Egypt and the Rise of Nationalism includes more than 4,000 primary source documents from the UK National Archives relating to the period of the British military occupation in Egypt. Consisting of British Foreign Office, Cabinet Office and War Office files, amongst others, this collection captures the development of nationalist sensibilities, movements, and publications in Egypt from the 1870s until the third decade of the twentieth century, culminating with the formal dissolution of the British protectorate in 1924.

Never formally described as part of the “British Empire” by successive British governments, that relationship may have been inferred, applied by the popular press, or understood to be a colonial relationship by the public. Britain was certainly an administering power but the term “protectorate” was a debated definition of the relationship as early as 1884. The eventual end of British occupation marked the emergence of modern Egypt.