DOI: https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2017.68
Available at: https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/1823
Date of Award
6-2017
Degree Name
MA in History
Department/Program
History
Advisor
Thomas Trice
Abstract
From 1884 to 1885 the British were first engaged with the Mahdist forces of Sudan in an effort to first rescue the inhabitants of Khartuom, and later to rescue the rescuer Charles “Chinese” Gordon. The affair played out both in Parliament and the newspapers as journalists became the cheerleaders for Empire. My thesis focuses on Britain’s 1884-1890 Sudan Campaign through print culture using political debates, journalism, literature, memoirs, and art. I show how the activism of the press and the romanticism of the larger media reinforced ideas about imperialism and the British role within the Empire at large.