Soon after the start of the First World War,
Khedive Abbas II of Egypt was removed from power by the British due to his pro-
Ottoman positions. He was replaced by his uncle
Hussein Kamel, who declared Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed himself as Sultan. Though presented as the re-establishment of the
pre-Ottoman Egyptian sultanate, the newly created Sultanate was to be a
British protectorate, with effective political and military power vested in British officials. This brought to an end the
de jure Ottoman sovereignty over
Egypt, which had been largely nominal since
Muhammad Ali's seizure of power in 1805. Opposition to
European interference in Egyptian affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced and spread. British actions during the First World War, including the purchase of
cotton stocks and requisitioning of animal fodder at below-market prices, the
conscription of 55,000 Egyptians into the
Egyptian Labour Corps and the
Egyptian Camel Transport Corps of the
Egyptian Expeditionary Force and the stationing of large numbers of Allied troops in Egypt caused widespread resentment among the Egyptian populace. After the war, the
Egyptian economy felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment. Upon Hussein Kamel's death, his only son,
Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein, declined the succession, and Hussein Kamel's brother Ahmed Fuad ascended the throne as
Fuad I. When the war ended, Egyptian nationalists began to press the
British government again for independence. In addition to their other reasons, the Egyptians were influenced by American president
Woodrow Wilson, who was advocating
self-determination for all nations. In September 1918, Egypt made the first moves toward the formation of a wafd, or delegation, to voice its demands for independence at the
Paris Peace Conference. The idea for a wafd had originated among prominent members of the
Umma Party, including Lutfi as Sayyid,
Saad Zaghlul,
Muhammad Mahmud Pasha, Ali Sharawi, and Abd al Aziz Fahmi. On 13 November 1918, thereafter celebrated in Egypt as Yawm al Jihad (Day of Struggle),
Zaghlul, Fahmi, and Sharawi were granted an
audience with
General Sir
Reginald Wingate ('Wingate
Pasha'), the
British High Commissioner. They demanded complete independence with the proviso that Britain be allowed to supervise the
Suez Canal and the public debt. They also asked permission to go to
London to put their case before the British government. On the same day, the Egyptians formed a delegation for this purpose, Al Wafd al Misri (known as the
Wafd), headed by
Saad Zaghlul. The British administration in Egypt refused to allow the Wafd to proceed to London. On 8 March, Zaghlul and three other members of the Wafd were arrested and jailed in the Qasr an Nil prison. The next day, they were deported to
Malta, an action that sparked the
popular uprising of March/April 1919 in which Egyptians of all
social classes participated. There were violent clashes in Cairo and the provincial cities of
Lower Egypt, especially
Tanta, and the uprising spread to the south, culminating in violent confrontations in
Asyut Province in
Upper Egypt. The deportation of the Wafdists also triggered student demonstrations and escalated into massive strikes by students, government officials, professionals, women, and transport workers. Within a week, all of Egypt was paralysed by general strikes and rioting.
Railway and
telegraph lines were cut, taxi drivers refused to work, lawyers failed to appear for court cases, and demonstrators marched through the streets shouting pro-Wafdist slogans and demanding independence. Violence erupted during the revolution between British forces and Egyptian protestors, which resulted in numerous people killed and wounded on both sides. On 16 March, between 150 and 300 upper-class Egyptian women in veils staged a demonstration against the British occupation, an event that marked the entrance of Egyptian women into public life. The women were led by
Safiya Zaghlul, wife of Wafd leader Saad Zaghlul; Huda Sharawi, wife of one of the original members of the Wafd and organiser of the
Egyptian Feminist Union; and Muna Fahmi Wissa. Women of the lower classes demonstrated in the streets alongside the men. In the countryside, women engaged in activities like cutting rail lines. The upper-class women participating in politics for the first time assumed key roles in the movement when the male leaders were exiled or detained. They organised strikes, demonstrations, and boycotts of British goods and wrote petitions, which they circulated to foreign embassies protesting British control in Egypt. The women's march of 16 March preceded by one day the largest demonstration of the 1919 revolution. More than 10,000 teachers, students, workers, lawyers, and government employees started marching at
Al Azhar and wound their way to
Abdin Palace where they were joined by thousands more, who ignored British roadblocks and bans. Soon, similar demonstrations broke out in
Alexandria, Tanta,
Damanhur,
Al Mansurah, and
Al Fayyum. By the summer of 1919, more than 800 Egyptians had been killed, as well as 31 European civilians and 29 British imperial soldiers. General Wingate, the British High Commissioner, understood the strength of the nationalist forces and the threat the Wafd represented to British control over Egypt and had tried to persuade the British Government to allow the Wafd to travel to Paris. However, the British Government remained hostile to Zaghlul and the nationalists and adamant in rejecting Egyptian demands for independence. General Wingate was recalled to London for talks on the Egyptian situation, while Sir
Milne Cheetham was appointed Acting High Commissioner in January 1919. == Egyptian revolution of 1919 ==