Sultanate of Egypt

The Sultanate of Egypt was the short-lived protectorate that the United Kingdom imposed over Egypt between 1914 and 1922. History Soon after the start of the First World War, Khedive Abbas II of Egypt was removed from power by the British because of his pro-Ottoman positions. He was replaced by his uncle Hussein Kamel, who declared Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire and proclaimed himself as Sultan. Though presented as the re-establishment of the pre-Ottoman Egyptian sultanate, the newly created Sultanate was to be a British protectorate, with effective political and military power vested in British officials. This brought to an end the de jure Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had been largely nominal since Muhammad Ali's seizure of power in 1805. Opposition to European interference in Egyptian affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced and spread: British actions during the First World War caused widespread resentment among the Egyptian populace. Specifically, these included Britain's purchase of cotton stocks and requisitioning of animal fodder at below-market prices, the British conscription of about 500,000 Egyptian fellahin into the Egyptian Labour Corps and the Egyptian Camel Transport Corps in the Egyptian Expeditionary Force, and its use of the country as a base and a garrison populated by British, Australian, and other Imperial troops. After the war, the Egyptian economy felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment. Upon Hussein Kamel's death, his only son, Prince Kamal el Dine Hussein, declined the succession, and Hussein Kamel's brother Ahmed Fuad ascended the throne as Fuad I.