The Suez Canal and the British occupation
The Suez Canal opens in 1869, debts bankrupt the khedive, and after crushing Ahmed Urabi's revolt in 1882 Britain occupies Egypt for more than seventy years.
- Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal — Zachary Karabell, Alfred A. Knopf (2003)
- Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's 'Urabi Movement — Juan Cole, Princeton University Press (1993)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
- The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 2: Modern Egypt, from 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century — M. W. Daly (ed.), Cambridge University Press (1998)
- The Arabs: A History — Eugene Rogan, Basic Books (2009)
Muhammad Ali had refused to let the French dig a canal across the Isthmus of Suez, fearing it would bring foreign intervention. His successor Said Pasha gave the concession to his friend Ferdinand de Lesseps in 1854. Work began in 1859, and for years tens of thousands of Egyptian peasants at a time were drafted to dig, many of them dying of disease and exhaustion, until forced labour was stopped in the mid-1860s.
- Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal — Zachary Karabell, Alfred A. Knopf (2003)
A piece of Europe
The canal opened on 17 November 1869 with lavish celebrations hosted by Khedive Ismail, who declared that Egypt was “no longer in Africa” but part of Europe. He built a new Paris-style downtown in Cairo, an opera house, railways and schools, all on borrowed money. When cotton prices fell after the American Civil War, the debts became unpayable. In 1875 he sold Egypt’s shares in the canal to Britain, and in 1876 Egypt went bankrupt. European commissioners took over its finances, and in 1879 the powers had the Ottoman sultan depose Ismail.
- Parting the Desert: The Creation of the Suez Canal — Zachary Karabell, Alfred A. Knopf (2003)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
“Egypt for the Egyptians”
Resentment at foreign control and at the privileges of the Turkish-speaking elite came together around Colonel Ahmed Urabi, a peasant’s son who became the voice of Egyptian officers and of a growing national movement. In 1881 he forced the khedive to accept a more representative government. Britain and France saw a threat to the canal and their loans. In July 1882 the Royal Navy bombarded Alexandria, and on 13 September British troops crushed Urabi’s army at Tel el-Kebir. Urabi was exiled to Ceylon.
- Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's 'Urabi Movement — Juan Cole, Princeton University Press (1993)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
The “veiled protectorate”
Britain said the occupation was temporary; it lasted until 1956. Egypt formally remained Ottoman and kept its khedive, but the British agent, Lord Cromer from 1883 to 1907, held real power. In 1906 at the village of Dinshaway, after a fight in which a British officer died, a special court hanged four villagers and flogged others in public. The outrage helped nationalists such as Mustafa Kamil build a mass movement.
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
- The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 2: Modern Egypt, from 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century — M. W. Daly (ed.), Cambridge University Press (1998)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Urabi was a patriot who stood for Egyptians against a corrupt khedive, foreign officers and European bondholders. Britain invaded to protect its canal and its creditors and stayed, despite repeated promises to leave, in an occupation marked by arrogance and episodes such as Dinshaway.
- Colonialism and Revolution in the Middle East: Social and Cultural Origins of Egypt's 'Urabi Movement — Juan Cole, Princeton University Press (1993)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Britain intervened to restore order and protect the canal, the "highway to India", and its administrators, above all Lord Cromer, claimed to have rescued Egypt's finances, built irrigation and ended forced labour. Later historians note that education and industry were neglected in favour of cotton for Lancashire.
- The Cambridge History of Egypt, Volume 2: Modern Egypt, from 1517 to the End of the Twentieth Century — M. W. Daly (ed.), Cambridge University Press (1998)
- Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State — Arthur Goldschmidt Jr., Westview Press (2004)
Why it matters today
The canal, dug with Egyptian forced labour, became both a symbol of national pride and of foreign control, which is why its nationalisation in 1956 felt like a rebirth. Urabi, the Dinshaway hangings and the occupation are taught as the beginning of the struggle for independence, and the suspicion that foreign creditors and powers want to control Egypt still echoes in politics today.