1940: Egypt

Egypt, a kingdom in northeast Africa and an ally of Great Britain, found herself in 1940 within the field of combat after Italy's entrance into the war. At the outbreak of the war, Egypt broke off her diplomatic relations with Germany, but did not join Great Britain actively. Even the most extreme nationalist party, however, the Wafd, under former Prime Minister Mustapha Nahas Pasha, declared on April 2 in a memorandum presented to the British Ambassador Sir Miles Lampson that the party had decided in a conference of its party executives that it was willing to assist the allied cause if Great Britain would promise that immediately after the war all British soldiers would leave Egypt and that Egypt would be represented at the Peace Conference. The entrance of Italy into the war made the question of Egypt's participation of more imminent importance.

The Egyptian Cabinet, headed by Aly Maher Pasha, tendered its resignation to King Farouk on June 23, after Egypt had severed its diplomatic relations with Italy. On June 27 King Farouk asked Hassan Sabry Pasha, former Egyptian Minister to London and later Minister of Defense, to form an Egyptian Cabinet. The declaration of the Mediterranean as a war zone reacted also considerably on Egypt's economic position, as it implied not only the break-off of economic relations between Egypt and Italy, but also between Egypt and the United States. The new Cabinet regarded it as one of its tasks to establish new ways of communication with the United States. The new Ministry which was officially formed was a coalition of all Egyptian parties except the Wafdist; the British had very strongly desired the inclusion of the Wafdist opposition and its popular leader, Mustafa Nahas Pasha, but this demand had been opposed by the king. The new Cabinet included four Saadists, four Liberal Constitutionalists, one Ittehadist, one Nationalist and six non-party members, among whom was the Premier himself, who also accepted the portfolio of Foreign Affairs. At a secret session of the Egyptian Chamber of Deputies on Aug. 21, the Prime Minister declared that the Egyptian troops would fight actively on the side of the British if Egyptian territory were invaded. Italian propaganda had been most active in Egypt, trying to impress upon the Egyptians the fact that the Italians wished to fight only Great Britain, and that an Italian victory would undoubtedly bring Egypt's complete independence from England.

It is difficult to say how far this Italian propaganda impressed the Egyptians. Many Egyptians distrust Italy much more than they dislike Great Britain; on the other hand, some Egyptians, among them the King, harbor the ambitious plan of making Egypt the center of the Islamic world. It was in that spirit that the government of Egypt, supported by the governments of Iran and Iraq, suggested to the League of Nations that a Moslem be elected to fill the next vacancy on the bench of the Permanent Court of International Justice at The Hague. In any case, the Egyptians set up an active counter-espionage bureau and started in June to combat Fifth Column activities in Egypt. The failure of the Italians to make any appreciable headway against Great Britain in the Mediterranean, and later on the Italian defeats by the Greeks, impressed the Egyptian people, especially also in view of the fact that a very large Greek colony is living in Egypt.

Meanwhile, the British reinforced their Middle Eastern fighting forces with troops which came from Australia and New Zealand as well as from the British Isles. The British troops in the Middle East were under the command of Lieutenant General Sir Archibald P. Wavell. The Italian army started a large-scale attack across the desert from Libya into Egypt at the beginning of September. Italian mobile columns, preceded by tanks and armored cars and supported by intensive aerial activity, moved along the Mediterranean coast to start the long-heralded Fascist invasion of Egypt. Although this invasion had been prepared most carefully for a long time and although it was under the command of Italy's most able fighter in desert war, Marshall Rodolfo Graziani, the Italian armies did not get further than about sixty miles into Egyptian territory, and were stopped at Sidi Barrani, a small and insignificant oasis in Egypt. They were unable for several months to continue their advance from there to the more important village of Mersa Matruh, which is connected by a railroad with Alexandria. The British harassed the Italians by bombardments from the sea as well as from the air, and on Dec. 9 they were able to launch a counter-attack against the Fascist forces and to take a large number of prisoners. At the end of the year no Italian troops remained on Egypt's soil and the British carried their offensive into Libya. (See also GREAT BRITAIN; ITALY; EUROPEAN WAR.)

While the actual fighting had come to an almost complete standstill, the Egyptian government went through a crisis, in view of the fact that its four Saadist party members resigned on Sept. 22 when they demanded an immediate declaration of war against Italy. Ahmed Maher Pasha, the leader of the Saadist party which includes many of the most influential political circles of the country, and president of the Chamber of Deputies, appealed to the nation in a speech to take up arms immediately alongside the British. Prime Minister Hassan Sabry Pasha asserted that the Italian operations so far did not constitute an invasion, and that the British were not then asking the Egyptians to take any steps beyond those already taken.

The Cabinet posts relinquished by the Saadists were filled by doubling up; Egypt declared martial law and all Italians in Egypt were rounded up as a precautionary measure. Egypt's Parliament was reconvened on Nov. 14. In reading the king's speech from the throne at the opening session, Prime Minister Hassan Sabry Pasha collapsed and died, after having read the following declaration: 'Egypt, who is anxious to maintain her integrity and independence, is equally anxious to fulfill her obligations toward her great ally, Britain, and to carry out her alliance of friendship in the letter and in the spirit.' On the following day, Hussein Sirry Pasha, the Minister of Public Works and Communications, was appointed successor to Hassan Sabry Pasha, and the Chamber reelected the leader of the Saadist party, Ahmed Maher Pasha, as president of the Egyptian Chamber of Deputies. The population of Egypt was generally in favor of following a policy of close cooperation with Great Britain and of all support for Great Britain, without, however, joining actively in the war as long as the vital centers of the Nile Valley were not invaded by Fascist forces.