Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T11:25:34.948Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

10 - The British occupation, 1882–1922

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 March 2008

M. W. Daly
Affiliation:
Kettering University, Michigan
Get access

Summary

The events of 1882 mark a watershed in the modern history of Egypt. By defeating the Egyptian army and occupying the country, Britain brought a forceful conclusion to almost a century of Great Power rivalry and of increasing Egyptian independence. While Egypt remained a province of the Ottoman empire, and the dynasty founded by Muhammad ’Ali continued on the throne, the country now moved to an even further orbit of Ottoman influence, and its direction fell to a small number of Europeans backed by a British garrison. Whether the mistaken result of haste in the face of diplomatic protest, or the inevitable consequence of geo-political realities, Britain’s promises soon to evacuate Egypt went unfulfilled, and there began a long new chapter in Egypt’s foreign domination and Britain’s global empire.

Early in the occupation it became clear that the problems that had precipitated intervention would not quickly be solved, however benign or uncertain were British intentions. The financial crisis that had led Isma’il inexorably into the web of European bondholders had worsened; the weakness of the Egyptian regime, exploited by ’Urabi and fully revealed at Tall al-Kabir, was only worsened by the obvious subordination of the new khedive, Muhammad Tawfiq, to the British; the insecurity of imperial communications that political and financial collapse had threatened was deepened, not corrected, by British intervention; rebellion in the Sudan threatened Egypt’s entire African empire and even the security of her southern borders. To restore Egypt’s finances would take years of painful and painstaking economizing; to restore authority to the Egyptian government while maintaining British strategic objectives would require a constant balancing act.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1998

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arthur, George, Life of Lord Kitchener (London, 1920)Google Scholar
Baer, Gabriel, Studies in the Social History of Modern Egypt (Chicago and London, 1969)Google Scholar
Berque, Jacques, Egypt: Imperialism and Revolution, trans. Stewart, Jean (New York, 1972)Google Scholar
Cromer, Lord, Modern Egypt, 2 vols. (London, 1908)Google Scholar
Daly, M. W., The Sirdar (Philadelphia, 1997)Google Scholar
Deeb, Marius, Party Politics in Egypt: The Wafd and its Rivals, 1919–1939 (London, 1979)Google Scholar
Holt, P. M. (ed.), Political and Social Change in Modern Egypt (London, 1968)Google Scholar
Hourani, Albert, Arabic Thought in the Liberal Age (London, 1962)Google Scholar
Hourani, , Arabic Thought; Landau, Parliaments and Parties; and Elie Kedourie, Afghani and Abduh (London, 1966).Google Scholar
Kedourie, Elie, “Sa’ad Zaghlul and the British,” St. Anthony’s Papers, 11, Middle Eastern Affairs, 2 (Oxford, 1961)Google Scholar
Landau, J. M., Parliaments and Parties in Egypt (Tel Aviv, 1953)Google Scholar
Magnus, Philip, Kitchener: Portrait of an Imperialist (London, 1958)Google Scholar
Marlowe, John, Anglo-Egyptian Relations 1800–1953 (New York, 1970)Google Scholar
Marlowe, John, Cromer in Egypt (London, 1970)Google Scholar
Marsot, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid, Egypt and Cromer (New York, 1969)Google Scholar
Mellini, Peter, Sir Eldon Gorst: The Overshadowed Proconsul (Stanford, 1977)Google Scholar
Mohammed, Ahmed, Jamal, , The Intellectual Origins of Egyptian Nationalism (London, 1960)Google Scholar
,Royal Institute of International Affairs, Great Britain and Egypt 1914–1951 (London, 1952)
Terry, Janice, The Wafd 1919–1952 (London, 1982)Google Scholar
Terry, , The Wafd; Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid Marsot, Egypt’s Liberal Experiment, 1922–1936 (Berkeley, 1977)Google Scholar
Tignor, Robert L., Modernization and British Colonial Rule in Egypt, 1882–1914 (Princeton, 1966)Google Scholar
Vatikiotis, P. J., The Modern History of Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak (Baltimore and London, 1969; 4th ed. Baltimore 1991)Google Scholar
Wavell, Viscount, Allenby in Egypt (London, 1943)Google Scholar
Zayid, Mahmud, Egypt’s Struggle for Independence (Beirut, 1965)Google Scholar
Zetland, Marquess of, Lord Cromer (London, 1932)Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×