History of the Egypt Revolution

Egypt's importance to the British rose phenomenally after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. The sailing times from London to Bombay were dramatically cut and British maps and ideas of the world had to be drastically altered. During the first 13 years of the Canal’s operation, the freight that travelled through the canal each year increased from just under a 0.5 million to more than 5 million tons, more than 80% of it travelling in British ships.

By 1869, the Egyptian economy had benefited from years of investment (much of it British and French) in irrigation, railway and cotton plantations. By 1876, however, its ruler the Khedive Ismail Pasha had run up debts of almost £100 million. At this point the then British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli bought the Khedive's shares in the Suez Canal Company for £4 million. In doing so, the British government went from being a minority shareholder to a controlling shareholder in the Company and so its influence grew significantly.

The Egyptian economy was still in doldrums and the economic crisis led to heightened French and British intervention in Egypt. The Khedive was compelled to accept Anglo-French control of his treasury, customs, railways and ports. Enraged by the erosion of Egyptian sovereignty Egyptian nationalists spread fear of invasion throughout the country to bolster Islamic and Arabian revolutionary action. During this time a nationalist movement in the Egyptian Army led by Colonel Ahmed Urabi began gaining momentum. By September 1881, Urabi and his followers were powerful enough to force the new Khedive, Mohammed Tawfiq Pasha, out of power and replace his government with one more favourable to the nationalist movement.

The British and the French were alarmed by the...

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...ng the monarchy and appointed Muhammad Naguib as the first president and prime minister of the Egyptian Republic. Gamal Abdel Nasser was appointed deputy premier and minister of the interior. Nasser evolved into a charismatic leader, not only of Egypt but of the Arab World, promoting and implementing "Arab socialism."

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"The long revolution." Al-Ahram Weekly. 18 Mar. 2014 .