Sultanate of Egypt

History[edit]

Soon after the start of the First World War, Khedive Abbas II of Egypt was removed from power by the British because of 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 caused widespread resentment among the Egyptian populace. Specifically, these included Britain's purchase of cotton stocks and requisitioning of animal fodder at below-market prices, the British conscription of about 500,000 Egyptian fellahin into the Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and its use of the country as a base and a garrison populated by British, Australian, and other Imperial troops. After the war, the Egyptian economy felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment.


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 British government again for independence. In addition to their other reasons, the Egyptians were influenced by American president Woodrow Wilson, who was advocating self-determination for all nations. In September 1918, Egypt made the first moves toward the formation of a wafd, or delegation, to voice its demands for independence at the Paris Peace Conference. The idea for a wafd had originated among prominent members of the Umma Party, including Lutfi as Sayyid, Saad Zaghlul, Muhammad Mahmud Pasha, Ali Sharawi, and Abd al Aziz Fahmi.


On 13 November 1918, thereafter celebrated in Egypt as Yawm al Jihad (Day of Struggle), Zaghlul, Fahmi, and Sharawi were granted an audience with General Sir Reginald Wingate ('Wingate Pasha'), the British High Commissioner. They demanded complete independence with the proviso that Britain be allowed to supervise the Suez Canal and the public debt. They also asked permission to go to London to put their case before the British government. On the same day, the Egyptians formed a delegation for this purpose, Al Wafd al Misri (known as the Wafd), headed by Saad Zaghlul. The British administration refused to allow the Wafd to proceed to London.


On 8 March, Zaghlul and three other members of the Wafd were arrested and jailed in the Qasr an Nil prison. The next day, they were deported to Malta, an action that sparked the popular uprising of March/April 1919 in which Egyptians of all social classes participated. There were violent clashes in Cairo and the provincial cities of Lower Egypt, especially Tanta, and the uprising spread to the south, culminating in violent confrontations in Asyut Province in Upper Egypt.


The deportation of the Wafdists also triggered student demonstrations and escalated into massive strikes by students, government officials, professionals, women, and transport workers. Within a week, all of Egypt was paralysed by general strikes and rioting. Railway and telegraph lines were cut, taxi drivers refused to work, lawyers failed to appear for court cases, and demonstrators marched through the streets shouting pro-Wafdist slogans and demanding independence. Violence erupted during the revolution between British troops and Egyptian protestors, which resulted in numerous killed and wounded on both sides.


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 Al Azhar and wound their way to Abdin Palace where they were joined by thousands more, who ignored British roadblocks and bans. Soon, similar demonstrations broke out in Alexandria, Tanta, Damanhur, Al Mansurah, and Al Fayyum. By the summer of 1919, more than 800 Egyptians had been killed, as well as 31 Europeans and 29 British soldiers.


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.

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