If Charles Gordon obeyed the order to leave Khartoum

What changes if Charles Gordon evacuates Khartoum instead of remaining for the siege?

He survives and Britain avoids the rescue crisis created by his refusal to withdraw, while the later Gordon-of-Khartoum martyr legend never forms in the same way.

Gordon's inspirational reputation sits alongside a strongly critical assessment of his choices at Khartoum. He could have withdrawn as ordered. Remaining also left opportunities to secure the city more effectively, in this interpretation. His decisions are interpreted as an attempt to compel British intervention, creating the need for a relief effort. The counterfactual therefore centers on avoiding that crisis and his death, rather than reconstructing the subsequent history of Sudan.