Who Is?Was The "Mhadi"?

[Askance]

@Captain Amazing

Basically, in Sudan in the 1880s, a man named Muhammed Ahmed declared himself the Mahdi, and led a revolt against the Egyptians and British, who were together occupying Sudan. In 1884, the Mahdi’s army beseiged Khartoum. The British-Egyptian army in Khartoum was led by the famous Britsh general (and governor of the Sudan), Sir George “Chinese” Gordon. Gordon defended the city while under siege, but then, just two days before a relief force of British troops got there, the city fell by treachery, and Gordon was killed by the Mahdi’s army.

As documented by that fine historical source, the Goon Show:

McGOONIGAL:
‘Twas in the year 1884 and in the month of June,
That Major Bloodnok and his gallant men were besieged in Khartoum.
Besieged by the Mahdi’s savage men, they formed a thin red line,
But the Mahdi did not care at all, for he was Mahdi-fine.