Abstract
The British Empire faced one of its gravest crises of World War II when Axis forces made thrusts into Egypt in 1940 and 1941, threatening vital strategic interests such as the Suez Canal. The war tested the Anglo-Egyptian relationship, as the Egyptians grew resentful of the occupation and the embassy’s frequent intrusions into their politics. The completion of the canal in 1869 had sealed Egypt’s fate as a de facto British possession. But Egypt per se remained less important than its strategic location as a transit route between the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. The consequences of the many betrayals of national aspirations, dating back to the British occupation in 1882, came home to roost just as the Germans were threatening Cairo.3
It is clear that whether he abdicated or was deposed the King would have to be placed under restraints and removed from Egypt to some British territory as soon as possible.
Sir Miles Lampson, British Ambassador to Egypt, February 2, 1942.1
Egypt’s hopes for a better world are centered in the ideals set forth in the Atlantic Charter, which is locally regarded as a peculiarly American document.
S. Pinkney Tuck, American Minister to Egypt, to Cordell Hull, June 1944.2
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Notes
Memorandum by Wilhelm Melchers, December 9, 1940, Documents on German Foreign Policy, Series D, 1940–1941, Vol. XI (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1960), 826–828.
Winston Churchill to Anthony Eden, May 13, 1941, FO 954/5A. Martin Kolinsky, “Lampson and the Wartime Control of Egypt,” in Michael J. Cohen and Martin Kolinsky, eds. Demise of the British Empire in the Middle East: Britain’s Response to Nationalist Movements, 1943–1955 (London: Frank Cass, 1998), 95–111.
Memorandum by Raymond A. Hare, “Appointment of New Chief of the Royal Cabinet,” August 5, 1940, Central Files, 883.00/1135, NARA; “Egypt and Sudan: Political Review of the Year 1940,” January 28, 1941, FO 371/27463.
Memorandum by Wallace Murray, “Firmer British Policy in Egypt,” October 26, 1940, Central Files, 883.00/1144, NARA; Foreign Office Minute by Sir M. Peterson, January 27, 1942, FO 371/31566; “Suggested Procedure for Dealing with King Farouk in Case of Sudden Emergency,” FO 371/31566.
Elie Kedourie, The Chatham House Version and Other Middle Eastern Studies (Chicago: Ivan Dee, 2004), 82–159.
Memorandum by Raymond A. Hare, “Political Developments in Egypt,” January 14, 1942, Central Files, 883.00/1228, NARA.
Memorandum by Wallace Murray, “Ali Maher Pasha and the Egyptian Situation,” April 13, 1942, Central Files, 883.00/1269, Confidential File, NARA; Murray memorandum to Welles, May 29, 1942, Central Files, 883.01/94, NARA.
Memorandum by Alexander Kirk, Cairo, “Recent Political Developments,” March 7, 1942, Central Files, 883.00/1257, NARA.
For an excellent exploration of US-Egyptian relations during this time see Peter L. Hahn, The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt, 1945–1956: Strategy and Diplomacy in the Early Cold War (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1991)
and John Kent, “Britain and the Egyptian Problem, 1945–48,” in Michael J. Cohen and Martin Kolinsky, eds. Demise of the British Empire in the Middle East: Britain’s Response to Nationalist Movements, 1943–1955 (London: Frank Cass, 1998), 142–161.
Salim Yaqub, Containing Arab Nationalism: The Eisenhower Doctrine and the Middle East (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2004);
Martin Woollacott, After Suez: Adrift in the American Century (Washington: I.B. Tauris, 2006).
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© 2012 Christopher D. O’Sullivan
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O’Sullivan, C.D. (2012). The New Deal on the Nile: Challenging British Power in Egypt. In: FDR and the End of Empire. The World of the Roosevelts. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137025258_4
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