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64-549: The Wafd party was an Egyptian nationalist movement that came into existence in the aftermath of World War I. Although it was not the first nationalist group in Egypt, it had the longest lasting impact. It was preceded and influenced by smaller and less significant movements which evolved over time into the more modern and stronger nationalist Wafd Party. One of these earlier movements was the Urabi Revolt led by Ahmed Urabi in

128-495: A British protectorate . British authorities arrested Zaghloul and three other leaders and had them exiled to the island of Malta in 1919. These deportations caused the opposite effect to that the British had hoped, and though attempts were made to keep it quiet, word spread and eventually led to a strike of law students. This strike became a demonstration with chants including "Long live Saad! … Long live Independence!" This started

192-623: A British archaeologist named Howard Carter in November 1922, arguing that they belonged to Egypt and Carter could not take them to Britain as he planned. The dispute finally led to the Egyptians posting an armed guard outside of Tutankhamun's tomb to prevent Carter from entering it. In February 1924, the Egyptian government seized control of the tomb and with it all of the artifacts found there, saying that they belonged to Egypt. On 6 March 1924,

256-442: A Personal Narrative of Events, 1888-1914 (2 vols. 1919–20). Historian Robert O. Collins says: The most vigorous English advocate of Egyptian Independence, Blunt was both arrogant and irascible, his works scathing, discursive, and at times utterly ridiculous. Immature and unfair, both he and his writings must be used with caution, but even the dullest of men will come away stimulated if not aroused and with fresh insights to challenge

320-467: A better education than their own parents could afford"; likewise, the proliferation of missionary-operated hospitals exposed the inadequacy of government-provided healthcare. Further social unrest resulted from the government's inability to resolve metastasizing labor disputes threatening the Egyptian economy. The twin occurrences of the worldwide recession prompted by the Great Depression and

384-415: A campaign that exposed the problems of the newly established constitutional order. Zaghloul was especially critical of the electoral laws, which he viewed as incompatible with democracy since they made eligibility of candidacy to general elections conditional on income. The Students Executive Committee of Zaghloul's Wafd Party played a crucial role in the campaign. The election was held over two stages. In

448-587: A long grinding war in Yemen, and subservience to the Soviet Union . In contrast to the secularist Nasser, Sadat began a policy of playing up Egypt's Muslim identity, having the constitution amended in 1971 to say that Sharia law was "a main source of all state legislation" and in 1980 to say that Sharia law was the main source of all legislation which was controversial in Egypt with many opposing it, although over time Egypt would become more conservative following

512-506: A mandate to conclude a treaty with the United Kingdom that would assure Egypt complete independence. As prime minister, Zaghloul carefully selected a cross-section of Egyptian society for his cabinet, which he called the "People's Ministry". On 15 March 1924, King Fuad opened the first Egyptian constitutional parliament amid national rejoicing. The Wafdist government did not last long, however. On 19 November 1924, Sir Lee Stack ,

576-401: A modern civilized society ought to be and what constituted by extension a civilized or "good Egyptian"; and his ideas on public interest and the public good. Tahtawi was instrumental in sparking indigenous interest in Egypt's ancient heritage. He composed several poems in praise of Egypt and wrote two other general histories of the country. He also co-founded with his contemporary Ali Mubarak ,

640-463: A regional cotton crisis slowed Egypt's GDP growth through the late 1920s and most of the following two decades. The consequent instability in the labor market motivated early attempts at widespread unionization. Sensing a threat to its unrivaled power, the Wafd implemented numerous local labor conciliation boards, which were essentially toothless owing to the dearth of labor laws on a national level. Though

704-508: Is Lake Serbonis , where Typhon is said to be concealed and where Cambyses beat Egyptian army at the Battle of Pelusium . Avaris , the capital of Hyksos , who conquered Egypt in the 17th century BC , is also described as "Typhonic" by Manetho . Other texts that could be considered a part of Egyptian "Königsnovelle" and shaped early Egyptian protonationalism are Oracle of the Lamb , Oracle of

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768-466: Is depicted as half Egyptian, a grandson of Apries . Alexander is portrayed in the same duality – while he is also depicted as half-Egyptian through his alleged father Nectanebo in Alexander Romance , his new capital Alexandria is seen as an evil (or "Typhonic") foundation destined to be destroyed, with Memphis being restored as the rightful seat of the gods. This could be explained by

832-607: The 1924 parliamentary election the Wafd won 179 of 211 parliamentary seats. In 1936 it won 89% of the vote and 157 seats in Parliament. However, ties between the Wafd and the two other axes of power – the King and the Residency – were strained by the party's raison d'être of opposing British intervention in Egypt and the King's collusion therein. King Fuad I 's relations with the Wafd were described as "cool," and ties between

896-494: The Dutch East Indies (modern-day Indonesia ) than they did with the nations of Europe. Egyptian nationalism reached its peak in popularity in 1919 when revolution against British rule took place in response to wartime policies imposed by the British authorities in Egypt during World War I . Three years of protest and political turmoil followed until Britain unilaterally declared the independence of Egypt in 1922 that

960-506: The Egyptian Revolution of 1919 , and in the following days many more began to strike and the government and courts shut down entirely. Several riots and other disturbances broke out over Egypt, which were gradually suppressed by the British. The British then released Saad Zaghloul and his followers, hoping to create a rift in the Wafd leadership. However, the party became more unified, and the strikes continued. The symbol used by

1024-623: The Egyptian Revolution of 1952 that overthrew the monarchy and established a republic, Gamal Abdel Nasser rose to power on themes that were based on Arab nationalism. Nasser saw Egypt as the leader of the Arab states and saw Egypt's role as promoting Arab solidarity against both the West and Israel. In 1952 Nasser produced a half programmatic entitled The Philosophy of the Revolution . It offers and account to how he and other officers who overthrew

1088-549: The Egyptian revolution of 1919 . The early Egyptian protonationalism was shaped by foreign invasions and conquests. The Assyrian conquest and the Battle of Carchemish led to a figure of Nebuchadnezzar becoming the archetype of the Eastern conqueror, a figure representing foreign domination, an outsider and a prototypical enemy of Egypt. The Egyptian attitude towards the subsequent Persian conquest led by Cambyses II and

1152-572: The Macedonian conquest led by Alexander the Great is somewhat conflicting. Herodotus , drawing from native Egyptian tradition, portrays Cambyses, on one hand, as a brutal conqueror, who desecrated sacred Apis bull cult, the view that is also supported by latter Cambyses Romance and the Chronicle of John of Nikiou , where he is also identified with Nebuchadnezzar. On the other hand, Cambyses

1216-509: The Nile Delta region of Lower Egypt, where Copts were not very numerous. It felt vindicated by these results, which were a clear sign of the party's strength and a testament to its commitment to secularism and national unity. The Wafd Party's resounding victory meant that King Fuad I had no choice but to ask Zaghloul to form a new government. He did so on 27 January, and Zaghloul was named Prime Minister of Egypt . The Wafd felt it had

1280-548: The Senate because it was harder to find qualified candidates to run for its constituencies. It won 66 Senate seats. Wafdist voters included the medium and small landowners, urban professionals, merchants and industrialists, shopkeepers, workers and peasants. Members of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority received 10% of the seats. This was higher than the Copts' share of Egypt's population , which stood at six percent according to

1344-584: The 1917 census. The social origin of the Copts who had been elected was very similar to that of the Muslims: mostly wealthy landowners, but also a small number of middle-class professionals, mostly lawyers as well as a few doctors. Two-thirds of the districts that elected Copts were in Upper Egypt , and one-third in Lower Egypt . The Wafd was the only party that managed to get Coptic candidates elected in

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1408-733: The African Union [REDACTED] Member State of the Arab League Parliamentary elections were held in two stages in Egypt in 1923 and 1924, the first since nominal independence from the United Kingdom in 1922. The result was a victory for the Wafd Party , which won 188 of the 215 seats. The British government unilaterally recognized Egypt's independence on 28 February 1922. The Kingdom of Egypt

1472-524: The Arab world as Sadat changed Egypt's official name from the " United Arab Republic " to the " Arab republic of Egypt". Sadat, upon taking office in 1970, announced that his first policy would be "Egypt first". In December 1970, Sadat announced in a speech that Egypt would be willing to make peace with Israel provided the latter returned the Sinai peninsula, making no mention of the West Bank, Gaza Strip or

1536-672: The British governor general of Sudan and commander of the Egyptian Army , was assassinated in Cairo. The assassination was one of a series of killings of British officials that had begun in 1920. Viscount Allenby , the British High Commissioner to Egypt , considered Stack an old and trusted friend. He was thus determined to avenge the crime and in the process humiliate the Wafd and destroy its credibility in Egypt. Allenby demanded that Egypt apologize, prosecute

1600-543: The British Protectorate of Egypt. Although at this point the British were still in control, the Wafd was effectively leading the people of Egypt. In 1920, the British protectorate ended and the Wafd was placed in control of Egypt. The party rapidly became the dominant political organization in the country through most of the liberal period which came to an end with the rise of Gamal Abdel Nasser . The three-decade period between Britain's nominal exit in 1922 and

1664-636: The Egyptian landed gentry and legal profession, including their leader Saad Zaghloul. They presented themselves with Zaghloul as their representative to Reginald Wingate , the British High Commissioner in Egypt and requested to represent Egypt at the Paris Peace Conference . They told Wingate that the main goal of the Wafd was the immediate termination of the British occupation of Egypt , but not of their intention to use

1728-597: The Farouk government after it acceded to the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 . The policies followed by the party during the Anglo-Egyptian crisis of the mid-1930s alienated many Egyptian nationalists – heretofore the single most reliable support bloc for the Wafd – and severed the party between its small but powerful accommodationist minority and its large but voiceless resistant majority. The failure of

1792-514: The Golan Heights. Sadat in a speech said Let there be no more war or bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis. Let there be no more suffering or denial of rights. Let there be no more despair or loss of faith. After the 1973 October War had boosted his image and the Egyptian army's image in Egypt, Sadat began a comprehensive attack on Nasser's legacy, including his pan-Arabist policies, which were portrayed as having dragged Egypt into poverty,

1856-422: The Great and Tutankhamun instead of Muhammad and his companions and for seeking to "annihilate" Egypt's Muslim identity. In January 1952, British forces surrounded an Egyptian police station and demanded they surrender a group of fedayeen guerillas who had taken shelter there and leave the canal zone. After the Egyptians shot and killed a British negotiator, the British commander present ordered an attack on

1920-519: The Magnificent for his fiscal extravagance which caused Egypt's bankruptcy in 1876, leading Ismail, who did not appreciate the cartoon, to order his arrest. Sanu fled to Paris, and continued to publish Abu-Naddara Zarqa there, with its issues being smuggled into Egypt until his death in 1912. The period between 1860 − 1940 was characterized by El - nahda , renaissance or rebirth. It is best known its renewed interest in Egyptian antiquity and

1984-547: The Magnificent, and then Egypt's British rulers as bumbling buffoons were very popular in the 19th century. Sanu was the first to write in Egyptian Arabic, which was intended to appeal to a mass audience, and his cartoons could be easily understood by even the illiterate. Sanu had established the newspaper Abu-Naddara Zarqa, which was the first newspaper to use Egyptian Arabic in March 1877. One of his cartoons mocked Ismail

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2048-561: The Paris Peace Conference to plead their case to the world powers. Zaghloul had created a delegation (or Wafd in Arabic) that involved representatives of most of the political and social groups of Egypt. Since it was full of so many different groups, it could not yet truly be considered a political party but more of a coalition. The Wafd had formed a constitution, outlining the ways that they wished to govern Egypt. The Wafd

2112-563: The Potter and the Dream of Nectanebo. Both the Arabic language and the ancient Egyptian language are Afroasiatic languages sharing a common origin. The rule of Muhammad Ali of Egypt led Egypt to a more advanced level of industrialization in comparison with Egypt's neighbors, along with more discoveries of relics of ancient Egyptian civilization. The Urabi movement in the 1870s and 1880s

2176-644: The Prime Minister Saad Zaghloul formally opened the site of Tutankamun's tomb to the Egyptian public in an elaborate ceremony held at night with the sky lit up by floodlights, which reportedly attracted the largest crowd seen in Luxor. The reopening turned into an anti-British demonstration when the British High Commissioner, Field Marshal Allenby , arrived when the crowd was demanding immediate British withdrawal from Egypt. The dispute over who owned King Tutankhamun's treasures took place against

2240-569: The Wafd did not pursue innovative methods of youth organization until at least the mid-1930s, leaving it hopelessly behind future competitors such as the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood , which had employed a far more effective local-franchising system since its inception in 1928. After student demonstrations against the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and the anti-labor policies of the government began to reveal cracks in

2304-474: The Wafd feared that the Blue Shirts were becoming too militant, and thereafter further restricted their privileges. Having never fully embraced youth mobilization, by the close of the 1930s the uneasy Wafd leadership had essentially abandoned any efforts at intergenerational coalition-building. Easily the greatest factor contributing to popular disillusionment with the Wafd was the party's failure to boycott

2368-432: The Wafd secured guarantees of a permanent national labor council, no significant labor laws were enacted; those that did gain passage were not enforced; and the Wafd was unable to effect any substantial change in the fiercely anti-union policy of the government. During the 1920s, the party's leadership had placed very low emphasis on the recruitment and mobilization of youth. Complacent in its dominant parliamentary position,

2432-428: The Wafd to more aggressively oppose the continuation of the British presence "left Egyptian politics devoid of a popularly legitimized leader or party." The collapse of the widespread popular support once commanded by the Wafd has been historically attributed to the combined embattlements of three distinct trends in Egyptian politics of the pre-revolutionary era. The party, along with all other Egyptian political parties,

2496-589: The architect of the modern Egyptian school system. After the British occupation of Egypt began in 1882, Egyptian nationalism became focused upon ending the occupation. They had support from Liberals and Socialists in Britain. Wilfrid Scawen Blunt , an anti-imperialist , criticized the British occupation in three widely circulated books: The Secret History of the English Occupation of Egypt... (1907), Gordon at Khartoum (1911), and My Diaries: Being

2560-498: The assailants, pay a £500,000 indemnity, withdraw all troops from Sudan, consent to an unlimited increase of irrigation in Sudan and end all opposition to the capitulations (Britain's demand of the right to protect foreign interests in the country). Zaghloul wanted to resign rather than accept the ultimatum, but Allenby presented it to him before Zaghloul could offer his resignation to the king. Zaghloul and his cabinet decided to accept

2624-502: The backdrop of a movement in the Egyptian liberal elite known as Pharaonism which extolled ancient Egypt as a national symbol and portrayed Egypt as a Mediterranean nation. The nationalistic Young Egypt Party in the 1930s led by Ahmed Hussein advocated British withdrawal from Egypt and the Sudan, and promised to unite the Arab world under the leadership of Egypt, through the Young Egyptian Society made it clear in

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2688-788: The code-name for the initial assault on the Israeli Bar Lev Line on the Suez Canal was Operation Badr , after Muhammad's first victory, both gestures that would have been unthinkable under Nasser as Sadat chose to appeal to Islamic feelings. Sadat and Mubarak also abandoned Nasser's conflict with Israel and the West. Sadat chose to engage in Islamism as he released Islamists from prisons to combat Communist influence. Egyptian parliamentary election, 1923%E2%80%9324 Yahya Ibrahim Pasha Independent Saad Zaghloul Wafd Party [REDACTED] Member State of

2752-637: The cultural achievements that were inspired by it. Along with this interest came an indigenous, Egypt-centered orientation, particularly among the Egyptian intelligentsia that would affect Egypt's autonomous development as a sovereign and independent nation-state. The first Egyptian renaissance intellectual was Rifa'a el-Tahtawi . In 1831, Tahtawi undertook a career in journalism, education and translation. Three of his published volumes were works of political and moral philosophy . In them he introduces his students to Enlightenment ideas such as secular authority and political rights and liberty; his ideas regarding how

2816-590: The discovery of oil in Gulf states, which led to Egyptians going there for work and returning with the conservative Muslim ideology of Wahhabism . Through Sadat was not an Islamic fundamentalist, under his rule Islam started to be portrayed as the cornerstone of Egyptian national identity. Sadat had chosen to launch what Egyptians call the Ramadan/October War in 1973 during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and

2880-537: The early 1880s. This uprising fought against the ruling powers of the Egyptian Khedive and European interference with Egyptian affairs. Saad Zaghloul , the future creator and leader of the Wafd Party, was a follower of Orabi, and participated in the revolt. The actual party began taking shape during World War I and was founded in November 1918. The original members included seven prominent figures of

2944-440: The end of the British mandate over Egypt also precipitated a severe welfare provision vacuum which the new government failed to fill. By the 1930s, Egypt became a top destination for Christian missionary organizations, which funded and performed badly needed social services for the Egyptian middle and lower classes. Western Proselytism consortia beseeched their sponsors "to make heavy sacrifices so that Egyptian children could have

3008-529: The existence of two traditions – a folk one, trying to Egyptianize foreign conquerors and represent them as a continuation of a native royal tradition, and a priesty elite one – portraying hardships of Egypt as a cosmic battle between order and chaos, symbolised by god Set (identified with Typhon ). Thus, enemies of Egypt are often labeled "Typhonic" or minions of Seth. This idea is also reflected in Herodotus' description of Egyptian borders – their eastern limit

3072-409: The first stage on 27 September 1923, 38,000 electoral representatives were elected by the general population. These were announced on 3 October. In the second stage on 12 January 1924 the representatives elected members of the new Parliament. Zaghloul's Wafd Party, which had run for all Chamber of Deputies seats, won a landslide victory, winning 188 of the 215 seats. However, it fared less well in

3136-716: The importance of education, nizam (order), and love of al-watan, implicitly criticizing the state created by Mohammad Ali the Great, which was run on very militarist lines. After the Entente Cordial of 1904 ended hopes of French support for Egyptian independence, a disillusioned Kamil looked east towards Japan as a model, defining Egypt as an " Eastern " country occupied by " Western " Great Britain, and suggested in terms that anticipated later Third World nationalism that Egyptians had more in common with people from other places controlled by Western nations such as British India (modern-day India , Pakistan , and Bangladesh ) and

3200-460: The monarch and the largest political party further deteriorated after Fuad's son Farouk , who succeeded his father to the sultanate, signed an unduly quiescent treaty with the British in 1936. This alienated the party that had arisen primarily out of popular resentment of British control of Egypt and commanded popular support by associating itself most closely with the nationalist struggle for full Egyptian independence. The power vacuum resulting from

3264-523: The monarchy on July 23 of that year came to a decision to seize power and how they planned to use their newly won power. Under Nasser, Egypt's Arab identity was greatly played up, and Nasser promoted a policy of pan-Arabism , arguing that all of the Arab peoples should be united together in a single state under his leadership. Egypt was briefly united with Syria under the name the United Arab Republic from 1958 until 1961 when Syria abandoned

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3328-537: The nationalist revolution of 1952 saw the erection of an uneasy balance of power between the King , the British Residency , and the Wafd leadership, of which the Wafd was the least powerful. In the fragile stability of this triangle, the Wafd became Egypt's preeminent political organization, described by contemporary historians as "the first in the field," "the best organized," and "the strongest numerically." In

3392-473: The police station; 50 policemen were killed in the ensuing firefight, and the rest were captured. The capital of Egypt, Cairo, overflowed with anti-British violence in a riot on 26 January 1952 known as the "Black Saturday" or " Cairo Fire " riot. The Black Saturday riots led to the development of the Free Officer movement , consisting of a thousand "middle-level" officers, overthrowing King Farouk . After

3456-417: The previously ironclad Wafd coalition, party leaders created a youth wing dubbed the "Blue Shirts." However, rather than capitalizing on the grassroots nature of the youth movements, the party instead tried to slot the Blue Shirts onto their own rung in the top-down Wafd hierarchy, presenting members with uniforms, badges, and a standardized salute – all under the motto "Obedience & Struggle." By June 1937,

3520-473: The proposed empire, it was Egypt that would dominate, as it was later seen with the brief unification with Syria in 1958. At the same time, It was condemned by Hassan al-Banna , the founder and Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood , as glorifying a period of jahiliyyah . In a 1937 article, Banna dismissed "Pharaohism" for glorying the "pagan reactionary Pharaohs" like Akhenaten , Ramesses II

3584-490: The protesters was a crescent placed next to a cross on a plain green flag, Indicating the sense of national unity between Muslim and Christian Egyptians in facing the British occupation. And as the Wafd were seen as the revolution's party, the crescent and cross ultimately became the symbol of the Wafd. The Wafd was now becoming a true party and one with widespread support of the people. The delegation made its way to Paris only to hear that U.S. President Woodrow Wilson supported

3648-622: The sometimes smug attitudes of British officials in Whitehall and Cairo. Of course, to them Blunt was anathema if not disloyal and Edward Malet , the British Consul-General at Cairo from 1879 to 1883, replied to Blunt's charges in his posthumously published Egypt, 1879-1883 . Mustafa Kamil Pasha , A leading Egyptian nationalist of the early 20th century, was greatly influenced by the example of Meiji Japan as an 'Eastern' state that had successfully modernized for Egypt and from

3712-684: The time of the Russian-Japanese war consistently urged in his writings that Egypt emulate Japan. Kamil was also a Francophile like most educated Egyptians of his generation, and the French republican values of liberté, égalité, fraternité influenced his understanding of what it meant to be Egyptian as Kamil defined the Egyptian Identity in terms of loyalty to Egypt. Kamil together with other Egyptian nationalists helped to redefine loyalty to al-watan ("the homeland") in terms stressing

3776-635: The union. Nasser saw himself as the successor of Mohammad Ali Pasha, who had sought to found a new dynasty to rule the Ottoman Empire in the 19th century. Nasser came to embrace pan-Arabism as the best way to liberate Egypt and the Arab world from imperialistic control and to achieve great power status; Nasser viewed the Arab world as so intertwined that it is effectively "One Nation divided by colonial powers". Nasser's successors, Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak continued to emphasize Arab nationalism and identity but based on Egypt's distinctiveness within

3840-637: Was banned in January 1953 by Gamal Abdel Nasser following the Free Officers Revolution of 1952 . The paper of the party, Al Misri , was also closed in 1954. Egyptian nationalism Egyptian nationalism is based on Egyptians and Egyptian culture . Egyptian nationalism has typically been a civic nationalism that has emphasized the unity of Egyptians regardless of their ethnicity or religion . Egyptian nationalism first manifested itself as Anti-English sentiment during

3904-539: Was a monarchy, though Britain reserved several areas for British supervision. During the period of the Kingdom of Egypt , Egyptian nationalists remained determined to terminate the remaining British presence in Egypt. One of the more noteworthy cases of Egyptian nationalism occurred in December 1922 when the Egyptian government laid claim to the artifacts found in the tomb of King Tutankhamun , which had been discovered by

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3968-483: Was denied its request to go to London and speak with the home government, nor were they allowed to attend the Paris peace conference. The Wafd counteracted this by publishing memos and giving speeches ensuring that the delegations in Paris would know what the real Egyptian delegation desired. Zaghloul became a popular figure amongst the Egyptian public and was able to arouse popular discontent at Egyptian's continued status as

4032-439: Was established two weeks later. On 21 April 1923, a new liberal constitution was promulgated. A royal decree was published on 6 September of the same year, which ordered the holding of the first election under the new constitution. Nationalist leader Saad Zaghloul , who had been exiled to Aden , Seychelles and Gibraltar , returned to Egypt on 17 September to take part in the electoral campaign . Zaghloul and his partisans ran

4096-533: Was the first major Egyptian nationalist movement that demanded an end to the alleged despotism of the Muhammad Ali family and demanded curbing the growth of European influence in Egypt, it campaigned under the nationalist slogan of "Egypt for Egyptians". One of the key figures in opposing British rule was the Egyptian journalist Yaqub Sanu whose cartoons from 1870s onward satirizing first the Khedive, Ismail

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