Early Egypt
The
Egypt into which
Gamal Abdul Nasser was born was at its base an
old and stable
society. The recorded history of the
country
goes back 5000 years to the first known
pharaohs; and
though for 2000 years there had been waves of
invaders
bringing one
foreign ruler after another, for most of the
peasants (the
fellahin) life continued much as it had for
centuries, regulated as much by the
Nile and the miracle of
its annual
flood, as by successive new masters.
The origins of
Pharaonic Egypt are of course older than
that and derive from the fact that Egypt is "the gift of the
Nile". From Wadi
Haifa in the south to the
Mediterranean
in the north, local communities developed settled
agriculture along the Nile and in its fertile delta. Hemmed in by the vast
Libyan and
Arabian
deserts to west and east, there was little room to expand, and densely populated stable
communities developed in a fertile environment that
encouraged
political organisation and the emergence of a
new level of civilisation. It culminated in 3000 BCE in the
unification by
Menes of upper and lower Egypt and the
flowering of one of the world's greatest and longest-lived
civilisations.
Though Egypt was later to be ruled for centuries by a
variety of outsiders, the sense of an
Egyptian identity and
the grandeur of the past were never entirely forgotten.
Much of the
archaeological treasure house decayed, but its
sheer scale, coupled with the preserving qualities of the
warm dry climate, ensured that a consciousness survived,
however much overlain by later political and
cultural
changes.
Invaders
It was the many and varied invaders who did much to
overlay that consciousness in complex and competing ways.
In the later pharaonic centuries Egypt found itself sacked
several times by Libyans,
Ethiopians,
Persians and
Assyrians,
before being conquered by the
Greeks under
Alexander in
332 BCE. During his rule the great Mediterranean city of
Alexandria was established. The Greeks were followed in 30
BCE by the arrival of
Roman and later
Byzantine rulers who
were to survive until 638 CE. In Western minds the period
is associated with the saga of
Antony and
Cleopatra, but for
ordinary Egyptians at the time, one of the greatest legacies was the introduction of
Christianity which came to
replace the worship of the river and a
panoply of associated gods that had characterized the
religious life of the pharaonic age. However, the
indigenous church that developed in Egypt was that of the
Copts, with their own
monophysite doctrine which was deemed heretical by the
Byzantine rulers.
Byzantine rule became increasingly
unpopular with the
people, both because of the division on Christianity, and
the high levels of
taxation exacted. In the seventh century
in the Arabian deserts to the east a new message, that of
Islam, arose and went out northwards before turning to the
west into
north Africa. It was only a relatively small Arab
army that arrived in Egypt in AD 639, but it was welcomed
by many Egyptians anxious to see the overthrow of the
unpopular Byzantine rulers. The arrival of Islam and the
Arabic language was to mark another of the great turning
points in the history of Egypt, and their absorption by
Egyptian society went on over a long period, being generally a peaceful and incremental process. Though Arabs did
emigrate to Egypt, the large majority of the population was unchanged, and indeed a significant minority of some 10
per cent remained committed Copts.
Arab Rule
Arab rule, like that of the preceding conquerors, meant
involvement in the wider fortunes of empires and dynasties
around the Mediterranean. The
Ummayads, a dynasty based in
Damascus, seized Egypt in 658, but held it only until 750. During that period the great
schism within Islam between
Sunni and
Shi'ite occurred, in which Egypt became
associated with the former, as it has remained ever since.
The Ummayads were followed by the
Abbassids who sent a
series of governors of
Turkish origin from their capital in
Baghdad. In practice the governors of Egypt were to
become effectively autonomous, and
Ibn Tulun in particular
sought this freedom, bequeathing a new capital
al-Qahira
(
Cairo) at the centre of which was a vast
mosque capable of
housing his army. After Ibn Tulun's death there was a
period of confusion and decay before a new conquest by
the
Fatimids from north-west
Africa in 969. During the brilliant period of the Fatimids the university mosque of
Al-Azhar, the oldest surviving
university in the world, was built. It was to become the major centre of learning in the Islamic world, and to provide a source of authority for
successive rulers of Egypt.
The period of growth under the Fatimids, outside as well
as inside Egypt, was checked with the coming of the
Crusaders from
Europe. In response the Syrian-based
Seljuk dynasty fought back, especially through the exploits of the Kurd
Salah al-Din (
Saladin as he became known in the
West) who himself took Egypt establishing his own
Ayyubid dynasty in 1171. Securing himself in the newly built
citadel on a hill overlooking the
Faunlid city, Salah al-Din also launched his army once more against the Crusaders driving them from
Jerusalem in 1178. Under the Ayyubids
there was also to be another major development, the raising of a
mercenary army of Turkish slave soldiers to protect the rulers. Known as
mamluks (an Arabic term meaning "owned") this army raised in the slave markets of
the Caucasus and beyond, took over power in 1250 CE at a time of
Mongol threat from the east. The
mamluks were Turkish-speaking and from their number arose successive
sultans to rule Egypt. To protect themselves mamluks
returned to their
slave markets of origin to purchase boys
who were then reared in existing mamluk households creating
an isolated
military caste to rule Egypt. Land was parcelled
out to major mamluks to enrich themselves and this
unusual form of alien rule perpetuated itself for several
centuries. While militarily strong and able to protect themselves from threat both from without and within Egypt, the mamluks were inefficient rulers, and, though they left some magnificent architecture, by the later thirteenth century
there was a series of
revolts,
plagues and
famines.
Ottoman Empire
This weakness left Egypt an easy prey for the rising
Ottoman empire that seized the country in 1517, making
it then a province of
Istanbul and that loosely structured
empire that was to dominate the Middle East until 1918.
But in practice the new Ottoman rulers worked well with
the
Circassian mamluks with whom they shared a common
linguistic and cultural background. In fact, once taxes had
been paid to Istanbul, Egypt was largely left to itself to
be governed - and increasingly misgoverned - by an
Ottoman/mamluk military
oligarchy. Cut off from the mass
of the people by race and language, the rulers also became
increasingly acquisitive in terms of land. Some peasants
effectively found themselves forced to become landless
agricultural labourers on the estates the Ottomans and
mamluks carved out for themselves, or even forced into the
cities. Under this alien system the conditions of the Arab
Muslim masses became ever harsher. And with the hardship and suffering went a slow but real decline in Egypt. At the time of the Arab invasion in 639 CE the population has been estimated at between 20 and 30 million, but when
Napoleon invaded the decaying Ottoman Egypt in 1798 CE it
had been reduced to some two and a half million.
European Influences
The arrival of the
French was to usher in a new era.
Egypt was to become shaped and then dominated by
European developments of both a political and economic
character. Both themes were present in Napoleon's invasion for he hoped to strike a blow against
Britain's control of
India by cutting the short overland route across the
Isthmus from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, and also to develop new trading opportunities for France in the eastern Mediterranean. The mamluks came out to meet him in battle, but their colourful medieval cavalry was no match for the modern firepower and discipline of the army of France which won a decisive victory at the
Battle of the
Pyramids. Napoleon then climbed a
pyramid to tell his triumphant forces that "From these monuments forty centuries look down upon you". Napoleon, however, was given little time to enjoy his victory. A British fleet under
Nelson sailed up to defeat his own ships at the
Battle of the Nile; and
with bad news from
Paris as well. Napoleon slipped away in
1799. Two years later the remaining French troops were
confronted by a Turkish-British land force and agreed to
be shipped home, to be followed voluntarily by the British.
Perhaps the outstanding legacy of Napoleon's invasion lay
with the bevy of experts he had brought with him who
created the "
Institute d'Egypte" producing numerous
volumes that were to launch
Egyptology in the Western
academic world and, in time, to remind educated
Egyptians of former glories.
Mohamed Ali
The departure of French and British forces left something of a
vacuum, which was swiftly filled by another Circassian alien,
Mohamed Ali, a wily ambitious
Albanian soldier of fortune who had landed with the Ottoman force.
Backed by Albanian regiments he manoeuvred skilfully in
the struggles between Turks and mamluks and after imprisoning the Turkish governor in 1805, persuaded Istanbul to recognise him as Egypt's sultan. Then, in 1811, he cruelly disposed of the remaining senior mamluks, massacring
them after entertaining them to a feast in the citadel.
Mohamed Ali was a
ruthless figure who realised that to
exploit his effective
autonomy as ruler of Egypt, in the face
of the growing power of Europe in particular, he would
have to
modernize his country. Firstly, he needed to reform
the army, and to this end he imported first
Italian and later
French experts. Europeans and Turks were also engaged as
officers, though later a new military college produced
some Egyptian officers from better-off families. The peasants were only to serve as
conscripts, an unpopular exercise
that was to prove a continuing weakness of Mohamed Ali's
army. Secondly, educational reforms along Western lines
produced not only military officers, but also professionals
such as doctors, engineers, and translators. Thirdly, he
encouraged health improvements in an effort to raise the
standards of
hygiene and sought to contain the sweeping
epidemics that intermittently tore through the population.
Fourthly, Mohamed Ali set out to modernize the Egyptian
economy. The state improved
irrigation, and organized the
growing and exporting of crops (such as cotton, indigo
and sugar) for the European market. Land was parcelled
out to Mohamed Ali's family and associates and a new,
largely Turkish-oriented, class of
landowners developed in
time, profiting from the growing ties with Europe. Factories
were also started, primarily to meet military requirements;
but while export crops, especially cotton, were to expand
unchecked, competition from European manufacturers,
permitted under the Ottoman capitulations, was to undermine this
nascent attempt at industrialisation.
Mohamed Ali's aims were not just to protect Egypt but
to make her an expansionist power in the Eastern Mediterranean. He successfully invaded
Sudan to the south in 1820, making it effectively a
colony, and in some eyes even a part of Egypt. In 1831 and 1833 he went so far as to
attack the Turks, until Britain and
Russia intervened to
protect the Ottoman empire from disintegration. After
that, age got the better of him, and both he and his efforts
to modernize Egypt languished.
Mohamed Ali had both established the last of the
numerous alien dynasties to rule Egypt and begun to lay
the groundwork for a modern state on European lines. But
his immediate successors, following his death in 1849,
made less impression, though the growing French
influence in the country did lead to the granting of the
concession in 1856 to
Ferdinand de Lesseps to build the
Suez Canal. It was not until
Ismail became Sultan in 1863
(soon changed to
Khedive) that there was another major
drive towards modernization, including an attempt to make
Cairo the Paris of the East. But the effort proved exhausting for Egypt and by 1875 the country was heading for
bankruptcy. This provided the opportunity for Britain's prime minister,
Disraeli, to make a swift purchase of
Egypt's shares in the canal. A year later the Egyptian
economy was effectively in hock, and French and British
“advisers” were running the
Caisse de la Dette Publique to
sort it all out. In 1879, following attempted trickery by
Ismail, Britain intervened with Istanbul to have him thrown
out in favour of his son,
Tewfik.
Britain's Control
The circumstances that led to Britain's growing intervention were also provoking a response among Egyptians. The
nineteenth-century impact of Europe on the
Middle East
was giving rise to critics in the Islamic world.
Jamal
al-Afghani had travelled widely encouraging religious
reform and ideas of liberal constitutionalism, which even
had a brief effect on
Khedive Tewfik. At the same time
Egyptian intellectuals, many of whom were products of the
educational links with Europe, were developing ideas of
secular nationalism. Meanwhile the financial problems of
the country were leading to shortages and arrears of pay in
the public services, including the army, peasants were being
heavily taxed and harvests were poor. It all culminated in a
rebellion during 1881-82, led by a nationalistic army officer, Colonel
Ahmed Arabi. While France hesitated, Britain
acted decisively by sending an army to crush Arabi's men at
Tel-el-Kebir in 1882, and imposing what was to be in all but
name the British occupation of Egypt.
British domination of Egypt was set up by
Sir Evelyn Baring
(soon to be
Lord Cromer and known to his subordinates as
“the Lord”). Though the Khedive was to remain, and would
name a Cabinet of Egyptian ministers, all had to obey the
directives of Cromer and the other British advisers
appointed to reform Egypt. The first concern was the
stabilisation of the country's finances. Irrigation was
improved, including the building in 1902 of the first dam
at
Aswan, while the economy was pushed ever more
towards the “
monocrop” culture of cotton, primarily for
export to British textile mills in
Lancashire. There was also
reform in many areas of the state, including the rebuilding
of the Egyptian army. While there were improvements in
standard in a number of areas, Britain's control emphasised the distance between rulers and ruled. Formally the
rulers were the Khedive and his ministers, mainly Turco-
Circassian in origin, but behind them lay the real power of
even more alien masters, the British under what had
become known as the “
veiled protectorate”. In time this led
to resentment, especially among the growing educated
group, who felt the arrogance of the British most directly.
To make matters worse the British government repeatedly
announced that it would be pulling out of Egypt once the
country was on a “sound” footing. Yet in practice the British
seemed to dig in ever deeper. As a result, by the early
1900s, a nationalist undercurrent was developing led by a
charismatic young man,
Mustafa Kamil, and though there
were strikes and demonstrations (which were to become a
regular feature of Egyptian political life), Britain remained
as unmoved, aloof and arrogant as ever.
The “veil” was lifted from British domination and a protectorate proclaimed with the coming of the
First World War in 1914. Legally Egypt had been Ottoman, and since the Ottoman Empire was siding with Germany, Britain was
at war with Turkey and hence required to
annex Egypt
formally. During the conflict Egypt became a vast transit
camp as thousands of Allied troops poured through, moving between
Asia, the
Antipodes and Europe. It was also a
base for the campaigns first in
Gallipoli and later in
Palestine. Such disruption and the effects it had on the life
and economy of Egypt fuelled resentment against British
domination. The principle of self-determination
enunciated by America's President
Woodrow Wilson as the basis
for the peace conference in Paris in 1918, led to the
request of senior Egyptians led by
Sa'ad Zaghlul that a
Wafd (delegation) be sent to represent Egypt. Zaghlul was
of peasant background and was a charismatic figure with
great appeal to the public, among whom he was popularly
known as “
al zaim”, the leader. As a result, when Britain
refused the request for the Wafd to go to Paris a wave of
nationalist demonstrations convulsed Egypt and lasted for
much of 1919. Zaghlul and his colleagues had been
deported to
Malta, but Britain was forced to allow them to
go to Paris, though not as negotiators. Britain, though, was
still prepared to offer little, for she saw Egypt as a vital
strategic position in the post-war world, and agitation broke
out once more, with Zaghlul again exiled. In a desperate
attempt to meet Egyptian demands and British interest,
Britain's new High Commissioner, Lord Allenby,
announced in 1922 the ending of the Protectorate and the
“
independence” of Egypt. Britain however would retain control
of certain reserved subjects: Egypt's defence, including the
retention of British bases; imperial communications,
especially the Suez Canal; the protection of foreign interests in Egypt; and the Sudan, the route of the Nile waters.
"Controlled" Independence
Such “controlled” independence fitted the general
pattern of the thinking of the victorious European powers
about the post-war Middle East. Having propped up the
Ottoman empire for the latter part of the nineteenth century, Britain and France now set about dismantling it.
While Egypt might be sufficiently advanced for a liberal
democratic experiment, other states in the region were certainly
not. Instead, Britain presided over the shaping of new
states and elevated local leaders, such as religious or tribal
chiefs into
monarchs. Having seen the possibility of Arab
national unity advanced during the war dashed, the
Hashemite family of
Sherif Abdullah of
Mecca was now
encouraged by Britain to provide kings for new states in
Jordan and
Iraq. And while Britain accepted the rise of
Ibn
Saud in the new country of
Saudi Arabia, it also kept
faith with the tiny emirates along the western flank of
Arabia from
Kuwait to
Oman, over which it had exercised protection for more than a hundred years. Meanwhile Palestine became a directly administered British
mandate, while the French imposed themselves in Syria
and Lebanon, and the Italians in
Cyrenaica (Libya).
Dreams of Arab nationalism raised by the Arab revolt
against the Ottomans in the First World War, and then
encouraged by Britain by
T.E. Lawrence, had thus been
turned instead into the reality of separate states, clearly
supervised by the two major European victors.
European overlordship, however, was to prove incompatible with the notions of
Arab nationalism that had been
growing since the end of the nineteenth century; and it
was no surprise that this would become apparent first in
the most advanced country in the region, Egypt. Egypt's
independence had been a unilateral declaration by Britain;
and the reservations imposed were to become a running
sore in the relations between the two countries. There were
repeated attempts to negotiate a more satisfactory agreement, but these foundered in 1924, 1926 and 1929 on the
inability to match the aspirations of Egypt for full independence with Britain's perception of the requirements
needed to protect her interests. At the same time as Egyptians were frustrated by the reservations, so the internal
political arrangements proved unsatisfactory as well. In theory Egypt was embarking on a constitutional liberal democracy, but practice proved something less. The king,
Fuad, was an autocratic character determined to exercise power
in his own right, and since he had been installed by the
British it was felt by Egyptians that Britain effectively
underwrote his position. There was an elected
parliament
in which the Wafd was now the country's leading party and
which Zaghlul, who was opposed to Fuad, dominated until
his death in 1927. But government needed the acceptance
of the king, and in practice the support of the British
Residency, making political life a triangular struggle that
did little to make the ordinary Egyptian feel that he
counted, let alone had a part to play. By the early 1930s
scepticism with liberal democracy was widespread. With the
popular Zaghlul dead it seemed as if the British, the king
and the old landed ruling class retained power and were
becoming more
autocratic, negating the nationalist
upsurge of 1919-22. Meanwhile, the economy and society,
having been drawn ever more tightly into the world
economy by the concentration on cotton, were vulnerable
to its widening swings which in 1929 culminated in the
Wall Street Crash and the subsequent
Depression. Such was
the disturbed world in which the young impressionable
Nasser was to take his first steps in politics in the 1930s. All of this history would be important in the changes that would define the "new" nation of Egypt.
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