Egyptian Independence

1. Egyptian Independence Sam S. Connor H. Yarik M.

2. General Overview • The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 was a revolution against the British occupation of Egypt. The idea of an independent Egypt came shortly after the First World War armistice of November 11. A group of Egyptian anti-colonial people led by Saad Zaghlul asked the Commissioner Reginald Wingate to end the British Protectorate in Egypt and gain Egyptian representation at the next conference in Paris. Areas throughout all of Egypt were revolting against the British. When the British arrested and exiled Zaghlul and two other movement leaders, the revolution turned more deadly. This caused the Egyptian revolutionists to attack British military installations, civilian facilities and personnel. The violence occurred so frequently that normal live in Egypt was brought to a half and the British were forced to issue a unilateral declaration of Egyptian Independence on February 22, 1922.

3. Causes • When the war ended, the nationalists began to seek independence from the British. The Egyptians were influenced by American president Woodrow Wilson, who was preaching self-determination for all nations. In September 1918, Egypt made the first moves toward the formation of the Wafd. The Egyptians wanted independence because they believed they could govern them selves better then the British. After the World War, many new countries were declaring independence and gaining some sort of world wide power.

4. Wafd Party • The Wafd idea originated among members of the Umma Party and some members included Saad Zaghlul, Muhammad Mahmud, Ali Sharawi, and Abd al Aziz Fahmi. Some of the members of the wafd party wanted to go up to London to put their case before the British government. However, the British high commissioner denied their proposal. On March 8th, Zaghlul and three other members of the Wafd were arrested and thrown into prison and eventually exiled to Malta.

5. Revolt • After then were exiled to Malta, there were violent revolts in provincial cities of Lower Egypt, especially Tanta and Cairo. The exile of the Wafdists lead to student demonstrations that became massive strikes by students, government officials, professionals, women, and transport workers. Within a few weeks, normal live in Egypt was halted by general strikes and rioting. The biggest blow to the British at this point was that railroad and telegraph lines were cut, this limited their communication. On top of that taxi drivers refused to work, and lawyers failed to appear for court cases.

6. The role of women in the Revolution • The wadf party had a huge influence on all of Egypt, almost everyone was pitching in on the rioting and revolts. Women were a huge part of the rioting and violence in Egypt, the women activists were lead by Safia Zaghlul, wife of Saad Zaghlul. Lower-class women participated in railroad line cutting and upper-class women were more involved in the political aspect of the intendance movement.

7. British Response • The British refused to grant Egypt its independence and the demonstrations just kept escalating. On March 16th, more then 10,000 teachers, students, workers, lawyers, and government employees started marching at Al Azhar to Abdin Palace where they joined thousands of other protestors. The protests spread to other parts of Egypt and similar demonstrations were being seen in Alexandria, Tanta, Damanhur, Al Mansurah, and Al Fayyum. By the summer of 1919, more then 800 Egyptians had been killed, as well as 31 Europeans and 29 British soldiers.Eventually the British government realized that they could do nothing to stop the demonstrations and the protests, but they still didn't want to grant Egypt their independence. Instead they decided to send General Edmund Allenby, who was a World War I hero, to Egypt. He was named High Commissioner and started meeting with Egyptian nationalists to figure out a settlement. Slowly, the Wafd leaders convinced Allenby to release the Wafd leaders and let them travel to Paris for the Paris Peace Conference.