British Political Ambitions 13 He took the Eastern Sudan and captured the rebellion of Sennar, gathered soldiers, and came. He dismissed the officials who had betrayed him. Then he himself marched with an army to crush the revolution leaders in Sennar one by one. He almost quelled the revolution everywhere when he received an order from Cairo to return. It was as if the English did not want to quell the revolution but rather to intensify it. They appointed Alaa El Din Pasha to succeed him, claiming that Abd Al Qadir Pasha wanted independence for Sudan. It is known that when the English entered Cairo, the first thing they did was to disband the army on December 20, 1882, then they gathered six thousand men and appointed Sir Evelyn Wood as Sirdar and appointed English officers as commanders and sent to Sudan ten thousand remnants of Arabi's army, led by Hicks Pasha. Alaa El Din Pasha arrived in Khartoum on February 20, 1883, with his authority confined to the Royal Administration, and with Suleiman Pasha Niazi in charge of the military, and Hicks Pasha as Chief of Staff. When Abd Al Qadir Pasha arrived in Egypt, he urged the government to let the army maintain control of the White Nile so that the revolution would not extend to Sennar, and to leave Muhammad Ahmad and his followers in Kordofan, as they would collapse on their own. They did not heed his advice. Hicks Pasha prepared a large expedition to Kordofan, consisting of 7,000 infantry, 5,000 regular cavalry, 5,000 volunteer cavalry, 2,000 followers, 5,000 camels, 3,000 mules, 10,000 baggage animals, 5,000 horses, 100 mountain guns, 4 Krupp guns, and 64 Gatling guns. This army marched and lost its way. On November 4, the Dervishes began to surround Hicks' camp, which had entered a valley full of forests and thorns in search of water, as the soldiers were suffering from thirst. Muhammad Ahmad's men attacked from all sides, killing the army. Only two officers and 300 soldiers survived, taken prisoner. At that point, Colonel Stewart sent a report to his government that the time had come to evacuate Sudan. They urged Khedive Tewfik Pasha to agree, but he did not.