Decent recap of the famous siege of Khartoum. The Charlton Heston movie kept imposing itself in my head as I was reading it. This argues that the Mahdi established modern day military Islamism which you could say it was true. Gladstone was in a tricky place - he didn't want to invade the Sudan - I think Butler over relies on military solutions: what if they'd smashed the Mahdi's army, what then? There still would have been a power vaccum.
The narrative is strong because you know Gordon is going to die. There is an epilogue where Kitchener comes back and conquers. I wish it was footnoted.
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