Gladstone, Gordon and the Sudan Wars

The Battle over Imperial Invention in the Victorian Age

Fergus Nicoll

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9781781591826
• eBook ISBN: 9781473822535
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

General Gordons death in Khartoum on 26 January 1885 and the fall of the besieged city to the forces of the Mahdi was a crucial episode in British imperial history. It was deeply controversial at the time, and it still is today. Gordon has routinely been depicted as the hero of the story, in contrast to Prime Minister Gladstone who is often portrayed as the villain of the piece, responsible for a policy of drift in Sudan.Fergus Nicolls radical reappraisal, which is based on eyewitness accounts and previously unpublished archive material, refutes the conventional image of both men. Presenting an inside view of Gladstones thinking and decision-making, Nicoll gives the prime minister credit for his steadfast insistence that Britain should have minimal engagement in and zero responsibility for Sudan. Gordon, who succumbed to a lasting mania that skewed his decision-making and undermined his military capacity, is cast in a more sceptical light. This fascinating insight into British policy in Africa exposes the inner workings of government, the influence of the press and public opinion and the power of a book to change a government.Each stage in the rapid sequence of events is reconsidered Gladstones steely determination to avoid involvement, Gordons partial evacuation of Khartoum, the siege, the despatch of the relief expedition that arrived too late, the abandonment of Sudan, and the subsequent political battle over responsibility. The personal cost to both men was great: Gordon lost his life and Gladstone saw his reputation gravely tarnished.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of illustrations
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgements
• Dramatis Personae
• Introduction: ‘A true and equitable judgement’
• Chapter 1: Non-interventionism: policy and practice
• Chapter 2: From Egypt into Sudan?
• Chapter 3: ‘Gordon for the Soudan!’
• Chapter 4: Gladstone struggles to retain control
• Chapter 5: ‘No end to our responsibilities’
• Chapter 6: ‘A snob and a self-interested man’
• Chapter 7: Gladstone’s policy victory
• Chapter 8: Gladstone’s defeat and the seeds of future policy
• Notes
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Bibliography