General Maxwell takes command in Egypt

On 8 September 1914 Lieutenant-General Sir John Maxwell took command of the British troops in Egypt. He replaced General Julian Byng, who had been recalled to Europe, where he soon took command of a cavalry division.

An expert on Egypt

The choice of Maxwell was no accident. He knew Egypt as few in the British Army did. He had served there since 1882, fought in the Sudan, and at the Battle of Omdurman in 1898 he commanded an Egyptian brigade. In 1908–1912 he had already been commander of the British troops in Egypt. At the beginning of the war he spent a short time in France, from where he returned to the Nile.

The canal and an uncertain neighbour

Egypt formally still belonged to the Ottoman Empire, although since 1882 it had in fact been ruled by the British. Maxwell’s most important task was the defence of the Suez Canal, through which troop transports from India and Australia passed. In September 1914 Turkey was still neutral, but it was drawing ever closer to Germany. Maxwell had to reckon with the possibility that it would soon threaten Egypt from the direction of Sinai.

When the Ottoman Empire entered the war at the beginning of November, Maxwell imposed martial law and press censorship in Egypt. In December Britain proclaimed a protectorate over Egypt, and the pro-Ottoman Khedive Abbas II Hilmi was replaced by Hussein Kamel as sultan. In February 1915 Maxwell’s troops repelled the Turkish attack on the Suez Canal.

Maxwell commanded in Egypt until 1916. He was then sent to Ireland, where after the Easter Rising he confirmed the death sentences on its leaders.