force to Egypt in August.
But it wasn't until November that this force, commanded by Field Marshal Garnet Wolseley, was ready to move and began its slow trek towards Khartoum.
But the Nile was falling. The protective ditch to the south of the city was now nothing more than a mud pit.
After 313 days of siege, on January 26th, 1885, the Mahdi's 60,000 warriors attacked, slaughtering the 7,000 man garrison, all of the Egyptians, and all of the foreigners inside the city. Gordon was killed on the steps of the Presidential Palace, his head was cut off, placed on a stake and presented to the Mahdi.
Wolseley's relief column arrived two days later.
Muhammad Ahmed, known as the Mahdi, died in June 1885.
