Copyright by Kristin Shawn Tassin 2014
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Copyright by Kristin Shawn Tassin 2014 The Dissertation Committee for Kristin Shawn Tassin Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: Egyptian Nationalism, 1882-1919: Elite Competition, Transnational Networks, Empire, and Independence Committee: Wm. Roger Louis, Supervisor Kamran Asdar Ali Barbara Harlow Clement M. Henry Mary Neuburger Denise A. Spellberg Egyptian Nationalism, 1882-1919: Elite Competition, Transnational Networks, Empire, and Independence by Kristin Shawn Tassin, B.S.F.S., M.S., M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin December 2014 For my mother Acknowledgements In the course of this project, I have been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to work with a supportive and distinguished dissertation committee. I would like to especially thank my advisor, Roger Louis, who not only put up with many incarnations and drafts of this project, but who has also been more gracious and supportive than I could have hoped for. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee, Clement Henry, Denise Spellberg, Mary Neuburger, Kamran Asdar Ali, and Barbara Harlow for their advice and encouragement. I am also indebted to many professors outside of the University of Texas, who kindly offered assistance and guidance throughout this project. In particular, I would like to thank Amira Sonbol and John Voll of Georgetown University; Julia Clancy-Smith of the University of Arizona; Giancarlo Casale of the University of Minnesota; Selim Deringil and Cengiz Kirli of Boğaziçi University; and Reem Saad, Khaled Fahmy, Zeinab Abul-Megd, Hanan Kholoussy, and Hoda Rashad of the American University in Cairo. The completion of this dissertation relied on support from a number of institutions. I would like to thank the History Department of the University of Texas, the Turkish Studies Program of the University of Texas, the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, the American Institute of Maghrib Studies, the American Research Center in Egypt, and the British Studies Program at the University of Texas for their generous financial support, without which this project would not have been possible. The research staffs at the Başbakanlık Archive in Istanbul, Dar al-Watha’iq in Cairo, the National Archives and British Library in London, and the Durham University v Library were invaluable to the outcome of this thesis. I would especially like to thank Jane Hogan and Michael Harkness at the Durham University Library for their help in navigating the special collections there. I would also like to thank the Mohamed Ali Foundation for granting me access to the Abbas Hilmi II archive held at the Durham University Library: all citations from that collection are reproduced by the kind permission of the Trustees of the Mohamed Ali Foundation and Durham University. In addition, I would like to express my gratitude for the wonderful staff at the University of Texas’ Perry–Castañeda Library, and particularly those working with the Distance Learning and Inter-Library Loan programs. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation to Marilyn Lehman of the University of Texas’ History Department, who has helped me in more ways and with more projects than I can recount. This project would not have been possible without the support, aid, and company of friends and colleagues. In particular, I would like to thank Matthew Ellis for sharing the Başbakanlık and British National Archive experiences with me, and for his constant help and good humor; Elizabeth Williams for being a wonderful roommate and fellow adventurer in Istanbul; Aarti Bhalodia, Amber Abbas, Gail Woods, and other members of British Studies for their good scholarship and great company; and, especially, Christine Baker for being a wonderful friend, cheerleader, and editor throughout this process – I certainly could not have completed this project without her help. I would also like to extend my great appreciation to Grant and Janet Lewison of Kew, London, who not only put up with my strange hours, but very graciously shared their home, humor, and dog with me on my many trips to London. This project would never have reached completion without the amazing work of Bruno U.K. Steiner, who quite literally made it possible for me to pursue my education. I would like to thank Simon, Schuster, SugarBeet, Peyton, Annie, Baxter, Morris, and Cooper for reminding me what really matters. Lastly, I can vi only attempt to put into words the gratitude I owe my mother, Sheila Dalton, for her constant support, not only for this project, but for all I have ever done. She has been a constant source of inspiration, help, and friendship; and has read and commented on endless drafts of this dissertation. Despite the many issues confronted along the way, she has offered nothing but encouragement and love, and has seen me through the roughest times of my life with love and grace. She has consistently put her own needs aside to help me, offering up endless amounts of time and energy. I have no words to adequately express the gratefulness I feel for the limitless love and support of my mother, who has always had complete faith in this project even when I didn’t. vii Egyptian Nationalism, 1882-1919: Elite Competition, Transnational Networks, Empire, and Independence Kristin Shawn Tassin, Ph.D. The University of Texas at Austin, 2014 Supervisor: Wm. Roger Louis This thesis studies the formulation and expression of Egyptian nationalism in the period 1882-1919. In particular, it argues that Egyptian nationalism, rather than having the territorial nation-state as the highest form of nationalist expression, was composed of multiple overlapping and contingent identities. Furthermore, this thesis will draw attention to inter-and intra- elite rivalries between power bases within Egypt, including the office of the Khedive, the urban elite, landowners, European powers, and Ottoman representatives; and the way in which these vying groups affected the growth and composition of the Egyptian nationalist movement. This thesis also contends that the policies and ideologies of Egyptian nationalists were both contingent and fluid, as were the self-identities of the Egyptian population. Egyptian nationalism in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries took many of its characteristics and methodologies from the global context of competing imperialisms as well as trans-national anti-colonial movements. Therefore, this thesis seeks to locate Egyptian nationalism in the period 1882-1919 within the global and local context of competing power bases and popular expectations. viii Table of Contents Chapter One: Introduction .......................................................................................1 Historiography ...............................................................................................6 Organization ..................................................................................................16 Chapter Two: Historical Introduction ....................................................................18 The Veiled Protectorate ................................................................................31 Chapter Three: The Revolution of 1919 ................................................................38 The Milner Mission ......................................................................................50 Chapter Four: Egyptian Nationalism, the Ottoman Empire, and the Young Turk Revolution .....................................................................................................58 Chapter Five: Nationalists in Europe ...................................................................115 Chapter Six: Egyptian Nationalists, the Ottoman Empire, and World War I ......143 Chapter Seven: Inter-Colonial Connections, 1906-1928 .....................................175 Chapter Eight: Local and Global Interactions .....................................................216 Chapter Nine: Conclusion ....................................................................................263 Bibliography ........................................................................................................269 Vita ..................................................................................................................... .293 ix “The People are asleep my darling” So she’d tell him; He, too, Was careful not to wake the People, To endure its dreams Like a kid’s kicks To ape its slack tongue like a fool, To crawl before it on all fours That he might tell it the story of creation... --Mohab Nasr (translated by Robin Moger) Chapter One: Introduction In the wake of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution that deposed President Hosni Mubarak (President, 1981-2011) and mobilized large and diverse swathes of the Egyptian population, numerous commentators began to compare the Egyptian Revolutions of 1919 and 2011, many making the determination that both revolutions were ultimately failures as a result of the inability of the movements’ leaders to reify popular support into organizational capacity.1 While certain demands were echoed across class and ideological divisions, both revolutions clearly meant different things to different segments of the population. For example, for some, the revolutions promised increased access to power, while for others, they portended important social and