Initial
Contacts with the British
Trade
links had existed between the two countries for as long as anyone could
remember. Egypt was a key part of the old spice and trade routes between Europe
and Asia. British traders had been loading and unloading their cargoes in
Ottoman waters for generations.
British
military and political interest in Egypt first manifested itself as it became
obvious that in the Eighteenth Century, India was falling under the influence
of Britain (and away from France). Despite, the direct sail routes around the
Cape of Good Hope, Egypt still provided the quickest way of maintaining
communications between Britain and India. It required a brief overland journey,
but it was still substantially quicker than circumnavigating Africa.
At this
point, it seemed as if the British forces would remain in place and that Egypt
would just have remained under British control. Unfortunately for the British,
in 1805 a vigorous Egyptian leader came to the fore, known as Muhammed Ali. He
took control of the Mameluke army and defeated the British in 1807. This
setback forced them to withdraw from Egypt. The British would not formally
return for another 75 years.
For the
first part of the Nineteenth Century, Britain remained rather hostile towards
the Egyptians. Partly due to wounded pride, but also because supporting Egypt
would have compromised one of their other stated policy aims, that of
protecting and bolstering the Ottoman Empire.
Whilst
Britain, supported by the Austrians, desperately tried to maintain the last
vestiges of Ottoman power in the area. Things turned even worse for the
Ottomans as they launched an unsuccessful offensive against Muhammed Ali's
Egyptian forces.
The
Ottomans were defeated at Nisibin and their fleet mutinied and went over to the
Egyptians. At this point, the British and Austrians stepped in to save the
Ottomans, and landed forces in Lebanon.
These
forces defeated the sitting Egyptian army and, combined with a fleet despatched
to Alexandria, forced Muhammed Ali to submit and to reign back his forces.
After
this event, British attitudes towards Egypt began to improve. Although the idea
that Egypt would become a British colony was regarded by most as being highly
fanciful.
It was
the French who were thought to be the most active in the North Africa region.
They funded the Suez Canal and steadily increased their economic base in the country.
British
interest in Egypt developed during the American Civil War. At this time,
British mills were starved of cotton. Alternative sources had to be found and
one such source was to be Egypt whose cotton was actually a particularly good
quality product. British companies began investing heavily in the production of
cotton in Egypt.
British
strategic interest in Egypt was captured in 1869 when the Suez Canal was
officially opened. The sailing times from London to Bombay were dramatically
cut. British maps and ideas of the world had to be radically altered. The fact
that the canal was controlled by the Khedive and the French government was
initially a serious concern to the British.
Although,
It is from this point on that British decisiveness and speed of actions which
consistently outwitted and out-manoeuvred the French and brought Egypt under
Imperial British control.
The first
opportunity to pull away from the French was in 1875 when it became obvious
that the Khedive had got himself into serious economic difficulties. The only
way he could stave off creditors was by raising a seriously large amount of
money.
It was at
this point that Disraeli was able to step in and offer to buy the Khedive's
shares in the Suez Canal Company. The speed of action on this event left the
French reeling. Overnight, the British went from being a minority shareholder
to being the controlling shareholder. Her influence had grown considerably as a
result.
Suez
Canal Shares
Unfortunately
for Egypt, the money raised by the sale of her shares, was only enough to keep
the government afloat for a few years. In a government reliant on patronage,
structural economic reforms were difficult to implement. In only a few years
the Egyptian government was again in economic difficulties.
This time, the British and French governments
initiated a stewardship of the finances of Egypt. In effect, this stewardship
was little more than a joint form of colonization. British and French experts were to be sent to the various ministries in
order to take control of day to day business of them.
The
Khedive's unwillingness to agree to such loss of control was rewarded by his
forced abdication and replacement by his son Tawfiq. The steady loss of
sovereignty was keenly felt by many Egyptians. So much so that in 1882, Arabi
Pasha initiated a revolt from inside the Egyptian army.
In June
of that year, riots broke out against the Europeans in Egypt. From this point
on Britain took the initiative. The French refused participation in a
bombardment of Alexandria due to political problems back at home. Surprisingly
for a Liberal government,
The British "finally" resolved on intervention and sent
an expeditionary force to the Suez Canal. The Arabists were rapidly defeated at
Tel el-Kabir in September and Cairo was occupied the next day. Accidentally,
the British had found themselves to be masters of Egypt Administration.
Egypt had not been discovered by the British, nor
had they requested British suzerainty (who did ?).
Technically
until 1914, Egypt was still nominally under Ottoman control, a fiction that
suited the British for the time being. In matters concerning the international
status of Egypt, the decisions were taken in London, but where the internal
administration of the country was concerned, The Consul General's opinions were
usually conclusive. The facade of Khedival government was retained, British advisers attached to the various
ministries were more influential than their ministers, while the Consul General
steadily increased his control over the whole administrative machine.
Attempts
by Khedive Abbas Hilmi to challenge British authority over the status of
British officers commanding Egyptian forces on the Sudan border resulted in
something of a humiliating climbdown.
The international status of British control over
Egypt remained uncertain for nearly twenty years. It was not until the French
and British decided that they needed each other and formed the Entente Cordiale
that they decided to come to agreement over the status of Egypt. They basically
agreed that Britain should be paramount in Egypt, and the French should have a
free hand in Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria.
Theoretically,
the British occupation was supposed to have been temporary and the British had
hinted that they would leave a number of times. However, as the Suez Canal
continued to grow in importance and after 1904, when Great Britain and France
agreed on a division of interests in North Africa which left Egypt as the British share ( we are talking a share of a
corporation which treated Egypt as a business not a nation with people with
aspirations culture history), the conviction grew that the British had no intention
of leaving.
A growing number of educated Egyptians were less convinced of the
merits of European control as they saw all the most important decisions and
jobs remaining in European hands. A growing tide of nationalism was beginning
to find its voice and soon would find a cause.
The Great War was to temporarily increase British
imperial control over Egypt. Almost immediately, the press was muzzled,
nationalist meetings were prevented from occurring or broken up and the new
Legislative Council was suspended. After the Ottomans declared war on the allies on
October 29th 1914, the British moved swiftly to break the technical link
between the Ottoman Empire and the status of Egypt.
The fate
of the Suez Canal was just too important to take any chances and technically it
was in enemy territory if Egypt was indeed a suzerain of Turkey. Indeed,
Britain declared that the Canal was closed to all but allied and neutral
shipping - despite international agreements to the contrary.
The
newly created Sultanate of Egypt was declared a British Protectorate rather
than colony meaning that its people were subject of the Sultan rather than of
King George. Hussein Kamel's accession brought to an end the de jure Ottoman
sovereignty over Egypt.
During
the war though, Egypt soon found itself on the front line of action as the
Turks sought to take control of the Red Sea and threaten the Suez Canal. The British were able to contain these
threats with help from imperial forces from India, Australia and New Zealand.
The Dardanelles Campaign brought yet more imperial troops into the country as
both a staging area and as a recovery point.
Egypt was
then used as a base to launch a land offensive towards Ottoman lands in
Palestine and Transjordan. Inflation ravaged the country as the effects of the
world war were felt. Martial law was imposed for the duration of the war.
Even more concerning for some was the forced
requisitioning of draught animals forced labour conscription. Nationalists were
convinced that the British were using the war as an opportunity to convert the
temporary protectorate into a permanent colony and certainly to suppress their
nationalist aspirations, but with so many soldiers in the country and with such stringent laws
in place under the excuse of maintaining
the peace during wartime, there was little the nationalists could do but
bide their time until the war had finished.
The
post-war international climate saw an increase in ideas of self-rule and
independence - partly inspired by talk of Wilson's 14 points, but also by a
surge in national identities brought about by the war. Egypt's nationalists,
temporarily, saw how the rest of the Ottoman Empire was being divided up and
wanted to be granted similar rights.
Within days of the armistice Saad Zaghlul, the
unofficial leader of Egyptian nationalism, headed to the British High
Commissioner in Egypt, Sir Reginald Wingate, and informed him that the Egyptian
people wanted their complete independence and that he would like to lead his
delegation to London to negotiate with the British government.
The
British government initially refused mindful of the continued importance of
Egypt as a strategic concern. They did relent to say that they would meet with
the Egyptian Prime Minister, but sensing the change in nationalist sentiment in
his country, he not only refused but resigned.
In 1922, the protectorate was officially ended. However, Britain still reserved
four matters to their own discretion: the security of imperial communications,
defence, the protection of foreign interests and of minorities, and the Sudan.
Technically, Egypt was independent. But the real power behind the throne was
never really in question.
Attempts to further reduce British involvement in
the economy and political situation were made throughout the 1920s and 1930s
but usually came undone over the status of the Anglo-Egyptian condominium of
Sudan.
The treaty, under which Britain still retained a
prominent if diminished influence, was to run for 20 years; both parties were
committed to negotiating a further alliance in 1956, at which point Egypt would
have the right to submit to third-party judgement the question of whether
British troops were any longer necessary in Egypt. The British occupation of
Egypt was formally ended, though British troops were to remain in some areas.
As
Egypt's self-defence capability improved, they would be withdrawn gradually to
the Canal Zone and Sinai where their numbers would be limited to 10,000. And
Britain reserved the right of reoccupation with the unrestricted use of
Egyptian ports, airports and roads in war-time.
Egypt
regained full control over its own security forces. The British High
Commissioner became an Ambassador.
An
Egyptian replaced the British Inspector-General of the Army and the country's
military intelligence was Egyptianised. The number of Europeans in the police
was to be reduced by 20 per cent a year, although an Englishman, Thomas
Russell, scourge of narcotics pedlars, remained head of the Egyptian police
until 1946.
Britain
was to sponsor Egypt's entry into the League of Nations. British residents were made liable to Egyptian law rather than British
law as Egypt obtained full rights of jurisdiction and taxation (this is the main focus of ocupations- taxes) over all
residents.
The Suez
Canal was still a vital artery of World trade, it was just that Britain's
relative importance in the share of this trade was diminishing and with
colonies gaining independence and the rise of air travel, it was becoming less
a crucial avenue of imperial communications.
Withdrawal
from the Suez Canal Zone
In the
post war period, the British would have been content to withdraw from active
involvement in Egyptian politics. Unfortunately, a new kind of radicalism had
entered Egyptian politics. This was partly Britain's fault.
The
creation of Israel brought the Muslim fundamentalists a new unity and cause to
champion. These fundamentalists also drew from the tactics by which the Jewish
settlers had extracted their concessions from Britain and the wider
international scene. Politics was about to become a much bloodier affair in
Egypt.
