History of Egypt under the British
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The history of Egypt under the British lasted from 1882, when it was occupied by British forces during the Anglo-Egyptian War, until 1956 after the Suez Crisis, when the last British forces withdrew in accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian agreement of 1954. The first period of British rule (1882–1914) is often called the "veiled protectorate". During this time the Khedivate of Egypt remained an autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire, and the British occupation had no legal basis but constituted a de facto protectorate over the country. Egypt was thus not part of the British Empire. This state of affairs lasted until 1914 when the Ottoman Empire joined World War I on the side of the Central Powers and Britain declared a protectorate over Egypt. The ruling khedive, Abbas II, was deposed and his successor, Hussein Kamel, compelled to declare himself Sultan of Egypt independent of the Ottomans in December 1914.[1]
The formal protectorate over Egypt outlasted the war for only a short period. It was brought to an end when the British government issued the
Veiled protectorate (1882–1913)
Throughout the 19th century, the ruling dynasty of Egypt had borrowed and spent vast sums of money on its own luxury and on the infrastructural development of Egypt. The dynasty's economic development was almost wholly oriented toward military dual-use goals. Consequently, despite vast sums of European capital, actual economic production and resulting revenues were insufficient to repay the loans. Eventually, the country teetered toward economic dissolution and implosion. In turn, a European commission led by Britain and France took control of the treasury of Egypt, forgave debt in return for taking control of the Suez Canal, and reoriented economic development toward capital gain.
However by 1882, Islamic and Arab nationalist opposition to European influence led to growing tension amongst notable natives, especially in Egypt which was then the most powerful, populous, and influential of Arab[dubious ] countries. The most dangerous opposition during this period came from the Egyptian army, which saw the reorientation of economic development away from their control as a threat to their privileges.
The Urabi revolt, a large military demonstration in September 1881, forced the Khedive Tewfiq to dismiss his Prime Minister and rule by decree. Many of the Europeans retreated to specially designed quarters suited for defense or heavily European-settled cities such as Alexandria.
Consequently in April 1882, France and Great Britain sent warships to
The purpose of the invasion had been to restore political stability to Egypt under a government of the Khedive and international controls that were in place to streamline Egyptian financing since 1876. It is unlikely that the British expected a long-term occupation from the outset; however, Lord Cromer, Britain's Chief Representative in Egypt at the time, viewed Egypt's financial reforms as part of a long-term objective. Cromer took the view that political stability needed financial stability and embarked on a programme of long-term investment in Egypt's agricultural revenue sources, the largest of which was cotton. To accomplish this, Cromer worked to improve the Nile's irrigation system through multiple large projects, such as the construction of the Aswan Dam, the Nile Barrage, and an increase in canals available to agriculturally focused lands.[3]
In 1906, the Denshawai incident provoked questioning of British rule in Egypt. This was exploited in turn by the German Empire which began re-organising, funding, and expanding anti-British revolutionary nationalist movements. For the first quarter of the 20th century, Britain's main goal in Egypt was penetrating these groups, neutralising them, and attempting to form more pro-British nationalist groups with which to hand further control. However, after the end of World War I, British colonial authorities attempted to legitimise their less radical opponents with entrance into the League of Nations including the peace treaty of Versailles. Thus, the Wafd Party was invited and promised full independence in the years ahead. British occupation ended nominally with the UK's 1922 declaration of Egyptian independence, but British military domination of Egypt lasted until 1936.[1]
During British occupation and later control, Egypt developed into a regional commercial and trading destination. Entrepreneurs including
Formal occupation (1914–1922)
In 1914 as a result of the declaration of war with the Ottoman Empire, of which Egypt was nominally a part, Britain declared a Protectorate over Egypt and deposed the Khedive, replacing him with a family member who was made Sultan of Egypt by the British. A group known as the
In the aftermath of World War I, the large British Imperial Army in Egypt which was the centre of operations against the Ottoman Empire was quickly reduced with demobilisation and restructuring of garrisons. Free of the large British military presence, the incipient German backed revolutionary movements were able to more effectively launch their operations.
Consequently, from March to April 1919, there were mass demonstrations that became uprisings. This is known in Egypt as the
In November 1919, the
Continued occupation (1922–1956)
In December 1921, the British authorities in Cairo imposed martial law and once again deported Zaghlul. Demonstrations again led to violence. In deference to the growing nationalism and at the suggestion of the
During World War II, British troops used Egypt as a base for Allied operations throughout the region.
British troops were withdrawn to the Suez Canal area in 1947, but nationalist, anti-British feelings continued to grow after the war. The
Languages
From the beginning of his reign in 1805,
The privileged position of the French language in Egypt, second only to Arabic, persisted even during the decades of the United Kingdom's occupation of the country, with French rather than English being the foreign language of choice of both the Egyptian government, and the Egyptian elites. Despite efforts from British legal personnel, English was never adopted as a language of the Egyptian civil courts during the period of British influence.[6]
Foreign community
Foreigners tried for civil offenses attended mixed Egyptian-foreigner courts; these courts used the French language as the medium of proceedings. Courts operated by embassies and consulates tried their respective citizens in regards to criminal matters.[6]
See also
References
- ^ a b Vatikiotis, Panayiotis J. (1991). The history of modern Egypt: from Muhammad Ali to Mubarak.
- ^ Marlowe, John (1965). A History of Modern Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Relations: 1800-1956. Archon Books.
- ^ Cleveland (2013). A History of the Modern Middle East. Westview Press.
- ^ Osman, Tarek (2010). Egypt on the Brink. Yale University Press, 33.
- ^ Fahmy, Ziad (2011). Ordinary Egyptians: Creating the Modern Nation through Popular Culture. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 138–39.
- ^ ISBN 1848857098, 9781848857094. Google Books.
Further reading
- Baer, Gabriel (1969). Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt. U Chicago Press
- Wikidata Q107160423.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link - Chamberlain, M. E. (2009). The Scramble for Africa (3rd ed. pp 33–43. pp 28–39. online
- Daly, M. W. ed. (1998). The Cambridge history of Egypt. Vol. 2: Modern Egypt from 1517 to the end of the twentieth century. online
- Fletcher, Max E. (1958). "The Suez Canal and World Shipping, 1869-1914". Journal of Economic History, 18#4: 556–573. in JSTOR
- Green, Dominic (2007). Three empires on the Nile: the Victorian jihad, 1869-1899. Simon and Schuster.
- Harrison, Robert T. (1995). Gladstone's imperialism in Egypt: techniques of domination Greenwood.
- Iacolucci, Jared Paul. "Finance and Empire:'Gentlemanly Capitalism'in Britain's Occupation of Egypt." (MA Thesis, CUNY, 2014). online
- Karakoç, Ulaş. "Industrial growth in interwar Egypt: first estimate, new insights" European Review of Economic History (2018) 22#1 53–72, online
- Knaplund, Paul. Gladstone's Foreign Policy (Harper and Row, 1935) pp 161–248. online
- Landes, David. Bankers and Pashas: International Finance and Economic Imperialism in Egypt (Harvard UP, 1980).
- Langer, William L. European Alliances and Alignments, 1871–1890 (2nd ed. 1950) pp 251–280. online
- Mak, Lanver. The British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises 1882-1922 (IB Tauris, 2012).
- Mangold, Peter. What the British Did: Two Centuries in the Middle East (IB Tauris, 2016).
- Marlowe, John. A History of Modern Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Relations: 1800-1956 (Archon Books, 1965).
- Mowat, R. C. "From Liberalism to Imperialism: The Case of Egypt 1875-1887." Historical Journal 16#1 (1973): 109–24. online.
- Owen, Roger. Lord Cromer: Victorian Imperialist, Edwardian Proconsul (Oxford UP, 2004).
- Robinson, Ronald, and John Gallagher. Africa and the Victorians: The Climax of Imperialism (1961) pp 76–159. online
- Tignor, Robert. Modernization and British Colonial Rule in Egypt, 1882-1914 (Princeton UP, 1966).
- Tignor, Robert. Egypt: A Short History (2011) pp 228–55.
- Vatikiotis, Panayiotis J. The history of modern Egypt: from Muhammad Ali to Mubarak (4th ed. Johns Hopkins UP, 1991).
Primary sources
- Cromer, Earl of. Modern Egypt (2 vol 1908) online free 1220pp
- Milner, Alfred. England in Egypt (London, 1892). online