Rise of the State System in Egypt

Subject: History
Pages: 2
Words: 540
Reading time:
2 min
Study level: Bachelor

After the First World War, there was a significant decline in Western political ideology in the Middle East. Major countries like Russia have been defeated and humiliated by the Japanese forces, which was unthinkable in the past. This news had led to several actions that have been appearing in the Middle East. For example, the Ottoman Empire grew weaker, which allowed the rebels to establish a national movement. The rebellion had ended in the Ottoman Empire’s demise because there were people who thought about themselves as Turks. At the same time, some people viewed themselves as Ottomans even after the fall of the dynasty.

The fall of the Ottoman Empire awakened Egypt’s rebellion, which was nominally a part of it. Even though Egypt was taken under British protection, there were significant concerns about its safety from the neighboring countries like Italy and Libya. The Sudan territory, which was the Italians’ primary concern at the beginning of the war, was taken into the Anglo-Egyptian protectorate. The military was also scared of the Ottoman Empire’s unstable situation. After the end of the Great War, the relationship between the British and the Ottoman Empire became somewhat strained because of several incidents connected to Egypt.

The Western influence in the Middle East became considerably divided because of several reasons: French and Russians demanded their sphere of influence in that territory, which they later got. The French have acquired the Levant coastal area’s control, and the British received most of Iraq and Jordan. Palestine was to become an international buffer zone to keep further war conflicts away. Even though the agreement between the Allies mentioned that Palestine had to be global, it still became an independent Arab state. Palestine was always a place where many Jews lived throughout their lives. However, during the pre-war era, Arabs became hateful of Jewish people. They began the long years of discrimination, which led to the general decrease of the Jew population in Palestine.

Therefore, the idea of creating an unforgettable homeland for Jewish people came to life. In 1897, the first World Zionist Congress was called, which aimed to develop a unique Jewish homeland in Palestine. The movement had quickly spread among Europe, where the majority of Jews lived. However, there was a problem with that particular idea because the territory of Palestine had not been a unified area. Moreover, it had been divided into two parts, where Jerusalem had a special status. The Zionist organization had financed the immigration of Jews into those territories, but despite their efforts, Jews were still a minority.

The Allies were aware that their contradictory promises would be rather difficult to resolve. Therefore, for the reason that they had to acknowledge contrasting promises for different countries, they broke some agreements. The expulsion of Faisal from Syria after World War I left the British in a delicate position, decreasing their sphere of influence there significantly. The nominal Egyptian rulers were British or at the mercy of them, but the British rule was viewed as temporary. After World War I, there was an attempt to establish Egyptian independence peacefully, but the idea’s initiator was quickly silenced. Riot had soon followed, and after some time, the British began to relent on the issues of Egypt.