The British in Egypt

by Peter Mansfield

The dust jacket is price clipped and has minor chips and closed tears to the extremities.

Genres: History, British Literature, Nonfiction

351 pages, Hardcover

First published November 4, 1971

About the author

Peter Mansfield was a British political journalist. He was educated at Winchester and Cambridge. He resigned from the British Foreign Service over the Suez affair in 1956. He worked in Beirut, editing the Middle East Forum and wrote regularly for the Financial Times, The Economist, The Guardian, the Indian Express and other newspapers. From 1961 to 1967 he was the Middle East correspondent of the Sunday Times.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

Peter Mansfield’s The British in Egypt is, in essence, a traditional high political approach to Egyptian history that is critical of not only the Orientalist attitudes of the British during their occupation of Egypt, but of the limited historiography on this subject as well. As such, it was progressive and innovative for its time, but reads now as a simple narrative of its eponymous subject that lacks the depth and nuance that can be found in the social and cultural histories of the past few decades. Furthermore the author, trained as a journalist rather than an academic, is attempting not to advance an overarching theme or argument, but instead to tell the story in a way that captures the drama of the major players, making a summary of the book difficult without simply recounting the events.

Mansfield’s first three chapters are designed to provide context for the work and discuss the reign of Muhammad Ali, the rise of Islamic and secular nationalism, and the tensions between Ahmad Urabi and the British that lead eventually to the foreign occupation of Egypt. The next chapter chronicles Lord Dufferin’s decision to establish a Veiled Protectorate in Egypt to eschew the complications of direct rule while still limiting the potential for more trouble as Britain gained tighter control over Egypt’s deteriorating finances. Following this is a detailed study of Evelyn Baring, later Lord Cromer, who, as British High Commissioner to Egypt, was the defining figure in the development of the British occupation. Given the author’s proclivities towards high politics and Cromer’s importance, engaging this era in Egyptian history takes over a third of the book yet rarely mentions developments occurring at the societal level. The work does, however, approach Cromer from a critical perspective and chastises him for his lack of interest in or respect for Egyptian traditions, effectively accusing of him of Orientalism at a time before that term had been developed.

Aside from the criticism, the chapters on Cromer cover the political tensions surrounding Britain’s involvement in Sudan, the economic situation, the legal system, the rebuilding of the military, and education. In covering Cromer, Mansfield remains relatively traditional in his analysis, commending the economic reforms while criticising the harshness of the British tribunals (something that even Cromer admitted was excessive) and the lack of educational development (a charge common even among Cromer’s contemporaries). In terms of indigenous economic pursuits, and industry in particular, the author argues that Cromer did not contribute to their decline, he simply did nothing to stop its natural course. Following this internal analysis, there is an examination of external developments, such as the rise and decline of Khedive Abbas as a foil to Cromer and the 1904 Anglo-French agreement, that allowed Britain to further tighten its grasp on Egypt. Paradoxically, however, it is this stronger control, in addition to the national prosperity that benefitted only the foreigners, that led to a reawakening of the nationalist movement shortly prior to Cromer’s 1907 departure.

Yet despite the salience of the nationalist movement, Mansfield eschews an in-depth analysis of its leaders and policies and focuses instead on the British figures, beginning with the relatively short and ineffectual reign of Eldon Gorst and continuing into the uneven tenure of Lord Kitchener. This brings the narrative into World War I and the declaration of Egypt as an official protectorate of the United Kingdom. The author argues, however, that there were limited consequences from this action, aside from the freezing of political life due to martial law. Even then, economic prosperity and the nationalist movement remained strong enough that Egyptian political leader Saad Zaghlul demanded independence shortly after the conflict’s end and, after he was exiled, a mass violent independence movement rose in protest. The situation spiraled out of Britain’s control to the point that even when the (relatively) sympathetic General Allenby was made high commissioner Egypt and brought Zaghlul back to Egypt, the rioting did not stop.

Following a detailed description of the negotiations and the political machinations, which tend to bog the narrative town, the story proceeds at a much faster pace after a discussion of the qualified independence treaty of 1921. With Britain now playing an ever-declining role, Mansfield has less to discuss and he skims over the tensions between the monarchy, the nationalists, and the people, which were the major driving political forces, to highlight the less important British contributions. He is, of course, limited by the book’s title and focus, but in the post-1921 period it seems as if his treatment of the indigenous political groups could have been a little less cursory. The narrative winds down as it covers the establishment of the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty and World War II, telling the tale of diminishing British influence as the balance between indigenous forces falls apart. The tale might have ended naturally at 1952, but the author extends it to 1956 in his final two chapters by covering the lead up to the Suez Crisis.

Mansfield concludes by arguing that the Suez Crisis was initiated by British Prime Minister Anthony Eden due to Cromer’s lingering influence on the British mindset, which led the nation to see Egypt as inferior and Egyptians as a people who should not be speaking out against the British. This was, ultimately, a consequence of Britain’s most significant failure in Egypt, which was its inability to engage genuinely with the indigenous population. Overall, The British in Egypt is perhaps one of the best political accounts of its eponymous topic, but one that is flawed fundamentally by its very subject matter, which dooms from the start any chance that indigenous actors and movements could be given a role in the narrative. Judging by the nature of his conclusion, however, the author seems fully aware of this, as if he has identified the problem but, as a journalist first and academic second, lacks the ability or desire to address it. As such, scholars and casual readers alike can probably get the most out of this work by considering it not a history of Egypt, but one of Britain that focuses on a particular episode in the history of its empire.