British Involvement in Egypt Post-Independence

33.5.2: British Involvement in Egypt Post-Independence

The Kingdom of Egypt was established in 1922 following the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence, but the Kingdom was only nominally independent since the British continued to have varying degrees of political control and military presence until 1952.

Learning Objective

Explain the ties between Britain and Egypt after the establishment of an independent Egyptian state

Key Points

  • The formal British protectorate over Egypt was ended by the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence (UDI) on February 28, 1922.
  • Shortly afterwards, Sultan Fuad I declared himself King of Egypt, but the British occupation continued in accordance with several reserve clauses in the declaration of independence.
  • The situation was renegotiated in the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, which granted Britain the right to station troops in Egypt for the defense of the Suez Canal and its link with the Indian Empire and to control the training of the Egyptian Army.
  • After the Egyptian Revolution of 1952, the British agreed to withdraw their troops and did so by June 1956.
  • Britain went to war against Egypt over the Suez Canal in late 1956, but with insufficient international support was forced to back down.

Key Terms

Suez Canal
An artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez. It offers watercraft a shorter journey between the North Atlantic and northern Indian Oceans via the Mediterranean and Red seas by avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian Oceans, reducing the journey by approximately 4,300 miles.
Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936
A treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egypt. Under the terms of the treaty, the United Kingdom was required to withdraw all its troops from Egypt except those necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings, numbering 10,000 troops plus auxiliary personnel. Additionally, the United Kingdom would supply and train Egypt’s army and assist in its defense in case of war.

The Kingdom of Egypt was the independent Egyptian state established under the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1922 following the Unilateral Declaration of Egyptian Independence by the United Kingdom. Until the Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936, the Kingdom was only nominally independent, since the British retained control of foreign relations, communications, the military, and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Between 1936-52, the British continued to maintain military presence and political advisors at a reduced level. The kingdom was plagued by corruption, and its citizens saw it as a puppet of the British.

The legal status of Egypt was highly convoluted due to its de facto breakaway from the Ottoman Empire in 1805, its occupation by Britain in 1882, and its transformation into a sultanate and British protectorate in 1914. In line with the change in status from sultanate to kingdom, the Sultan of Egypt, Fuad I, saw his title changed to king.

The kingdom’s sovereignty was subject to severe limitations imposed by the British, who retained enormous control over Egyptian affairs and whose military continued to occupy the country. Throughout the kingdom’s existence, Sudan was formally united with Egypt. However, actual Egyptian authority in Sudan was largely nominal due to Britain’s role as the dominant power in Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

During the reign of King Fuad, the monarchy struggled with the Wafd Party, a broadly based nationalist political organization strongly opposed to British domination, and with the British themselves, who were determined to maintain control over the Suez Canal. The importance of the canal as a strategic intersection was made apparent during the First World War when Britain and France closed the canal to non-Allied shipping. The attempt by German and Ottoman forces to storm the canal in February 1915 led the British to commit 100,000 troops to the defense of Egypt for the rest of the war. Other political forces emerging in this period included the Communist Party (1925) and the Muslim Brotherhood (1928), which eventually became a potent political and religious force.

King Fuad died in 1936 and Farouk inherited the throne at age 16. Alarmed by Italy’s recent invasion of Abyssinia, he signed the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty, requiring Britain to withdraw all troops from Egypt except those necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings, numbering 10,000 troops plus auxiliary personnel. Additionally, the United Kingdom would supply and train Egypt’s army and assist in its defense in case of war. The 1936 treaty did not resolve the question of Sudan, which under the terms of the existing Anglo-Egyptian Condominium Agreement of 1899 was meant to be jointly governed by Egypt and Britain with real power remaining in British hands. With rising tension in Europe, the treaty expressively favored maintaining the status quo. The treaty was not welcomed by Egyptian nationalists like the Arab Socialist Party, who wanted full independence. It ignited a wave of demonstrations against the British and the Wafd Party, which supported the treaty.

On September 23, 1945, after the end of World War II, the Egyptian government demanded the modification of the treaty to terminate the British military presence and to allow the annexation of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan. Following the Wafd Party’s victory in the boycotted 1950 election of Egypt, the new Wafd government unilaterally abrogated the treaty in October 1951. Three years later with new government leadership under Colonel Gamal Abdel Nasser, the UK agreed to withdraw its troops in the Anglo–Egyptian Agreement of 1954; the British withdrawal was completed in June 1956. This is the date when Egypt gained full independence, although Nasser had already established an independent foreign policy that caused tension with several Western powers.

Image of armed British soldiers lined up against a wall of sandbags in the Alamein, Egypt.

British Infantry near El Alamein, 17 July 1942: During World War II, British troops used Egypt as a base for Allied operations throughout the region. The British maintained a significant presence in Egypt, even after the latter’s formal independence in 1922.

Attributions