History of modern Egypt
Muhammad Ali's dynasty became practically independent from Ottoman rule, following his military campaigns against the Empire and his ability to enlist large-scale armies, allowing him to control both Egypt and parts of North Africa and the Middle East.In 1882, the Khedivate of Egypt became part of the British sphere of influence in the region, a situation that conflicted with its position as an autonomous vassal state of the Ottoman Empire.Egypt was ruled autocratically by three presidents over the following six decades: by Nasser from 1954 until his death in 1970, by Anwar Sadat from 1971 until his assassination in 1981, and by Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until his resignation in the face of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.In April 1882, France and the United Kingdom sent warships to Alexandria to bolster the Khedive amidst a turbulent climate, spreading fear of invasion throughout the country.The naval bombardment of Alexandria by the Royal Navy had little effect on the opposition which led to the landing of a British expeditionary force at both ends of the Suez Canal in August 1882.To the surprise of the British authorities, Egyptian women also demonstrated, led by Huda Sha‘rawi (1879–1947), who would become the leading feminist voice in Egypt in the first half of the twentieth century.In February 1921, the British Parliament approved the agreement and Egypt was asked to send another mission to London with full powers to conclude a definitive treaty.However, the Dominion delegates at the 1921 Imperial Conference had stressed the importance of maintaining control over the Suez Canal Zone and Curzon could not persuade his Cabinet colleagues to agree to any terms that Adli Pasha was prepared to accept.In deference to the growing nationalism and at the suggestion of the High Commissioner, Lord Allenby, the UK unilaterally declared Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922.Alarmed by the Second Italo-Abyssinian War when Italy invaded Ethiopia, he signed the Anglo-Egyptian treaty, requiring Britain to withdraw all troops from Egypt by 1949, except at the Suez Canal.When the United States held up military sales in reaction to Egyptian neutrality regarding the Soviet Union, Nasser concluded an arms deal with Czechoslovakia in September 1955.When the US and the World Bank withdrew their offer to help finance the Aswan High Dam in mid-1956, Nasser nationalized the privately owned Suez Canal Company.Anthony Nutting's biography of Gamal Abdel-Nasser identifies several factors that led the Egyptian President to send expeditionary forces to Yemen.Israel afterward occupied the Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip from Egypt, Golan Heights from Syria, and West Bank from Jordan.In the meantime, the United States initiated a strategic airlift to provide replacement weapons and supplies to Israel and appropriate $2.2 billion in emergency aid.On 4 March 1974 Israel withdrew the last of its troops from the west side of the Suez Canal[9] and 12 days later Arab oil ministers announced the end of the embargo against the United States.Sadat dismantled much of the existing political machine and brought to trial a number of former government officials accused of criminal excesses during the Nasser era.In the last years of his life, Egypt was wracked by violence arising from discontent with Sadat's rule and sectarian tensions, and it experienced a renewed measure of repression including extra judicial arrests.Shortly after mounting an unprecedented presidential campaign, Nour was jailed on forgery charges critics called phony; he was released on 18 February 2009.However, a dramatic drop in support for Mubarak and his domestic economic reform program increased with surfacing news about his son Alaa being extremely corrupt and favored in government tenders and privatization.Gamal Mubarak branched out with a few colleagues to set up Medinvest Associates Ltd., which manages a private equity fund, and to do some corporate finance consultancy work.[14] Beginning on 25 January 2011, a series of street demonstrations, protests, and civil disobedience acts have taken place in Egypt, with organizers counting on the Tunisian uprising to inspire the crowds to mobilize.Vice President Omar Suleiman announced that Mubarak had stepped down and that the Egyptian military would assume control of the nation's affairs in the short term.Turnout was high and there were no reports of irregularities or violence, although members of some parties broke the ban on campaigning at polling places by handing out pamphlets and banners.Presidential elections, were held in March–June 2012, with a final runoff between former prime minister Ahmed Shafik and Muslim Brotherhood parliamentarian Mohamed Morsi.[23] On 8 July 2012, Egypt's new president Mohamed Morsi said that he's overriding a military edict that dissolved the country's elected parliament and calling on lawmakers back into session.On 10 July 2012, the Supreme Constitutional Court of Egypt negated the decision by President Mohamed Morsi to call the nation's parliament back into session.[25] On 22 November 2012, Egyptian Mohamed Morsi issued a declaration immunizing his decrees from challenge and seeking to protect the work of the Constituent Assembly drafting the new constitution.Liberal and secular groups previously walked out of the constitutional constituent assembly because they believed that it would impose strict Islamic practices, while Muslim Brotherhood backers threw their support behind Morsi.[42] In December 2020, final results of the parliamentary election confirmed a clear majority of the seats for Egypt’s Mostaqbal Watn (Nation’s Future) Party, which strongly supports president El-Sisi.
History of EgyptPrehistoric EgyptAncient EgyptEarly Dynastic PeriodOld Kingdom1st Intermediate PeriodMiddle Kingdom2nd Intermediate PeriodNew Kingdom3rd Intermediate PeriodLate PeriodArgead dynastyPtolemaic dynastiesRoman and Byzantine EgyptSasanian EgyptMedieval EgyptRashidun caliphateUmayyad caliphateAbbasid dynastyTulunid dynastyIkhshidid dynastyFatimid dynastyAyyubid dynastyMamluk dynastyEarly modernOttoman EgyptFrench occupationMuhammad Ali dynastyKhedivate of EgyptBritish occupationSultanate of EgyptKingdom of EgyptRepublicmodernityOttomans'defeatMamlūksOttoman EmpireprotectorateGamal Abdel NasserRepublic of Egypt1952 Egyptian revolutionpresidentsAnwar SadatassassinationHosni Mubarak2011 Egyptian revolutionSupreme Council of the Armed ForcesTantawielectionsMohamed MorsiAbdel Fattah El-SisiHistory of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynastyHistory of Egypt under the BritishʻUrabi revoltKhedive TewfiqAlexandriaAhmed Urabinaval bombardment of AlexandriaRoyal Navya British expeditionary forceSuez CanalEgyptian Armyat Tel El KebirLord CromerDenshawai incidentHussein KamelEgyptian Expeditionary ForceSinai and Palestine campaignAbbas Hilmi IIHusayn KamelParis Peace Conference of 1919Saad Zaghlul1919 RevolutionHuda Sha‘rawiMajor-GeneralMilner CommissionLord MilnerLord CurzonForeign SecretarytreatyAdli PashaBritish ParliamentDominionImperial ConferenceKingdom of Egypt (1922–1953)High CommissionerLord Allenbyunilaterally declaredFuad IKing FuadKing FaroukSecond Italo-Abyssinian WarAnglo-Egyptian treatyWorld War IIused EgyptHistory of republican EgyptEgyptian revolution of 1952IsraelKafr DawarHistory of Egypt under Gamal Abdel NasserNasserArab socialismSoviet UnionCzechoslovakiaWorld BankAswan High DamSuez Canal Companycrisiswar of liberationFrench in AlgeriaSuez WarUnited Arab RepublicAll-Palestine GovernmentYugoslaviaNon-Aligned MovementAnthony NuttingGamal Abdel-NasserArab worldanti-colonialSix-Day WarSinai PeninsulaGaza StripGolan HeightsWest BankHistory of Egypt under Anwar Sadat