Sultanate of Egypt

20th-century British protectorate

This article is about the 20th-century British protectorate. For the medieval state centered in Egypt, see Mamluk Sultanate.

Sultanate of Egypt السلطنة المصرية‎ (Arabic) Salṭanat al-Miṣrīyya
1914–1922
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem:  Coptic Orthodox Church Judaism
Government	Constitutional monarchy
Sultan
• 1914–1917	Hussein Kamel
• 1917–1922	Fuad I
Henry McMahon
• 1916–1919	Reginald Wingate
• 1919–1925	Edmund Allenby
Adli Yakan
Historical era	World War I • Interwar period
• Established	19 December 1914
• Revolution	1919–1922
• Independence	28 February 1922
• Coronation of Fuad I	15 March 1922
Population
• 1917[1]	12,751,000
Currency	Egyptian pound
Preceded by Succeeded by Khedivate of Egypt Kingdom of Egypt

Part of a series on the
History of Egypt
Prehistoric Egypt Paleolithic 300,000–17,000 BC Mesolithic 17,000–9000 BC Predynastic Period 6000–3000 BC
Ancient Egypt Early Dynastic Period 3150–2686 BC Old Kingdom 2686–2181 BC 1st Intermediate Period 2181–2055 BC Middle Kingdom 2055–1650 BC 2nd Intermediate Period 1650–1550 BC New Kingdom 1550–1069 BC 3rd Intermediate Period 1069–664 BC Late Period 664–332 BC
Greco-Roman Egypt Argead dynasty 332–310 BC Ptolemaic dynasties 310–30 BC Roman and Byzantine Egypt 30 BC–641 AD Sasanian Egypt 619–629
Medieval Egypt Rashidun caliphate 641–661 Umayyad caliphate 661–750 Abbasid dynasty 750–935 Tulunid dynasty 868–905 Ikhshidid dynasty 935–969 Fatimid dynasty 969–1171 Ayyubid dynasty 1171–1250 Mamluk dynasty 1250–1517
French occupation	1798–1801
Muhammad Ali dynasty	1805–1953
Khedivate of Egypt	1867–1914

The Sultanate of Egypt (

Soon after the start of the First World War, Khedive Abbas II of Egypt was removed from power by the British due to his pro-Ottoman positions. He was replaced by his uncle Hussein Kamel, who declared Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed himself as Sultan. Though presented as the re-establishment of the pre-Ottoman Egyptian sultanate, the newly created Sultanate was to be a British protectorate, with effective political and military power vested in British officials. This brought to an end the de jure Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had been largely nominal since Muhammad Ali's seizure of power in 1805.

Opposition to European interference in Egyptian affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced and spread. British actions during the First World War, including the purchase of cotton stocks and requisitioning of animal fodder at below-market prices, the conscription of 55,000 Egyptians into the Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force and the stationing of large numbers of Allied troops in Egypt caused widespread resentment among the Egyptian populace. After the war, the Egyptian economy felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment.^{[citation needed]}

Upon Hussein Kamel's death, his only son, Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein, declined the succession, and Hussein Kamel's brother Ahmed Fuad ascended the throne as Fuad I.

When the war ended, Egyptian nationalists began to press the

On 16 March, between 150 and 300 upper-class Egyptian women in veils staged a demonstration against the British occupation, an event that marked the entrance of Egyptian women into public life. The women were led by Safia Zaghlul, wife of Wafd leader Saad Zaghlul; Huda Sharawi, wife of one of the original members of the Wafd and organiser of the Egyptian Feminist Union; and Muna Fahmi Wissa. Women of the lower classes demonstrated in the streets alongside the men. In the countryside, women engaged in activities like cutting rail lines.

The upper-class women participating in politics for the first time assumed key roles in the movement when the male leaders were exiled or detained. They organised strikes, demonstrations, and boycotts of British goods and wrote petitions, which they circulated to foreign embassies protesting British control in Egypt.

The women's march of 16 March preceded by one day the largest demonstration of the 1919 revolution. More than 10,000 teachers, students, workers, lawyers, and government employees started marching at

General Wingate, the British High Commissioner, understood the strength of the nationalist forces and the threat the Wafd represented to British control over Egypt and had tried to persuade the British Government to allow the Wafd to travel to Paris. However, the British Government remained hostile to Zaghlul and the nationalists and adamant in rejecting Egyptian demands for independence. General Wingate was recalled to London for talks on the Egyptian situation, while Sir Milne Cheetham was appointed Acting High Commissioner in January 1919.

When the 1919 revolution began, Cheetham soon realised that he was powerless to stop the demonstrations and admitted that matters were completely out of his control. Nevertheless, the government in London ordered him not to give in to the Wafd and to restore order, a task that he was unable to accomplish.

London decided to replace Wingate with a strong military figure,

On 28 February 1922, Britain unilaterally declared Egyptian independence, which proved controversial with Egyptian nationalists. Four matters were "absolutely reserved to the discretion" of the British government until agreements concerning them could be negotiated: the security of communications of the British Empire in Egypt; the defence of Egypt against all foreign aggressors or interference, direct or indirect; the protection of foreign interests in Egypt and the protection of minorities; and Sudan.

Britain subsequently exercised power over a nominally independent Egypt informally, as it had between 1882 and 1914.^[2]

Sultan Ahmad Fuad became King

• Sultan of Egypt
• Egyptian Expeditionary Force
• Sinai and Palestine campaign
• Middle Eastern theatre of World War I

Specific