Urabi Revolt - Foreign Intervention

Foreign Intervention

On January 8 of 1882 the French and British sent a joint note that asserted the primacy of the Khedive's authority. The note infuriated the parliamentarians and Urabi. The government collapsed and a new one with Urabi as minister of war was created. This new government threatened the positions of Europeans in the government, and began also laying-off large numbers of Turco-Circassian officers.

This broad effort at reform was opposed by the European interests, and many of the large landowners, the Turkish and Circassian elite, the high ranking ulema, the Syrian Christians, and most of the wealthiest members of society. It had the support of most of the rest of the population including the lower ulema, the officer corps, and local leaders.

Coptic Christians were divided: Their close affiliation with Europeans angered many and sometime made them a target, but the deep rivalry between Coptic and Syrian Christians led many to align with other Egyptian rebels. The Coptic Patriarch lent his support to the revolt when it was at its peak, but later claimed that he was pressured into doing so. Urabi and other leaders of the revolt acknowledged the Copts as potential allies and worked to prevent any targeting of the minority, but were not always successful.

An effort to court the Ottoman Sultan began. Khedive Tawfiq called on the sultan to quell the revolt, but the Sublime Porte hesitated to employ troops against Muslims who were opposing foreign Christian interference. Urabi asked the Sultan to depose Tawfiq, but again the Sultan hesitated.