the suez canal and egypt Flashcards
the building of the suez canal
started building in 1859
finished building in 1869
khedive isma’il pasha wanted to modernise egypt
construction sharply reduced the income the egyptian government received from the old trade routes across the sinai desert - more than half of the canal’s revenue was used for company remittances in the form of profits and other payments
helped british seafarers and merchants - cut off 6000 miles for the journey to india, usually sailed around the cape
the egyptian financial crisis 1875
egypt had a ‘debt crisis’ - £60.5 million
asked for help from france and britain
isma’li sold £4 million in shares in the canal to disraeli
france and britain’s response
1878 - an anglo french rescue plan emerged, the french would look after government expenditure and the british would raise revenue
interest rate on foreign loans were reduced to 5%
the pay of the army, civil servants and government was cut and a series of sales taxes were introduced on foods and goods
restored financial stability
egyptian nationalist movement
1882, under the leadership of arabi pasha, a colonel in the egyptian army, was on the verge of taking power
nationalists wanted to end turkish dominance in government, and anglo french control in the economy
11th june - nationalist riot in alexandria led to the death of 50 europeans - promoted britain to order a formal occupation of egypt
by october, the rebellion had been crushed since the navy bombarded and the british invaded
who was isma’li pasha?
the khedive of egypt and the conqueror of sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he removed at the behest of great britain
who was arabi pasha?
participated in an 1879 mutiny that developed into the arabi revolt
who was muhammed ahmad?
1881 - claimed to be the mahdi, and led a successful war against
ottoman - egyptian military rule in sudan and achieved a remarkable victory over the british, in the siege of khartoum.
who was tewfik pasha?
khedive of egypt and the sudan between 1879 and 1892
who was sent to sudan from britain to act as governor general between 1877 and 1880?
charles gordon
on behalf of their puppet ruler khedive isma’li
waiting for reinforcements without proper communication, since the telegraph wires had been cut
who did the british administrators face opposition from?
the sudanese islamic cleric, muhammed ahmad who in june 1881, proclaimed himself the mahdi, or the saviour of mankind
what did the self proclaimed mahdi do?
turned an emerging political movement into a jihadist army, who sought to liberate sudan from outside rule
what happened to gordon?
he was killed after the mahdists broke into the city
what was the british reaction?
queen victoria was very upset, which was made very clear to gladstone who was immediately in favour of an expedition to crush the mahdi, after previously being reluctant to get involved
this didn’t happen, since other imperial events took priority such as the russian pressure on afghanistan - sudan evacuated
late 1890s
later expedition which was characterised by a serious force of 25,000 men but also by far greater technological fire power than what was at gordon’s disposal, machine guns and much heavier artillery and smokeless rifles
