CHARLES GEORGE CHINESE GORDON
The Gladstone government delayes and the force did not arrive on time. The town fell to the Madhi’s forces. Gordon was killed.
The Sudan was then under the control of the Egyptian government.
It was true in Gordon’s time, and it was unfortunately true even into the 21st century.
Gordon, then a young officer, was part of an British and French expeditionary force that was ordered to destroy the Yuanming Yuan—the Garden of Perfect Brightness which was called “The Old Summer Palace” where the emperors of China resided in the summer. It was the best Chinese architecture of the time and the palaces were full of many great works of art. The reason for the destruction was that the Chinese had imprisoned Western representatives who had come to manage a treaty. While incarcerated, the Western prisoners were murdered. Generally, retaliation was meant to do damage to something that the rulers of the offending nations valued greatly.
