Charles George Gordon Biography

Charles George Gordon, better known as Gordon Pasha or Gordon of Khartoum, was an English army officer and administrator, best remembered for his expeditions in China and northern Africa. As a general of the British army, he served in the Crimean War and participated in the expedition to Kinburn, for which he was honored with the Crimean war medal and clasp from the British government and was made the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by the French government. However, his major recognition came after his appointment as the commander of the 3,500 Chinese soldiers, known as the ‘Ever Victorious Army’, following which he succeeded in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion and seizing its principal military base, Changzhou Fu. This heroic service earned him accolades from both the British and the Chinese government, apart from the nickname ‘Chinese Gordon’. He entered the Egyptian army under Khedive Ismail Pasha and served in Khartoum and Gondokoro, building stations along River Nile and making attempts to end slave trade. Eventually, his appointment as the Governor-General of Sudan took him to Khartoum to free British and Egyptian forces, due to the uprising of Sudanese rebels led by Muhammad Ahmad, who proclaimed himself Mahdi, against the Anglo-Egyptian rule, where he was captured and executed