Egypt from Cromer to Neguib

An earlier article in History Today on Europe and Egypt in the Nineteenth Century recounted the story of the growth of European influence in that country. It was sporadic, unpremeditated, often almost accidental, but culminated in the final withdrawal of the French, leaving the field free for Britain as the only power with direct interests and responsibilities. The account terminated in the early years of this century, when the temporary British occupation of Egypt appeared to have settled down to a quasi-permanency, under the leadership of Sir Evelyn Baring, later Lord Cromer. But the closing of one chapter of history can only be the opening of another. The new chapter in Egypt is mainly the story of the uneasy growing pains of nationalism, and the somewhat reluctant concession to it by Britain of the substance of power, a concession now entering its final phase.