Imperialism In Egypt

Strategic access to the Suez Canal made Egypt valuable to British interests. During the First World War, the Ottoman Empire attacked the unprepared British troops in Egypt but fell back before reaching the canal. Alarmed by the Ottoman Empire’s attack in 1915, Britain further increased its presence in Egypt under the command of General Edmund Allenby. By maintaining an efficient supply line to Egypt, the British were able to hold their ground against the Ottoman Empire in Egypt until the Armistice of Mudros in 1918. Subsequently, the Ottoman Empire disbanded into six states, and Britain continued to maintain control over Egypt and a number of Arabic-speaking countries for an unspecified amount of time. Concurrently, the League of Nations granted mandates over the former Ottoman Arab provinces to Britain and France. The mandates gave Britain the power to occupy Egypt until it could be a labeled as a self-governing nation. However, despite its nomination, the mandates masked the on-going imperialism. Under the disguise of the mandates, Britain continued to secure and maintain its strategic interests in Egypt and the Middle East. Egypt, inspired by the global trend of self-determination like other Arab …show more content…
Britain brought with them imperialist ideologies, laissez-faire policies, and free-market policies into the Egyptian economy. As a result, starvation, rampant inflation, and foreign exploitation of domestic enterprises influenced the participation of peasants, landowners, and urban working class in the Egyptian 1919 Revolution. To address the concerns that threatened its livelihood, Egypt took crucial actions to voice its nationalist and self-preservative feelings. In response to the occupation, Egypt made strategic attempts to take control of its resources and its economy. Meanwhile, the British regime responded with repressive apparatus to preserve their