Egypt

D

Increased Foreign Involvement

Ismail Pasha was Egypt’s ruler at the time the canal opened. The Ottoman sultan had granted him the hereditary title of khedive two years earlier. Ismail used the canal’s inaugural celebrations to showcase the country’s Westernization, which included the construction of European quarters in Cairo and Alexandria, sumptuous palaces, the Cairo Opera House, and many factories, railways, and telegraph lines. He dispatched military expeditions to expand his empire in Sudan and to explore the African interior. The government could afford such luxuries because of the booming demand for Egyptian cotton, caused by shortfalls of American cotton as a result of the American Civil War (1861-1865). Foreign banks and individuals eagerly invested in Egypt’s economy.

Economic conditions later deteriorated, forcing Egypt to borrow from foreign creditors to finance its projects. To stave off economic crisis, the government adopted drastic measures such as collecting taxes in advance, selling its shares in the company that operated the Suez Canal, and finally declaring bankruptcy. Egypt’s inability to pay back its loans led to the appointment of foreign debt commissioners to monitor Egypt’s finances in 1876, the inclusion of British and French ministers in Egypt’s cabinet in 1878, and finally the forced abdication of Ismail in 1879. Under European pressure, the Ottoman sultan installed Ismail’s son, Tawfik (also spelled Tawfiq), who cooperated with Egypt’s foreign creditors.

Some Egyptians formed nationalist groups to combat the rising European influence. Inspired by Iranian-born Islamic activist Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who lived and taught in Egypt for eight years, Egyptians produced plays and published newspapers demanding independence and constitutional rule. Demands for more control over their own country increased when the foreign debt commissioners reduced expenditures on education, economic development, and defense.

During the reigns of Said Pasha and Ismail Pasha, Egyptians had gradually been allowed to enter the officer corps of the military. Egyptian officers organized secret societies in response to discrimination by the traditionally dominant Turkish and Circassian officers. In 1881 an Egyptian colonel named Ahmad Arabi led a mutiny against the war minister and later a larger demonstration against the khedive. He demanded a popularly elected legislature and an increased budget for the army. In early 1882 the nationalists gained control of the cabinet and the army, threatening the Turkish and Circassian officers and even the khedive himself. Riots broke out in the port cities, and Britain and France sent warships to blockade Alexandria harbor.

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Arabi, now minister of war, refused an ultimatum to pull down Alexandria’s fortifications. On July 11, 1882, British battleships bombarded Alexandria, setting the city afire. Khedive Tawfik, siding with Britain, declared Arabi a rebel, thus setting the stage for a British invasion and occupation, first of Alexandria, then of the Suez Canal, and finally (after defeating Arabi’s troops at Tel al-Kabir) of Cairo itself. Arabi and his followers were jailed, put on trial, and exiled from Egypt, and the khedive was restored to power.

E

British Rule

British forces occupied Egypt in 1882. Although the British government intended the military occupation to be brief, Britain became ever more involved in Egyptian affairs. Between 1883 and 1885 British troops attempted to crush a rebellion in Sudan that threatened Egypt’s control of the upper Nile and the Red Sea coast. The rebels, led by Muhammad Ahmad, also known as the Mahdi (“the rightly guided one”), destroyed the British armies that were sent against them. Sudan remained independent until it was conquered by a combined British and Egyptian force between 1896 and 1898.

The British exerted ever more control over Egypt’s government. Their consul general, Sir Evelyn Baring (known after 1892 as Lord Cromer), undertook to reform the country’s finances and to restore public order. His success in reforming finances restored European confidence in Egypt’s economy. However, it also caused a steady increase in the number of British advisers to the Egyptian cabinet and, over time, in the numbers of British irrigation inspectors, judges, police, and army officers. The resentment of ethnic Egyptians, who had long felt excluded from official posts by their Ottoman rulers and Europeans in general, now became focused on the British.

British control led to increased foreign investment in Egypt, greater public security, new public works to improve Nile irrigation, and lower taxation, all of which meant greater prosperity for Egypt. Nevertheless, many Egyptians felt that foreign domination was too high a price to pay for this prosperity. When Abbas II succeeded Tawfik as khedive in 1892, Egyptian nationalists demanded greater control over the ministries. Abbas tried but failed to assert control over the Egyptian army, whose high posts were held by British officers.

Egyptian nationalism was aided by the French and the Ottomans, who resented the substantial British role in Egyptian affairs. The nationalists gained strength under the leadership of Mustafa Kamil, an Egyptian lawyer who had been educated partly in Europe. He founded a newspaper, a school, and finally a political party, the National Party, in his campaign to end the British occupation. In 1906 an altercation between Egyptian peasants and British officers, who were hunting pigeons, stirred up widespread opposition to the British. The British authorities accused the peasants of assaulting the officers, conducted a hasty trial, and sentenced the accused to death, public flogging, or imprisonment. A crisis loomed, but British officials restored calm by making a few concessions and adopting a policy of winning Khedive Abbas over to their side. Mustafa Kamil died in 1908, and his followers split into various factions. After his death the British authorities advised the Egyptian government to muzzle the press.

F

British Protectorate

The outbreak of World War I in 1914 temporarily halted nationalist activities in Egypt. Soon after the Ottoman Empire entered the war on the side of Germany in November 1914, Britain, which was already at war with Germany, declared Egypt a protectorate. Abbas II was deposed in favor of his uncle, Hussein Kamil, who was given the title of sultan. Legal ties between Egypt and the Ottoman Empire were formally severed, and Britain promised Egypt some changes in government once the war was over. In the meantime, the British stationed more than 100,000 troops in Egypt, mainly to guard the Suez Canal against German and Ottoman attacks coming from the Sinai Peninsula, and imposed martial law to stifle any expression of discontent.

The war years resulted in great hardship for the Egyptian peasants, who were conscripted to dig ditches and whose livestock was confiscated by the army. Inflation was rampant, harming the city-dwellers in particular. These factors were responsible for increasing resentment against the British and set the stage for a violent upheaval after World War I ended in 1918.

After the war, several nationalists, led by Saad Zaghlul, asked the top British official in Egypt, High Commissioner Sir Reginald Wingate, for permission to go to London to negotiate for an end to the protectorate. The British government refused to meet Zaghlul, who was then exiled with three of his colleagues to Malta. In March 1919 a nationwide revolt broke out, marked by random violence in the countryside, mass demonstrations in the cities, and expressions of national unity between Copts and Muslims.

Britain recalled Wingate and sent General Edmund Allenby, who had led the conquest of Palestine and Syria during the war, to restore order. Allenby freed Zaghlul and his colleagues to attend the Paris Peace Conference as a delegation (wafd in Arabic; the group became known as the Wafd). Although the Allies (the coalition of the victorious nations in World War I, including Britain) ignored the delegation’s demand for Egyptian independence, the Wafd became the major voice for Egyptian nationalism and democracy.

The unrest continued between 1919 and 1922. The Egyptians wanted complete independence, but the British felt they needed to keep their troops in Egypt to guard the Suez Canal, as well as their airports, their radio transmitters, and their other means of communications with India and the rest of their empire in Asia. In 1922 Allenby offered Egypt qualified, or partial, independence, subject to four reservations to be dealt with in future negotiations. These were the security of British imperial communications, the right of Britain to defend Egypt against outside interference, the right of Britain to protect foreign interests and minorities in Egypt, and continued Anglo-Egyptian control of Sudan, which had been placed under the joint administration of Britain and Egypt in 1899.

G

Qualified Independence

In 1922 Britain declared Egypt an independent monarchy under Hussein Kamil’s successor, Ahmad Fuad, who became king as Fuad I. The British reserved the right to intervene in Egyptian affairs if their interests were threatened, thereby robbing Egypt of any real independence and allowing British control to continue unabated. Egypt’s politicians agreed in 1923 to draft a constitution making the country a constitutional monarchy. The Wafd won the first parliamentary elections, which were held in January 1924. The organization’s leader, Zaghlul, became prime minister and formed a cabinet. The Wafd government did not last long. In November 1924 the British commander of the Egyptian army was assassinated. The police investigation uncovered a nationwide network of terrorists with ties to the Wafd. Allenby handed Zaghlul a stern memorandum containing demands for Egypt’s apology and reparations. Zaghlul accepted some of the demands but chose to resign rather than accept the others.

King Fuad, who saw the Wafd as a threat to his power, named a cabinet made up of politicians opposed to the Wafd. When new elections again resulted in a Wafd majority, the king locked the deputies out of parliament. The British exploited the rivalry between the Wafd and the king to prolong their occupation of Egypt. In 1930 Fuad, with the aid of anti-Wafd politicians, replaced the 1923 constitution with a new basic law that enhanced the power of the monarchy.

Fuad died in 1936 and was succeeded by his son, Faruk I. The government immediately restored the 1923 constitution and held free elections. The Wafd was again victorious and formed a new government.

In 1935 Italy, under Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, invaded and conquered Ethiopia, thus challenging Britain’s position as the chief European power in northeastern Africa. The threat from Italy prompted the British and the Egyptian government to negotiate a treaty to resolve matters left outstanding since 1922. The treaty provided for an Anglo-Egyptian military alliance. It enabled Egypt to join the League of Nations and to establish its own embassies abroad. The terms of the alliance allowed British troops to remain in the Suez Canal zone but limited the total number of British troops in Egypt to 10,000 in peacetime. British troops were to evacuate Cairo and Alexandria as soon as the Egyptian government could build new barracks for them elsewhere.

When World War II broke out in 1939, Britain still had troops stationed in Egypt’s major cities. The outbreak of war prompted Britain to increase its garrisons in the canal zone. Many Egyptian nationalists hoped that Britain’s enemies, the Axis Powers (principally Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy), would win the war. The British ambassador to Egypt demanded that King Faruk appoint an all-Wafd government, since the Wafd had negotiated the terms of the 1936 treaty and would carry out Egypt’s alliance obligations.

The Wafd government supported Britain’s war efforts in Egypt. The government soon lost its legitimacy as an advocate for Egyptian nationalism. In a vain effort to maintain its credibility it instituted educational and social reforms in the early 1940s and even spearheaded the drive for Arab solidarity. That drive culminated in the formation of the Arab League in Cairo in 1945.

The war ended in 1945, and British troops left Cairo and Alexandria in 1946 but remained in the canal zone. As nationalist sentiment intensified among Egyptians, disaffection with the Egyptian government also grew. The Muslim Brotherhood, an organization founded in 1928 to bring Islamic principles into government and society, gained prominence in the mid-1940s. The growth of labor unions and the prestige gained by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) by its victory over Nazi Germany in the war emboldened Egypt’s Communist movement, although it remained fragmented.

In 1948 Egypt, along with other Arab countries, went to war in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the establishment of the Jewish state of Israel in the historic region of Palestine. A UN armistice ended the fighting in 1949, with Israel securely established in most of what had been Palestine. Because of Israel’s close ties with various Western nations, Egypt’s defeat aggravated anti-Western sentiment. The defeat also discredited King Faruk and inspired some Egyptian army officers to start plotting his overthrow. Although the Wafd won the parliamentary elections in 1950, it had lost many of its ablest politicians to rival parties and failed to devise policies to stem the loss of public trust in the government. In January 1952 a confrontation in which British troops killed 50 Egyptian police officers sparked a mass demonstration in protest of the killings. Widespread looting and arson that destroyed much of downtown Cairo followed, further discrediting the king and the Wafd, which was immediately dismissed from office, never to return.

The armistice that ended the fighting with Israel gave Egypt control of a small region of Palestinian territory known as the Gaza Strip. This region remained under Egyptian administration until its capture by Israel in 1967.

H

Coup and Independence

In July 1952 a secret society in the Egyptian army called the Free Officers, led by General Gamal Abdel Nasser, took control of the government in an almost bloodless coup. They forced Faruk to abdicate and replaced him as head of state with General Muhammad Naguib. Naguib promised to restore democracy and rid the country of corruption. The officers who formed the government soon realized that Egypt needed more comprehensive reforms.

The new government’s first action was to issue a decree that no person could own more than 80 hectares (200 acres) of agricultural land. This action had the effect of breaking up huge estates and redistributing the land to thousands of peasants who owned no land. In the course of the next year the Free Officers took over government ministries to implement other reforms. They banned the old political parties, tried many politicians for corruption, and postponed indefinitely the restoration of parliamentary rule. In June 1953 they put an end to the monarchy by declaring Egypt a republic. Naguib was named the first president of the republic.