Why did Britain colonise Egypt? Standard aim – to give evidence for the different reasons why Britain colonised Egypt Super aim – to make a judgement on the most important reason why Britain colonised

Egypt with evidence from today’s and previous lessons

Standard – Who is the man in this picture? What does the

crown represent? Why is it being given to Queen Victoria?

Super – What message would this cartoon from a newspaper be giving to the British Public?

‘You have it (the Canal), Ma’am’ (PM

Disraeli 1875)

Using these pictures, why did Britain want to colonise Egypt? Does this suggest it was

a planned colonisation?

How far did Westminster have control over the Sudan in the 1880s?

Themes – metropolis, periphery, motives, resistance and accommodation

Content – background (Egypt 1875-1885, Disraeli and shares, military intervention 1882, International Debt Commission)

Sudan and Gordon 1884-1885

Why and how? Check Homework.

• Reading• In 1798-1799 Napoleon had established some degree of control over Egypt. They still had some

autonomy, and the Egyptian leader at the time decided Egypt needed to modernise like France, using French influences and French advice, and expand like France and taken over the Sudan and Syria.

• Egypt was also still officially part of the Ottoman Empire (Turkey), although in reality they had a large degree of autonomy. When Napoleon lost power an unofficial French influence remained and Egypt being part of the Ottoman empire was more important. Egypt wanted to modernise and break away from Ottoman control.

• To get to India from 1840 British goods used to be carried overland between the Nile and the Red Sea. Britain and France both wanted to keep their influence.

The Background...

•Who had influence in Egypt in the early 1800s?

•How autonomous was Egypt in the early 1800s?

• Britain opposed a canal being built between the Nile and the Red Sea (the Suez Canal, there had been a shallow canal during the Egyptian empire!), as although they knew it would benefit them, the risk of it falling into enemy hands was too great. As Egypt stood to make a lot of money from building a canal was built anyway using French money. When it was opened in 1869 the sail boat was still the primary mode of transport for hauling large quantities of goods. PM Palmerstone stated ‘we do not want Egypt or wish it for ourselves’ in 1869. The winds were unreliable and the British thought going around the Cape of Good Hope would remain the primary way to get there. However technology improved for steam ships and haulage through the canal grew from 436,609 in 1869 to 5 million tons in 1882.

The Canal

How important was the canal by 1882?

• Egypt took loans and got into a lot of debt in its attempts to modernise and control the Sudan. The loans from Europe often had a high interest rate. The money Egypt actually received was often greatly reduced by the costs of travelling to Europe and holding meetings to get the loans themselves. Eventually loan after loan was coming to try and cover the payments of previous loans.

• Despite this Alexandria had become a great port, over 1000 miles of railways had been built and irrigation had hugely improved from investment.

• In 1875 Ismail (the leader of Egypt) faced bankruptcy. The International Debt Commission was set up to try and sort out its finances, Britain, France, Austria, Hungary and Italy all had a seat on it. The British PM purchased 45% of the shares of the Suez Canal, partly as he’d heard that the French were considering doing it too. The British now seemed to see the Canal as ‘theirs’.

• In 1876 Ismail asked for British advice in how to sort out his finances. The British Treasury Minister arrived and said the Egyptian situation wasn’t hopeless, but could benefit from a stronger European element. A French and British advisor followed and said that there should be two high officials to help, one French, one British.

• They established a dual control – the assigned revenues from the railway, telegraph and customs department paid charges on the foreign loans. The non-assigned revenues, or everything else, paid for the running of the country. If the assigned revenues were insufficient the non-assigned revenues would make up the gap. If the non-assigned revenues were in surplus they would go straight to pay off the loans more quickly.

• The Anglo-French Dual control lasted until 1882. They managed to fix interest rates for the loans at 4-5% and assigned all the income from the railways, telegraph and customs to paying these interest rates. All the rest of Egyptian revenue was used for the Egyptian administration.

• This helped to sort out the Egyptian economy, but effected the ordinary Egyptian badly, especially after the bad harvest of 1876-1877. Hundreds starved to death, tax collectors were very aggressive and the army wasn’t paid properly.

What was Dual Control and why was it introduced? What impact did it have?

How did Britain take over Egypt? 1. By 1879 the army mutinied. It was organised by Ismail to get rid of the ‘European ministry’.

The Ottomans removed him and replaced him with his weaker son Tewfik. The army realised they were powerful and it seemed like it was only a matter of time until they would try to overthrow the British.

2. In January 1882 the Anglo-French Joint Note was issued. It said that they would always support the Ottoman Empire against anyone who disturbed the piece.

3. In May 1882 reports arrived of Europeans and their property being attacked. Britain and France sent warships to Alexandria to evacuate refugees. It was also part of their gunboat diplomacy.

4. In June 1882 there was a riot in Alexandria where 50 Europeans were killed. Negotiations failed.

5. In July the British fleet bombarded the fortifications in Alexandria – as the Egyptians had been strengthening them and seemed to be preparing for war. The British didn’t want it to set a precedent and for British citizens to killed around the world. They had no choice but to invade afterwards and protect the Suez Canal in August 1882. Wolesley commanded the expedition and took the canal in 3 days.

6. There were then problems in the Sudan, which Egypt controlled, and the Egyptian government collapsed. The British suddenly felt that they couldn’t leave.

What were the 6 steps?

Make three headings for why they took over Egypt

and write evidence underneath them.

•E.g. Economic reasons, circumstantial reasons,

imperial rivalry.

Why did Britain take over Egypt? 1. By 1879 the army mutinied. It was organised by Ismail to get rid of the ‘European ministry’.

The Ottomans removed him and replaced him with his weaker son Tewfik. The army realised they were powerful and it seemed like it was only a matter of time until they would try to overthrow the British.

2. In January 1882 the Anglo-French Joint Note was issued. It said that they would always support the Ottoman Empire against anyone who disturbed the piece.

3. In May 1882 reports arrived of Europeans and their property being attacked. Britain and France sent warships to Alexandria to evacuate refugees. It was also part of their gunboat diplomacy.

4. In June 1882 there was a riot in Alexandria where 50 Europeans were killed. Negotiations failed.

5. In July the British fleet bombarded the fortifications in Alexandria – as the Egyptians had been strengthening them and seemed to be preparing for war. The British didn’t want it to set a precedent and for British citizens to killed around the world. They had no choice but to invade afterwards and protect the Suez Canal in August 1882. Wolesley commanded the expedition and took the canal in 3 days.

6. There were then problems in the Sudan, which Egypt controlled, and the Egyptian government collapsed. The British suddenly felt that they couldn’t leave.

Make three headings for why they took over Egypt

and write evidence underneath them.

•E.g. Economic reasons, circumstantial reasons,

imperial rivalry.

Why did Britain colonise Egypt? Standard aim – to give evidence for the different reasons why Britain colonised Egypt Super aim – to make a judgement on the most important reason why Britain colonised

Egypt with evidence from today’s and previous lessons

• Was the colonisation of Egypt planned or circumstantial?

Make three headings for why they took over Egypt

and write evidence underneath them.

•E.g. Economic reasons, circumstantial reasons,

imperial rivalry.

Homework – Due Monday 7th October

• Make a flow chart of the colonisation of Egypt. – Be detailed – Be creative – Make different

shapes mean different things

• Use your books to help you and the website

• www.historywcsch.wordpress.org