Battle of Tell al -Kebir – Wikipedia

The Battle of Tell al-Kebir It was fought among the soldiers of the Egyptian army, commanded by Ahmad ʿburābī and the British shipping body led by General Gornet Wolseley near Tell al-Kebir, about 80 km east of Cairo, on September 14, 1882, during the war Anglo-Egyptian of 1882.

General Wolseley, after having made a self -forced night march with his troops to bring surprise close to the Egyptian defensive positions, brought a general attack on the following morning which in a short time caused the complete defeat of the enemy. The British victory in this battle quickly decided the outcome of the war and guaranteed control in fact of Egypt by the British Empire until the mid -twentieth century

In the nineteenth century Egypt was one of the strategically important sectors of the Ottoman Empire, providing Turkey with control of the Near East and the Eastern Mediterranean. In the mid -19th century Turkey, however, is in the middle of decline, desperately clinging to Balkan possessions and forced to reject continuous Russian attacks for the control of the Bosphorus. Fearing precisely this eventuality, the other European countries generally ran to the rescue of the Ottomans in times of crisis, as in the Crimean war, however demanding preferential treatments in the Ottoman territories as well as the most absolute freedom to protect their citizens who resided in them.

The British presence in Egypt was motivated by the Suez canal, built by a French company and completed in 1869, the channel became the most used route for the Far East, with 80% of the traffic represented by British ships. Egypt (viceroy) of Egypt, Ismā under Pascià, initially controlled 44% of the actions of the channel company. He intended to modernize Egypt and for this purpose he spent very large sums, enormous quantities of money that were taken from foreign investors, in the heads of French and English. Between 1862 and 1875 the debt went from 3 to 10 million pounds; When the viceroy found himself in the condition of not being able to pay again he earned time by selling the shares of the company of the channel for only 4 million pounds; This kept creditors at bay for just a few months and in May 1876 the Egyptian government declared bankruptcy.

To recover, a commission appointed by the French Government has taken over the Egyptian finances, administered and gaining taxes with impartiality. To prevent the commission, totally French, to acquire too much authority, Great Britain decided to play a more active role, but Ismā under, annoyed by the loss of power, removed foreigners from administrative positions and replaced them with her son Tawfīk. In 1879 under strong English pressures, the Ottoman government dismissed Ismā under by replacing it, however, not with a capable person but with Tawfīk himself. For the Egyptian army it was too much: by detesting Tawfīk and abandoning the foreign interference in government positions, the colonel Ahmad ʿorābī led a revolt that deposed the son of Ismā under in September 1881. It was not only a coup d’etat but the birth of a nationalist feeling : Egypt to the Egyptians.

Great Britain generally avoided resorting to military intervention in foreign countries but in this case being co -owner of the channel it could not allow local disorders to occur potentially capable of transforming themselves into commercial restrictions. Under the pressure of the French president Léon Gambetta at the beginning of 1882 Great Britain agrees to the Anglo-French intervention to maintain the order. The arrival of foreign troops caused a very violent popular riot and the French Parliament instead of sending reinforcements preferred to withdraw its contingent leaving the British alone in the war against ʿorābī. On 11 July 1882 the Royal Navy starts the bombings of the defensive workstations of the port of Alexandria, fortified in vain in the previous weeks by ʿorābī, and demolished all the defenses begins to land taking possession of the whole port.

Rather than surrendering, ʿorābī intensified the resistance, making the British understand that if they had wanted to control the channel, many troops would have been necessary. The British government warned the situation in charge of the operations, General Sir Garnet Wolseley, the veteran expert of many other campaigns in Africa and America, unwelcome to some components of the government for his army reform programs but recognized by everyone as a skilled military leader. The general carefully organized the shipping body and chose a team of officers closely linked to him.

The astute Wolseley managed to fix everything in his favor. He commissioned Sir Edward Hamley, of the Ministry of War, to prepare Attacking plans to Abukir’s bay: how Wolseley supposed all Egypt to the whole of Egypt in a few days. At this point with the enemy, the government, the newspapers, and most of the general concentrated Staff on Abukir, he set off to east with about half of his 40,000 men and on August 20, 1882 he occupied the city of Ismailia All ‘entry of the Suez canal. Arabi had about 60,000 soldiers under orders but was forced to distribute them in 3 trenches out of 3 possible attack lines: Cairo, Alessandria, Tel El Kebir. In this last location he built a defensive position halfway between the canal and the Cairo along the connection railway line: the 22000 or 25000 men deployed would have been Wolseley’s opponents.

In front of the bulk of the troops Wolseley sent a contingent commanded by General Gerald Graham with the mission of marching for 20 kilometers in the desert to stand at the line of an artificial channel. The 2000 men completed the task and entrenched themselves in Kassassin where on August 28 they rejected an Egyptian attack and with a cavalry charge they forced him to retire. After Wolseley’s arrival, the forces gathered and marched on Tell El Kebir from where the Egyptians had retired. These men had attested on a very strong position, taking about six kilometers along a steep valley. In the face of their lines, they had dug a long trench almost two meters wide and more than one in front of one in front of which a flat ground was spread with a perfect fire area without obstacles for the 20 Urabi field cannons.
Wolseley was impressed by the work done by the enemy and remained 4 days to study it. It seemed there were no weaknesses but it was also noticed that the Egyptians almost did not guard their outposts at night; So Wolseley decided to take advantage of the opportunity. British troops were not trained in such operations and the nature of the soil was such as not to offer any reference, therefore the best thing that he managed to do was to support the military of the Marina officers who studying the stars would have found the direction to follow.

On the night between 13 and 14 September the troops set off: Wolseley gave 5 hours to the soldiers to travel the 9 km that separated him from the Egyptian lines and, however dark the night was, everything succeeded without great dangers.
At dawn the British were less than 200 meters from the Egyptian lines: on the right there was the first division formed by British and Irish and supported by the brigade of the guards commanded by the Duke of Connaught, on the left there was the second division made up of various regiments of the Scottish Highlands; Some highlanders and Indian troops covered the extreme left wing, while the royal cavalry covered the extreme right wing.

When the sun arose and the Egyptians woke up they found the enemy practically in front and the fights began immediately.
The highlanders were slightly ahead of the rest of the army and first attacked the Egyptians. The commander of the division, General Hamley, personally directed the assault of the Highlander brigade; The Scottish attacked lined up on two long lines, while reserve departments were carried out to support the main attack. The advance on the sandy ground until the escarpment was contrasted by the Egyptian rifle fire and cost relevant losses to the British; The attackers lined up in the center of the line managed to first reach the Egyptian positions and to penetrate the trenches. Supported by the reserves sent in support by General Hamley, the soldiers of the Scottish battalions Black Watch , Gordon Highlanders It is Cameron Highlanders They gradually managed to overcome resistance and conquer Egyptian defensive positions. The British encountered greater difficulties on the left wing, where the battalion Highland Light Infantry He suffered heavy losses under the fire of the Nubian riflemen, and on the right wing, where departments of the Black Watch they were slowed down ^[first] .

Both central divisions first with violent rifle discharges then with bayonet assaults conquered the Egyptian lines in a short time, but the wings of the wings were the keys of the battle: by easily encircling the enemies they managed not only to make them desist from further resistance but transformed the withdrawn in a real chaos.

The battle lasted less than two hours not to mention the chase for 80 kilometers to Cairo. The violence of the assault broke out almost immediately the Egyptian lines and ʿorābī was forced to abandon every object to save himself. All the Egyptian artillery fell into British hands, ʿorābī lost 2500 men while the British had only 58 deaths, about 400 wounded and 30 missing. The pursuit had practically no resistance and, when the day after Wolseley’s troops they reached Cairo, ʿorābī was forced to surrender. The revolt had failed.
Now the British administered the finances and the channel: to supervise the operations it was appointed Lord Cromer which became in practice governor. Egypt will thus become a British protectorate until 1922, however, following to ingest in the events of Egypt until 1956.