Ahmed Urabi

Ahmed ʻUrabi was born in 1841 in a village near Zagazig, Egypt. He was the son of a village leader and received a decent education at Al-Azhar University. He entered the army and rose quickly through the ranks, reaching lieutenant colonel by age 20. He served in the Ethiopian-Egyptian War and returned disillusioned with the Khedive’s administration. He became a vocal critic of the foreign influence and corruption in Egypt, and led a mutiny in 1879 that developed into a popular revolt against Khedive Tewfik. He was promoted to Tewfik’s cabinet and initiated reforms of the military and civil administrations, but his nationalist movement alarmed the British and French governments, who feared losing their interests in Egypt. In 1882, after riots broke out in Alexandria, the British bombarded the city and invaded Egypt, defeating ʻUrabi’s forces at the Battle of Tel el-Kebir. ʻUrabi and his allies were captured and sentenced to exile in Ceylon, where they spent 20 years. In 1901, they were pardoned and allowed to return to Egypt, where ʻUrabi lived quietly until his death in 1911. He is regarded as a hero and a pioneer of Egyptian nationalism and anti-colonialism.