The Three Conquerors of Egypt

            Egypt has been subject to multiple conquests in its history.  After Alexander the Great and the Muslims from Arabia had left, Egypt was conquered by numerous countries such as The Ottoman Empire, the French, and the British.  In 1517 the Ottomans invaded and conquered Egypt (1).  Leading up to this the Mamluks were occupying Egypt.  The Mamluks declared war on the Ottoman Empire and tried to advance upon them.  The Ottomans counterattacked and took Egypt (2).

            In 1798 Napolean Bonaparte and the French were trying to inflict harm to the British (3).  They wanted to cut off England’s trade routes to India by blocking access to the Red Sea.  In response, with the help of the Ottoman Empire, England took Egypt from the French in 1801.  Eventually England gained full control over Egypt.  They made Egypt a protectorate in 1914 because of World War I (4).

Egypt Under the Ottomans, the French, and the British

            While under the Ottomans, French, and British, Egypt saw different ways of colonizing a land.  The Ottomans put a Viceroy in charge of Egypt along with the aid of an advisor called a Divan.  They divided Egypt into four provinces with khashifs collecting taxes from the Egyptians in each province.  During Ottoman rule, Egypt experienced a lack of cultural advancements.  Historical texts were rarely written while ingenuity in architecture was also at an all time low.

            After their initial conquest the French sent many scholars and scientists to Egypt to report on the condition of the country.  Napoleon tried to please the Egyptians by giving them councilmen that had a voice in political matters.  This was futile as Egyptians were fed up with foreign rule in general, French administration, and the economic problems that surface when a country is at war.  This led to an Egyptian revolt in Cairo that needed French artillery to quell.  French rule had huge impacts on Egypt.  By bringing in scholars, it opened up Egypt to the Western world.  Egyptians were now influenced by European cultures.  In addition to this, the Rosetta Stone, which allows for the translation of hieroglyphics was discovered during French occupation (1).

            Under the British the Egyptian khedive ruled in name only.  The British administrators held all the power in Egypt.  There were some positives to the English occupation of Egypt.  One was that they were able to fix the economic problems left in Egypt by the French.  They also improved the irrigation system by constructing multiple dams.  One negative however, is that the British failed to address education or public health.  After making Egypt a protectorate in 1914, the British used the country as a military base during World War I (2).

Freedom for Egypt

            In 1919 the Egyptians had enough of living under the control of a foreign country.  They began their push for independence led by Saad Zaghlul.  The British arrested and exiled Zaghlul, which angered the Egyptians who revolted.  For some months in 1919 the British government in Egypt broke down and negotiations with the Egyptians were futile.  In 1922 the United Kingdom gave Egypt its independence, and in 1923 the Egyptians declared themselves a constitutional monarchy.  The only problem was that the British reserved the right to station troops throughout Egypt.  They Egyptians had trouble getting the British to leave, improving the living conditions or the economy, and maintaining power over the British.   Finally in 1936 Egypt and the UK solidified Egypt’s independence by signing a treaty that reduced British influence by restricting their troops to the Suez Canal, which still allowed them to trade through the Red Sea (1).  Shortly after the British writer S.R.K. Glanville wrote about how the Brisith now saw the Egyptians in a good light.  He wrote, “It is thus in two main fields that, thanks to her capacity for conservation, Egypt displays herself as our benefactor.” (2)

            In July of 1952 an army group under the name of the Free Officers seized power over Egypt because they felt the government was corrupt.  Led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, they sent the ruling monarch, King Faruk into exile.  They formed the Revolutionary Command Council (RCC) in September of 1952.  The Army’s commander in chief, Muhammad Naguib became the president and prime minister of Egypt.  He banned all other political parties that were around before the elections of 1952.  For the first two years, Naguib and Nasser shared power over Egypt with Nasser serving as deputy prime minister.  However, the two could not agree so Nasser became prime minister in 1954.  In November of that year, Naguib lost his presidency and Nasser took over to lead Egypt unchallenged.  Nasser had England agree to remove all their troops from Egypt by 1956 finalizing Egypt’s independence (3).