In 1882 an indigenous revolt in the Egyptian Army threatens British interests in the Suez canal. The British attack Alexandria then defeat the Egyptian Army at Tel-el-Kebir, reluctantly beginning their seventy year occupation of the country. Inherited is antagonism between Egypt and its Sudan provinces seeking independence under a fanatic Moslem Mahdi. In 1884 General Charles Gordon is sent to pacify the dervishes but becomes besieged in Khartoum. A relief column of British troops arrives just too late, and without the resources to continue the fight, leaves the Sudan to the Mahdi's successor, the Khalifa. By 1897 the Khalifa's army still threatens Egyptian outposts and a second campaign is dispatched up the Nile, this time resulting in a grand battle at Omdurman, outside Khartoum, that breaks the power of the Khalifa.