British protectorate over Egypt

On 18 December 1914 it was announced in Cairo that Egypt had been placed under the protection of the King of Great Britain and was becoming a British protectorate. The British Foreign Secretary’s statement had already been announced in London on 17 December, and the next day the Egyptian official gazette published the proclamation in English and French. The text was short: “in view of the state of war arising out of the action of Turkey”, Egypt was placed under the protection of His Majesty, and the suzerainty of Turkey over Egypt was “thus terminated”. The British government announced that it would take all measures necessary for the defence of the country and the protection of its inhabitants.

The end of a fiction

Formally, Egypt had belonged to the Ottoman Empire since 1517. In the 19th century its rulers, the khedives of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, had won broad autonomy, but still recognised the sultan’s suzerainty and paid him tribute. Since 1882 the country had been occupied by the British, and real power was exercised by the British agent and consul-general in Cairo. This arrangement was called the “veiled protectorate”: London governed without taking formal responsibility for Egypt.

The war with Turkey made such an arrangement untenable. At the beginning of November General John Maxwell introduced martial law in Egypt, and a few days later Britain declared war on the Ottoman Empire. Egypt, through which troop convoys from India and Australia passed, was nevertheless still legally part of an enemy state. Its ruler, Khedive Abbas II Hilmi, had been in Constantinople since the summer and openly favoured the Turks.

In London there were several weeks of deliberation over what to do. Some politicians and officials favoured annexation, as in the case of Cyprus. Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith’s government chose a milder course. The protectorate preserved Egypt’s separate identity and its native dynasty, while giving the British full control over the country’s defence and foreign policy.

The High Commissioner

With the protectorate the office of London’s representative changed. In place of the agent and consul-general a High Commissioner for Egypt was appointed. The post went to Sir Henry McMahon, until then a senior official in British India. Until he arrived in Cairo in January 1915, the duties were carried out by the acting consul-general, Milne Cheetham.

The British notified the governments of neutral and allied states of their decision. In a dispatch delivered on 18 December to, among others, the United States, they explained that Turkish aggression had not allowed the matter to be discussed with the powers in advance. They gave assurances that they did not intend to infringe the interests of foreigners. The consular courts of foreign states, which operated in Egypt under the old capitulations, that is, privileges once granted to foreigners by the sultans, were for the time being to work as before, in so far as this did not conflict with the orders of the military authorities. The High Commissioner was at the same time to be Egypt’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and foreign diplomats in Cairo were henceforth to address their correspondence to him.

The later fate of the protectorate

The proclamation of the protectorate was the first step. Further steps, which were to give Egypt a new ruler with a new title, were announced the very next day. What finally severed the ties with Constantinople, however, was the proclamation of 18 December. After almost four centuries Egypt ceased to belong, even formally, to the Ottoman Empire.

For many Egyptians the change meant only a new name for the old dependence. The protectorate, introduced without asking anyone in the country for their opinion, survived the war but not its consequences. After the revolution of 1919 Britain unilaterally proclaimed Egypt’s independence on 28 February 1922 and abolished the protectorate, while keeping its troops in the country.