Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
EGYPT
Britain's occupation of Egypt, unlike that of most of her territorial acquisitions in Africa, was from its beginning in 1882 meant to be temporary. Protestations to this effect, both to Egyptians and to European governments, nevertheless failed to mask the reality of British control. The importance of Egypt to Britain's world power seemed to increase with each year of occupation, and was formally recognised in the Entente Cordiale of 1904. After that date European pressure to end the occupation ceased, and the British were allowed an even more direct role in Egypt's administration. Formally the Egyptian government retained its authority, and British policies continued to be hampered by the Capitulations and other apparatus of internationalism. But throughout the period under review, Britain retained ultimate control in Egypt, whether endowed with it legally or not. That control was successively embodied in an agent and consul-general, a high commissioner, and an ambassador, over what evolved from an Ottoman province to a protectorate and finally an independent state. The political history of the period, and much that was influenced by it, was therefore dominated by Egypt's relations with Britain.
POLITICAL CHANGE
The departure in May 1907 of Lord Cromer, who as agent and consul-general since 1883 had wielded British power in Egypt, symbolised the end of an era. Under his grim but efficient rule the sound financial administration had been provided which was required for an end to foreign occupation; the absence of political and, to a lesser extent, educational reforms served as the excuse for the occupation's continuance. In the early days British experts had been employed in small numbers to advise Egyptian officials;
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.
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.
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.