Britain occupies Egypt

In 1882 Britain put down the revolt of Ahmed Urabi, an Egyptian army officer who led a nationalist movement against foreign influence, and occupied Egypt. After British ships bombarded Alexandria on July 11, 1882, an army landed and won the Battle of Tel el-Kebir on September 13. The khedive, nominally under the Ottoman sultan, remained on the throne, but Britain ruled in practice.¹²

Egypt had borrowed heavily to build the Suez Canal and modernize, and by the 1870s European creditors controlled its finances. Britain had bought Egypt's shares in the canal in 1875. Fear for the canal and the sea route to India made London act when disorder broke out. The British consul-general Evelyn Baring, later Lord Cromer, ran the country for decades. Britain declared the occupation temporary but stayed. It formally ended Egypt's protectorate status in 1922, kept troops in the canal zone, and left only after the Suez Crisis of 1956. The occupation angered France and helped set off the scramble for Africa.¹²