The Nile Expedition (or Gordon Relief Expedition) was a key event in the British-Mahdist wars in Sudan.
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In 1884-1885, General Sir Garnet Wolseley led a British Army up the Nile to rescue Charles Gordon who was besieged in Khartoum.
This is the story of that expedition, which despite several victories over the Mahdi’s Sudanese army, eventually ended in failure.
Other videos in this British-Mahdist war in Sudan:
The Battle of El Teb 1884(plus background as to why British were in Sudan)
https://youtu.be/2Co9WWC9pvI
The Battle of Tamai 1884 (the British square broken)
https://youtu.be/aOHWRoo5rPo
The Battle of Abu Klea (“The Gatling’s jammed and the Colonel’s dead”)
https://youtu.be/lAi4NZsLvOU
Gordon of Khartoum (A very Victorian hero)
https://youtu.be/z4DggwS1Wr0
The Battle of Omdurman (Gordon is avenged and the British conquer Sudan)
https://youtu.be/P8vE-f869WE
General Gordon had been sent to Khartoum to assist the Egyptians evacuate their nationals from the city in the face of a growing Islamic / nationalist revolt led by the Mahdi.
Having got most of the Egyptian civilians out of the city , Gordon took it upon himself to defend Khartoum and seek to establish an alternative Sudanese regime to counter the Mahdi.
But instead by the end of March 1884, he found himself besieged in the city and desperately appealed to the British government for assistance.
Eventually, Prime Minister, William Gladstone, sent a british army to Egypt under the command of General Sir Garnet Wolseley. His mission: to rescue the darling of the British public, “Chinese” Gordon, from Khartoum.
Making slow progress up the river and with messages from Gordon becoming more desperate, Wolseley decided to send a force of 1,500 men across the desert.
This Desert Column, was predominantly formed by 4 regiments of the Camel Corps, plus some mounted cavalry and a battalion of Infantry (the Royal Sussex Regiment).
The Desert column ended up fighting two pitched battles with the Mahdists.
In the first, at Abu Klea, the Sudanese managed to get inside the British square before being driven out in fierce hand-to-hand fighting.
A few days later, they again fought the Mahdist (Dervish) army at the battle of Abu Kru.
Despite achieving another victory, the column’s commander, Major-General Sir Herbert Stewart, was killed.
Finally, reaching the Nile, Colonel Charles Wilson headed up river by steamer to Khartoum.
In the meantime the Mahdi launched a successful assault on the city, which was overwhelmed and Gordon killed.
By the time Wilson arrived, it was too late.
Britain was shocked both by the death of their hero, General Gordon, and by the failure to relieve Khartoum.
Whilst Wolseley blamed Wilson, the general himself refused to shoulder any blame.
Somehow, the British public didn’t hold either soldier to account and instead rounded on Prime Minister Gladstone for not authorising the relief of Khartoum earlier.
In the end the Nile Expedition quietly withdrew from Sudan.
It would be over a decade before the British returned to avenge Gordon at the battle of Omdurman.
#thenileexpedition1885 #gordonreliefexpedition #generalsirgarnetwolseley #generalgordon
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:00 The Gordon Relief Expedition
3:40 Desperate message from Khartoum
4:17 The Desert Column
6:18 Battle of Abu Klea
7:08 Battle of Abu Kru
11:30 Wilson heads up up-river
14:30 Mahdist’s storm Khartoum
15:34 Death of General Gordon
16:50 2 days late
18:35 Beresford to the rescue
19:55 “Too Late!”
23:10 The Blame Game
24:04 Aftermath
26:01 The History Chap
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My name is Chris Green (“The History Chap”) and I am on a mission to share the amazing history of Britain so that we can appreciate where we have come from and why we are here.
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Great job
Having seen the movie Khartoum I was mildly curious as what actually happened. Then I saw the title to this video! I was not disappointed in the least. History is always been a fascination of mine and this informative video, the narration being enthusiastic instead of boring, fulfilled my curiosity! Thank you!
It's almost unbelievable the toughness of these people, sent to the harshest places on Earth, no complain, just duty. The officers in particular, with only their duty and their men in mind. Wounded, the man said nothing, finished his task and silently went to die a few yards away, never worrying the troup. Imagine a XXI century woke or a millennial in this situation!
Great narrating…
Not to be a nitpicking pedant, but I do believe it’s WolseLy and not Wolsey; he was after all the very model of a modern major-general
I had undestood Burnaby was not a serving officer, not formally appointed a commander. He was a larger than life personality, an adventurer and determined to impose himself. It was he personally, who contrary to policy and NCO advice, opened the square. It is reported he was fascinated by the newly designed naval Gardner gun (gatling like) and wanted to play with it as he liked his customised elephant guns. Wilson, as all officers of the period were, was used to using initiative and interpreting orders when out of touch with senior commanders. Wolseley was slow and deeply unimpressive in several respects. Gladstone was Disraeli's opponent (a favourite of Victoria) she never liked him. Salisbury who suceeded him, was a Disraeli protege.
Chinese Gordon was one of my military heroes as a boy.
Thanks for the video.
excellent
Another excellent presentation, History Chap. I felt as if I were witnessing the events of this campaign, as you told it. Thank you for posting.
Redvers Buller whose statue is at Exeter St.Davids never wanted his promotion in the South Africa War. He was capable but not a thinker.
Well done, I've only discovered your channel and it's brilliant. I love history.
Brilliant!!
you are great storyteller !
relatively obscure to citizens of the invading colonialist government, not obscure at all to those that are invaded.
Año. 1898. Batalla de omdurman. General. Kitchener. Comandante en jefe. Ejército Egipcio..Británico.
Superb!
This 'History Chap' is one hell of a story teller. I look forward to more of his output.
I really enjoy your lectures,thanks for your hard work.
Great video. thanks
Jolly good show …..
So those scenes in Four feathers were based on the flying column fight. Good production design that, everything pretty accurate as far as kit and weapons go.
Was this the origin of "wait until you see the whites of their eyes"? Probably not but I would love to know if that was ever a real saying
This is my favorite history channel to watch, keep up the great work
My gt gt uncle (James Webber) was the boatswain in the Naval Party that took part in the trek across the desert. He was probably instrumental in the deployment of the Gardener gun at Abu Klea. In the fight at Mettemeh, he took charge of the Naval party as the highest ranking able member, all officers being killed, injured or sick (Beresford was suffering from a boil on his posterior). He was on the third ferry (Safieh) that went towards Khartoum to 'rescue' the other party on the other two ferries. He commanded the field gun placed on the bow of the ferry. In order to train the gun on the banks they had to cut the trail from the gun which meant if flipped over with each shot, requiring them to remove the sights before firing then righting the gun after the shot. Apparently shooting 150 shots in the course of the journey and maintaining fire while the boiler was repaired. After returning home he was promoted to Lieutenant, slated to be the first to join the Navy as a boy and progress through the 'other' ranks and finally gaining promotion to officer.
The story of the two ferries that made the initial journey and the third which went to their rescue, but ended up being rescued themselves, is a story in itself. A tableau of the Safieh was created at Madame Tussauds, I have a picture of it that they supplied but under the agreement I did not publish it anywhere.
If you are interested in the complete expedition I would suggest reading "Beyond the Reach of Empire" by Mike Snook which goes into it in incredible depth.
In the 1966 movie Khartoum there are some establishing shots at the beginning of the movie. Does anyone have a link to an article clearly identifying where these establishing shots were and are any of them now inundated by Lake Nasser? Is the shot of the soldiers camped in front of the original Abu Simbel location a matte shot or could that have been a real shot at the time?
What a ridiculous idea ! To bring Canadian Voyageurs across the Atlantic and subject the whole campaign to a 2 month delay
Throughout the Nile Expedition, Wolseley sounds like a first-class idiot.
Yet in Britain, he was considered one of the country’s greatest military heroes. He was promoted, knighted, and created a Viscount for his handling of the expedition.
Public relations trumped facts on the ground, as so often happens.
General Gordon's death was the fault of the British Prime Minister at the time for not allowing the releif columns to go to Khartoum in sufficient time to save Khartoum and Gordon.
I can only imagine Gladstone practically tearing his hair out each time he got an update on this entire affair he'd wanted to avoid entirely.
My grandfather was a corps man in the army on the Nile Expedition. Later he stayed in Egypt and became a senior officer in the police. He lived to see the British failure at Suez and the confiscation of all British owned property, including his, after many years service in Egypt.
I had to pause the video.. the “Braithwaite” thread was great! 🤣
Normal .number 10 .Send you .Then if the shit hits the fan .its head in the sand time .nothing changes to day with our Army in the UK.
I read that the makers of the movie Khartoum were in contact with the Mahdi's grandson in their efforts to be historically accurate. He said that to his knowledge Gordon and the Mahdi never met in person, but added "but they should have."
My great great grandfather was joint Chief Paymaster of the Army Pay Department and accompanied Wolesley on the Gordon Relief Expedition to act as paymaster to the expedition.
Nicely presented. Thank you.
Imperialist jingoism at its worse . Hubris that wasn't tested and then found lacking by the Boers and Zulus in the South African wars
It's left to wonder if Wilson's force would mean any difference at that moment, he could have succeded only with a full force, which was a bit worn out after two hardly fought battles. He could have succeded only by disobeying orders which is a bit of an irony. There were still 6000 soldiers in the city which was not a small force, Gordon could have managed defense better.
Wonderful storytelling – engaging and exciting – just the right level. Greatly appreciated – thank you
Great work….. Grüße aus Deutschland!
A spirited narration. Good show.
fighting isis back them days
Good lecture and narration.
Nice to know the RSR was on the Khartoum boat
Eritreans are fighting in the streets of Israel.
Great doc. thank you
The good old days when Britain was kicking but all over the globe, imperialism yes but they deserved it 🤗😄
Another great video!
Some random thoughts and tidbits:
1) Wolseley's plan would have probably worked in April, when he devised it; by September it should have been obvious it was too late for such slow, methodic approach (especially with falling Nile making rowing through cataracts near-impossible);
2) Wilson's delay at Metemmeh was no only to collect firewood but also to conduct a full day reconnaissance to ensure safety of his command (there were rumors of Mahdist army approaching from Berber); another day was lost preparing steamers and in sorting out steamers crews because Gordon insisted no Egyptians should be returned to Khartoum, only Sudanese;
3) After being stranded in the middle of enemy territory, on Mernat Island, at one point Wilson had to contemplate killing his wounded;
4) "Beresford to the rescue" is worth big budget Hollywood movie alone; he had to repair pierced boiler at point-blank range of Wad Habeshi batteries!
Classical Imperial arrogance by Wolsely, a bit like Churchill's push for the Gallipoli attack.
In a way this was also the fight against the slave trade , very much trafficked through Sudan under the Islamic states control. That Wolseley scapegoated what appears to be a very brave and talented officer in Wilson shows the arrogance of an elitist establishments failure in Imperial times. It would take the Boer wars to convince the army the folly of Brawn over Brain , not until 1905 was the British Army doctrine of the principles that help form the thinking of our modern army . Yet to be tempered in the catastrophic world wars, as the Imperial Britain finally collapsed.
Today as a class system that still pushes to exert itself through breeding over brains, continues to infest political choices and appointments. The UK's readiness for conflict hampered by numbers and the will of woolly headed bankers and property developers , replacing those of shopkeepers, to really be held to account for the meeting the nations needs. While wealth from the public purse is skimmed and hoarded into the pockets of the same minded greed and arrogant people , happy to scapegoat anyone stopping their personal wealth plan and ruinous ambitions of Empire.