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Nile Valley - Coggle Diagram
Nile Valley
Strategic
- The Suez Canal route was of paramount importance in the region. It dramatically shortened the journey to India and most of the ships passing through were British. France had upped their investment a great deal in the Canal, creating a rivalry between the two powers for control of the area and subsequently the canal.
- The British persuaded the Sultan of the Empire to replace Ismail Pasha with his son Tewfik Pasha who was more willing to compromise
- The British and French concentrated their efforts on the maintenance of the Khedive’s power which could be Militarily. Warships were sent in May to Alexandria to threaten the Nationalist and restore Khedive authority.
French commitment to joint action didn’t lead to actual participation in military action and there wasn’t much actual intervention or support.
- The British and French concentrated their efforts on the maintenance of the Khedive’s power which could be Militarily. Warships were sent in May to Alexandria to threaten the Nationalist and restore Khedive authority.
French commitment to joint action didn’t lead to actual participation in military action and their wasn’t much actual intervention or support.
Geopolitical
- The ottoman empire was in decline and there was a worry within the British, of its territories being taken by alternative European powers such as the Austro-Hungarians or the Russians.
- Arabi Pasha a nationalist officer started to stir dissatisfaction of Anglo-French interference in Egypt of which led to a coup. The British were concerned of the volatility of the situation and were in no way accepting of a nationalist movement against their interests
- On 11th June 1882, an Anglo-French expedition arrived to Alexandria where a violent Anti-Christian riot spread across the city from a skirmish between an Egyptian and Maltese man. 50 Europeans were killed and 250 Egyptians. Britain law the blame on Arabi Pasha even though the riots were a separate skirmish.
French Wihtdrawal
-The actions of the chancellor in Germany, Bismarck, he was no longer willing to support British and French action and France was in no position to argue, having conceded territory only a decade earlier. Bismarck, in a letter to the Sultan sought no changes to be made without the consent of the other great powers Russia, Italy Austria and themselves.
- Internal politics in France with Leon Gambetta’s fall from power and replacement with Charles de Freycinet, who was less inclined to intervene in Egypt he was supported by the French government who feared Germany more than any loss to Bond holders. They still held a strategic interest due to their frustration with increasing British control however were constraint by German
Nature of rule in Egypt
- 1882- Britain never intended at to permantly occupy Egypt- Gladstone states again and again as soon as financial stability was restored, British advisers to the khedives would withdraw-
- British stayed in control for the next 32 years referred to as the veil protectorate- a term between 1882-1914 when London controlled Egypt with no other legal basis other than they were there at the request of the Khedives
- The reason for the involvement was that in Nov 1883 the egyptian army was defeated by radical jihadist forces
-The nature of the british Administrator Sir Evelyn Baring and his agenda for egypt
- The defeat of Gladstone over the question of Irish Home Rule in 1886 and the dominance of Salisbury
- Between 1882 and 1914 British announced its withdrawal 66 times
- the was the illusion that egypt was under the Ottoman empire controll and ruled by its own kehdives by in reality the khedives were unable to make any political descisons without an agreement with Britain
- Baring was the British consult in Egypt between 1883-1907- believed that changes needed to be in agricultural infrastructure and government institution
Emergence of radical Islam in Sudan -
Convinced Baring that it would be dangerous for the british to withdraw
Egypt was losing control over Sudan
1873 Khedive Ismial had appointeg Charles Gordon as governor of Sudan- took- down the revolts and stopped slave trade
Egypt's weakened control lead to the rise of a radical Jihadist leader Mahdi who - wanted to overthrow the Egyptian rulers- wiped all but 300 of the 7,000 troops under William Hick
Gladstobe later Salisbiry didnt want to intervene with the country- they had no confidance in the Khedives ability to control the Mahdi- emergence of them made the british less likely to leave
Collapse of liberalism in Britain
- Gladtsone commitment to home rule in Ireland resulted in the splitting of the liberal party- lead to dominance of conservative
- Salisbury turned British involvement into geo political reasons - didnt want to give the French any strategic advantages in North Africa- Wanted to stay
sudan
Egyptian control of Sudan
- Egyptian control had extended to Sudan due to a change in relationship between the-Egyptians and the ottoman empire. As the Ottoman empire declined the Power the Egyptian rulers had would increase. By 1821 Sudan the nature of which they would take Sudan had changed it went from Changing the Sudanese tribunal leader to formal occupation.
Why the Mahdi emerged as powerful nationalist force
- Muhammed Ahmad called himself Madhi (Promised redeemer of the Islamic world)
- Capitalised on Sudanese resentment about Egyptian tax and authority
- Local leaders opposed Madhi, but Gordon attacked slave traders Wich left gap
- Egyptian army launched a number of operations against Madhi they were unsuccessful a group of 800 fought 300 killed
- Lack of European interest
- Power vaccum
Gladstones concern and policy
- Gladstone and Baring feared that the problem of Sudan would destabilise their programme of financial consolidation in Sudan- to continue control they decided to cut their loss
- Britain had no strategic or economic interest in the Sudan- its main way of making money was through slavery which the British were trying to stomp out
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Conquest of Sudan
- Lord Salisbury ordered a campaign in Sudan to secure the source of the Nile-
- was lead by Kitchener and the result was the annexation of Sudan and the crushing of the Mahdist forces
- By the early 1890's Africa looked very different and many held the opinion that in order to protect British interest in Egypt then Nile needed to be controlled
-policies in Sudan were dictated by the centuries of Anglo-French rivalry
- The fear of newly emerged Mahdist forces- defeat of Italians in the battle of Adowa in 1896 convinced Salisbury to act
Role of Kitchener
-Heavily influenced by Gordons death but also the failure of the relief mission for Khartoum
- Initial objective was Dongola bur the wiping out of Mahdist garrison in 1896 meant that Salisbury was more than happy to expand the objective
-Had access to most modern weapons supported by light rail connection and gun boat
- Kitchener deep hatred for Mahdi seen when he decapitate a Mahdist head from its dead body- lead to baring ordering to respect the dead
Omdurman- 2nd sep 1898
Goal was to destroy the Mahdist- new maxim gun combined by the careful advances of Kitchner lead to this goal being achieved
-Mahdu- 10,000 dead, 13,000 prisoner 5,000 wonded
British- 47 dead, 382 wounded
Barings mission
Achivement
- added stringent financial control and making cuts of public spending baring restored the government of Egypt to solvency by 1887 which was the stated British objective for the occupation in the first place
- The 9 million loan from the London convention, 8 million of it was used to stabilise the countries debt
- Half of the money raised in tax was spent on debt during baring years.
- He spent 1 million the loan on irrigation and clearing the silted drainage canals of the Niles flood plains to improve agriculture
- Believed that stability of the country rested on proper drainage to improved agriculture hence improving lives of peasant
- Between 1882-1902 8% of gov revenue was devoted to agriculture and hydraulic improvement
Limitation
- Due to amount of budgeting deducted to other areas, other spending and progress was slow and existence
- An 1884 survey of land taxation showed that Kharaj (peasant owned land) was less expensive with prices of 6shilling per acre compared to ush (large landowners) 10s. The fear of rebellion lead to baring wanting to reform to equalise tax however the lack of funds made it so that taxation reform wasn't done until early 20 TH
- Despite agriculture being boosted by irrigation its development was held back by inequality of land tax
- Education investment was limits-he didn’t believe that it was the good job to increases secondary education-1901 increased tuition fee does decrease enrolment- too much progress to quickly would lead top destabilisation
- Underestimated the strength of developing nationalism in Egypt- The death of Tewfik in 1892 and the succession of his son Abbas Halimi lead to nationalism
- Abbas proposed a challenge tobaring0going to France to influence foreign opinion on Britain
- There was a huge growth of nationals Wich was caused by the new khedive and undertimes its presence among the fellahin by the time baring left nationalism was present at every level in society
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