The repercussions of the British occupation of Egypt on Syria, 1882–83

Abstract

Britain have been studied quite extensively from the Arab and British points of view, and considerable attention has focused on how the Ottoman State's reaction to the crisis and to Ottoman diplomacy during and after the crisis.' However, almost nothing has been written about the impact of the British occupation of Egypt on other Ottoman Arab provinces, especially Syria, one of the most important Arab provinces as far as the future of Ottoman presence in the area is concerned. In fact, it was only in the province of Syria that the impact of the crisis in Egypt was strongly felt. True, Colonel Ahmed Urabi, the leader of the mutiny in Egypt, made an abortive attempt to gain the sympathy of the Hijazis by sending letters to the provincial authorities in early August 1882, but Urabi's efforts produced no effect in the Hijaz.2 This article, therefore, focuses on the effects of the crisis on the Arab population of Syria and on the problems created by the arrival of thousands of Egyptian refugees in the coastal towns of that particular province. In addition, due attention will be paid to the Ottoman efforts to curb Urabi's influence in Syria and to the attitude of the Porte towards this group of Muslim refugees and exiles. Since the aim of this article is not to re-examine the developments in Egypt, there is no need to review the Egyptian crisis of 1881-82 here. Suffice it to say that it had its origins in a popular Egyptian movement, led by Colonel Ahmed Urabi, against Anglo-French political interference and financial domination and against the autocratic powers of the Sultan's representative, the Khedive Tevfik. These in turn led to Anglo-French military intervention from May 1882 onwards and ended in a British invasion and occupation of Egypt in September of the same year. Interestingly enough the available documents suggest that Syrians did not demonstrate any real interest in the developments in Egypt until the summer of 1882 when they were faced with a large number of refugees from Alexandria, the location of the first communal fighting that had