Bombardment of Alexandria 1882 - The Anglo-Egyptian War
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ค. 2024
- The bombardment of Alexandria, in Egypt by the Royal Navy was the first engagement of the Anglo-Egyptian war of 1882.
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In the 1870's an ambitious modernisation programme by the Khedive of Egypt (Ismael Pasha) ended in bankruptcy for the country.
On behalf of the country's many foreign investors, the British & French government's stepped in and forced Ismael Pasha to accept two of their nationals to run his economy.
Aggrieved at the mismanagement of the country and this humiliating foreign presence, the army under Ahmed Urabi rose in revolt.
A Royal Navy fleet of ironclad warships, under Admiral Beauchamp Seymour, arrived off the port of Alexandria to apply pressure to Urabi not to change the status quo.
Urabi responded by re-enforcing the 11 forts in in the city with over 290 guns.
Having issued an ultimatum to desist, Seymour opened fire on the 11th July 1882.
The bombardment of Alexandria lasted for just over 10 hours.
In that time the Royal Navy fired over 1,000 shells, putting all 11 Egyptian forts out of action.
The suffered5 killed and 27 injured, whilst the Egyptians reported 150 of their soldiers killed and a further 400 wounded.
Urabi withdrew from Alexandria and Seymour landed 500-600 to restore order in the city, which had suffered from looting and significant fires.
The British now feared that Urabi would seize control of the Suez Canal, denying them their fast communication route to the British Empire in India and beyond.
Determined to prevent this, they now dispatched an army under General Sir Garnet Wolseley to remove Urabi from power.
Which sets us up nicely for my next video, the Battle of Tel El Kebir.
By way of a side note, one of the Royal Navy captains present at the bombardment was John "Jackie" Fisher (on HMS Inflexible) who would go on to become an Admiral and First Sea Lord, just before the First World War.
#bombardmentofalexandra #angloegyptianwar #militaryhistory
Chapters
0:00 Introduction
1:44 Ismael Pasha
4:00 Egypt bankrupted
5:25 Ahmed Urabi Revolt
8:18 French & British response
10:25 Admiral Seymour
12:26 Bombardment of Alexandria
15:53 Results of Bombardment
19:27 Criticism in Britain
21:39 Towards Tel El Kebir
22:58 The History Chap
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/ thehistorychap
My name is Chris Green ("The History Chap") and I am on a mission to share the amazing history of Britain so that we can appreciate where we have come from and why we are here.
History should not be stuffy or a long list of dates or kings & queens.
So rather than lectures or TH-cam animations, I tell stories that bring the past to life.
My aim is to be chat as if I were having a coffee or meal with you. Jean in Maryland, USA recently wrote: "Chris, is the history teacher I wish I had at school!"
Just for the record, I do have a history degree and continue to have a passion for the subject I studied.
Disclaimer: All opinions and comments expressed in the 'Comments' section do not reflect the opinions of Chris Green Communication Ltd t/a The History Chap. All opinions and comments should contribute to the dialogue. Chris Green Communication Ltd does not condone written attacks, insults, racism, sexism, extremism, violence or otherwise questionable comments or material in the 'Comments' section, and reserves the right to delete any comment violating this rule or to block any poster from the channel.
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Once again this OLD MAN from America has totally enjoyed a video of history . I haven't heard of this period of world history
since we were not taught these events in history class in our schools .
I've always loved the history of many different nations.
The history of the UK is something that I've ways found to be most interesting .
Thank you for presenting these most enjoyable videos. I look forward to the next videos of history from the UK
Once again thank you for taking the time to present these most informative videos of the history of the UK
Glad you enjoyed this video
As always, very well presented and informative !
Thank tou
You amaze me! I've been studying British & Imperial history for well over 60 years & yet I learn something new from every one of your videos.
Very kind of you, thanks.
Great video today thanks Chris for taking us on this journey and I'm looking forward to seeing more about this hopefully you will be doing more on this one
Tel El Kebir coming at the end of this week.
@@TheHistoryChap thank you 😊
Excellent as usual!
Very kind of you. Thanks.
Brilliant story and great video, thank you very much Chris. Stay well.
Glad you enjoyed it.
Of all of your videos, this Anglo/Egyptian series stands out above the rest, well done sir, I look forward to your next series.
Many thanks.
Great as always!
Glad you enjoyed it.
Excellent presentation. It was really interesting to hear all the background to this event.
Glad you enjoyed it!
@@TheHistoryChap I like your style of presentation. It's punchy, without being over the top, and you give plenty of relevant facts without drowning the viewer in information. I look forward to future videos.
Superb once again
Many thanks.
I found this history lesson very interesting. I learned a lot about how this war started, and how people's actions can lead to huge shifts in history.
Joe, that's one of the things I love about history.
An Absolutely splendid channel!!! Glad to have discovered it today.
Thanks for watching
Another informative video about a subject I knew even happened. Well done again
Glad you enjoyed it
Good as ever. Thank you.
Many thanks.
I have always found the Victorian ironclad navy fascinating (my sole foray in to "Steam Punk").
As I understand it, Jackie Fisher, already noted as a gunnery expert in the RN, took some important lesson away from the bombardment. Namely an interest in the effectiveness of plunging fire. Both for shore bombardment and ship to ship engagement. I think that the burning the city due to over shooting was part of this (Although I doubt Fisher lost much sleep over it at the time).
All this theory, demanded engagement greater ranges. Ultimately this fed in to the "all big gun" concept that was part of the Dreadnought revolution some two decades later.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts on Jackie Fisher.
I didn’t know any of this; what an informative video. Thanks for what you do friend.
It’s my pleasure. Thanks for watching.
Love your content, brilliant channel! Have you done an episode on Fashoda? That would be interesting.
Fashoda is coming soon
Excellent video presentation. I look forward to the story of the battle of Tel El Kebir. My great grandfather was part of the Highland brigade who fought there and stayed on there afterwards in occupation. I have all his papers from the time so it will be interesting to compare. Keep these history lessons coming please.
Hope you have had a chance to watch my video on Tel El Kebir. th-cam.com/video/q1l9AUm5dy4/w-d-xo.html
@@TheHistoryChap I did indeed. Excellent presentation indeed. It was great to compare it to my great grandfathers papers and the regiment records. Many thanks.
Wow, didn’t know this bit of history. Thanks.
My pleasure
Excellent introduction to the subject. Well balanced, unbiased, with a good mixture of broad overview and biographical detail. Thank you
Glad you enjoyed my video
@@TheHistoryChap Thank you again. I was left with one question. To what extent, if any, was France compensated for the loss of their dual control of the canal? Presumably they retained their 55% share but then found that it was effectively 100% under British control after Britain had established its protectorate?
Thank you for clarifying the historical background, as to why the British came to be so deeply involved with the destiny of Egypt; this was a set of circumstances of which I knew nothing. I will now view the video again, in order to mentally consolidate the major points of the story.
George, glad you enjoyed this. I'm not glorifying the action (I hope) but trying to explain what happened, why it happened and why the world is like it is today.
Very good account of a largely forgotten episode
Thank you.
Well researched and told, Chris. I lived in Egypt and have walked the Alexandria seafront many times and indeed, have visited the Qaitbay Citadel (fort) on 3/4 occasions. It is wonderfully restored. There is some history told there but you filled in loads of gaps for me. Thank you.
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed it
Good job
Thank you.
I must say, this video was a most unexpected but pleasant surprise! Thank you so much Chris for listening to the audience! Ismail Pasha certainly had good intentions initially, but overstretched himself which got him into trouble. One can understand the Egyptian's desire to be themselves but one has to understand the concerns of the Europeans. They wanted their money back but Ismail just didn't have the proper mind to do it. I would consider Tewfik to be a good person and the Egyptians should have paid more attention to what was going on in their own government. Even though Ismail was out of power by then, as for the Anglo-Egyptian War as a whole, as for him and his ministers, it was essentially their fault as they didn't seem to understand finance. As for the bombardment itself, I wish the British had better aim as it would have decreased the amount of civilian damage done. Beresford had a lot of nerve getting his ship to within point blank range of the Egyptian fort. Sir Douglas Haig was of the belief that the Egyptians could make good soldiers and this occasion proved it when they fought the British for as long as they did. It was stupid of the Egyptians to continue the fight from the one fort the following day and even more stupid of the British to fire on the Egyptian forts when their white flags were still raised in violation of war rules. The captain of the ship that commenced the firing should have been court-martialed. As for the sailor who threw that live shell overboard with his bare hands and got awarded the Victoria Cross for the feat, it sounds exactly like what the one Irish sailor did back in the Crimean War got the same reward for it. In quite a number of the battles I have read about, it seems common for the wounded to outnumber the dead. I can understand the views of Gladstone, Bright, and Richards. The British should not have had to go there. But they did due to the corruption and incompetence of the Egyptian government and they could not afford to lose their canal. LOOK FORWARD TO TEL-EL-KEBIR! Been waiting for that one for a while.
Nathan, thanks for taking the time to post that in-depth and well thought through comment. Tel El Kebir being released on Friday 11th November
Brilliant video Sir, and by your narrative you have brought to life miscalculations of Europe and Great Britain's leadership. Nor should we forget poor diplomacy. I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. I have simply runout of superlatives. Thank you for presenting another gem Sir. Kudos!
Thanks for all of your support.
Chris excellent video as usual. How about a video about Jacky Fisher. Very interesting person
I will add to my list.
@@TheHistoryChap Sir, you are a man among men, a pillar of light against the darkness of ignorance, a bon vivant, etc. etc.
good one
Glad you enjoyed. Thanks for watching.
Fascinating!!!
Thank you.
I knew of Jackie fisher, just didn't know about his effort here. I was surprised when you said his name and I wondered if it the same man I have read about, and yes it is. Thank you chap
My pleasure
Well Done❤
Thanks for watching.
A video lord Thomas crochran (the wolf of the sea) would be great to see. Love what you do,
Thank you for the suggestion
Perhaps the European investors should have been reminded that “the value of investments can go down as well as up. Your investment is at risk”.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Oh wow, even trivia about West Ham!
I couldn't resist it :)
Cool
Thank you. Glad you enjoyed.
Thanks so much for this Chris.
I couldn't help thinking about Africa today, desperate for the investment needed to modernise and the investors know it.
The investor countries see cheap resources as their goal; that means controlling the land. We all know where that leads. The colonial powers have been losing wars from Bosnia to Vietnam for over a century because they fell for the same trap as the investors are today.
It begs the question, how can we learn from history when today's circumstances give you no choice but to repeat it?
Perry, what a great question. I hope people will contribute.
Great talk, putting things into context.
Other subjects could be the Anglo-French-Russian peacekeeping mission to Navarino in 1827, and the freeing of the white slaves by the French invasion of Algiers in 1830.
White slaves are on my list. Will tie in with the Barbary pirates abducting people from Cornwall.
@@TheHistoryChap The books "White Gold" by Giles Milton (2004) and "Breaking the Chains" by Tom Pocock (2006) give spirited tellings of the White Slave trade as does "The Great Game by Peter Hopkirk (1990) from the Russian Empire's not insubstantial losses in the southern steps.
Great story . Another example of how politicians make things worse
Service men and women dies due to politicians decisions.
One Englishman at the centre of the Suez Canal issues, as a friend of the de Lesseps of France, Disraeli and the Kadiff its purchase and subsequent belligerences was my GGG Grandfather, Major General Sir John Stokes RE, KCB. Stokes went on the serve in the Danube Commission as well as a number of diplomatic posts.
david, thank you so much for sharing.
Feels wired to visualize this bombardment took place in my home town , in streets I daily roam
Thanks for watching my video
What about kafr eldawar battle before el tal el khabir
Tell that story in my video about the battle of El Teb.
Fantastic videos, hoping to watch this whole playlist you have on Egypt and Sudan campaigns, Victorian era military campaigns are utterly fascinating, I love the book by Byron Farwell called 'Queen Victoria's Little Wars' that I'm sure you've read plenty of, it's a shame that we won't see these sort of campaigns in future films any time soon, Khartoum is a great historical epic, but past that there is the 1939 Four Feathers and its poorly received reboot. Historical epics in Hollywood are dead, and the few that still get made are by directors who refuse to even read up on history, like Ridley Scott or whatever moron made The Woman King, so ahistorical it hurts, I dread to think what Antoine Fuqua's new hannibal film with Denzel Washington will be like. Sorry to be so cynical, just as someone who loves history, doing my masters on it now, and loves historical films, I'm just glad youtubers like you carry on the legacy of military history.
Thanks for watching my video & for your feedback
Another video from the History Chap, over lunch, don’t mind if I do….
Glad you enjoyed
A great General Knowledge question:- Name a country that Britain has not fought against. Is there one? We even enjoy fighting each other in the pub!
I am going for Mongolia as my starter for 10.
That Welsh accent 🤣🤣
I didn't know anything about this incident - it's always fascinated me the way the various European imperial powers collaborated so actively and openly in the decades before the First World War. The Taiping rebellion and various affairs in Egypt spring to mind but there are other examples. A shame that had to be ended by total global conflict.
Thanks for taking the time to add your comment.
As you go though it you can see the roots of all that is bad today.
We are prisoners of our history.
I have a medal awarded to my grandfather who was in the Royal Navy and served in the fleet at that bombardment
Thanks for sharing
Does "Anglo" include Wales, Scotand and Ireland?
It does. Its one of those strange historical terms that is used to describe British military campaigns.
Bled them dry with their loans......that's a new one. I'm sorry for lending you money....I'm sorry you aren't paying me back.....all my fault.
Hard to feel sorry for the investors.
It’s a shame those men aren’t patrolling the channel right now, because if they were, the story of today would be different…
Thank you for taking the time to comment
All to do with money and power, once again and greed of Nations
Isn’t life simple?
In 1807, the Brits tried to capture Alexandria but it ended up horrible for them. The Brits lost 900 killed, 200 wounded and 500 captured who were condemned to hard labor and became slaves.
Egypt was a province of the Ottoman Empire but an autonomous vassal and
most of the Egyptian force fighting the British were native Egyptians (fellahin).
Interesting. Thanks for sharing - especially about the slaves.
@@TheHistoryChap you are very welcome. Unfortunately since the 1952 movement, Egypt has become a totalitarian military state with widespread police brutality, human rights violations and corruption. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (which succeeded the Revolutionary Command Council which was preceded by Free Officers Movement) rules Egypt via dictators. These dictators never spent money on social programs like education, which prompted me as an Egyptian to use the internet to learn more about my country and worldwide history. Yes in 2011 we managed to get rid of Mubarak and got the chance to elect our first civilian President who was educated at California State University, Northridge which marked a significant transition from the uneducated military officers that ruled Egypt since the 1950’s. However the democratic transition that was implemented after the revolution was disrupted by the 2013 Coup D’etat that overthrew the democratically elected government and reimposed the military dictatorship. Finally, your research was actually pretty decent and I really enjoyed your video, much appreciated sir. 🙏
Aaah so I take it this is why West Ham are the hammers? Cause of the steelworks🙂👏
Thanks for watching my video
Had no idea we bombarded a city founded by Alexander The Great. Feel bad about it.
Thanks for taking the time to comment
14:30 I hope this guy doesn't have a gun jam on him nearly causing a military disaster.
Ha ha, I am chuckling. Watch this one to find out: th-cam.com/video/lAi4NZsLvOU/w-d-xo.html
Thank goodness the Library was already destroyed, or that would have been Britian's fault too.
Chuckling.
Nobody asked them to take out ridiculous loans you know, and in many ways they were the architects of their own troubles, however, Egypt for the Egyptians.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Talk about gunboat diplomacy! The heck with gunboats Seymour said, I'll use battleships! But diplomatically, this battle and the European colonial model would leave a bad taste in the mouths of Egyptians that is still there today. The Suez crisis and Britain's era of unilaterally acting on it's own ended when America's president Eisenhower and the United Nations intervened. What would have happened if Britain had sympathized with Egypt in 1882, and moved to alleviate it's finances instead? Would the Suez crisis have happened?
As an Egyptian I can confirm that the bad taste is still there till today. We will never forget the British crimes. I was born free but my grandfather had to fight the Brits so that I'd be born free.
I also wonder how things could have turned out.
Admiral Charles Beresford gained notoriety for punching the Prince of Wales, who had been having an affair with Beresford's wife.
He was certainly a character.
fella spends until he's lost all credibility & face. rebel leader,"lets take on the British navy". jeezsh!
Thanks for commenting.
Absolutely fantastic 67 and still learning how the British empire Did great damage to our relationships with other countries . I might be reading too much into it. You were not biased by any stretch of the imagination. But you can see why we needed the Suez Canal to bring in the cash . divide and rule why they were killing one another They won’t kill on us
John, thanks for contributing. History is so much more complex than some people try to make it.
It’s obvious where the Americans learned their ongoing global gunboat diplomacy
Thank you for taking the time to comment
As an Egyptian I'm proud of my ancestors who fought the British thiefs with bravery.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
@@TheHistoryChap Thanks for your video. Really liked that you are always respectful to the other side and not trying to brag about colonialism. Unfortunately all of the conflicts in the Middle East are a direct consequence of that dark chapter in history. As an Egyptian I find that the police state I'm living in has actually been founded by the opressive colonial system.
Thank you for your comment. It's often beneficial to be reminded of the human faces on the other side of a conflict. I get the impression you don't like the British. Do you also hate the French? What about the Turks (Ottomans) who colonized most of that part of the world for centuries - do you hate them, too? I'm curious to know if your ancestors who fought against the British also invaded Sudan - or Ethiopia. Did they build any schools and hospitals while they were there, or provide a foundation for governing themselves? And what about your own leaders throughout history that treated your ancestors like slaves, and whose greed, corruption, and fiscal irresponsibility enabled (even invited) the evil Europeans in?
Or is only British colonialism evil?
@@dougearnest7590 Thanks for your comment. I do not hate anyone as "people" be it British, French, or Turk. However, what I hate is colonialism and occupation of any kind. Basically anyone who comes to my country with a weapon is my enemy and I'd defend my country as you'd defend yours. My ancestors did not invade Sudan or Ethiopia...it was the British who did so. Egypt was under British occupation at the time, remember? As for "our leaders" we never had true leaders that actually were elected by people except for a very short period in 2011 after the Arab Spring. Literally all of them till this very day were dictators who were mostly installed and supported by Western colonial powers for protecting Western interests. In Egypt we call this 'local occupation sponsored by foreign occupation' as opposed to foreign occupation. Unfortunately those dictators learned how to establish a true police state from the tactics that the British and French used to oppress the Egyptians so yes, the colonialism regardless of its source is the foundation of the evil we're living in today. Let me ask you a question...what do you feel about the Nazis who were trying to occupy Britain?
@@Planet_Xplorer
Thank you for your response. Let me begin by (a) complimenting you on your command of the English language (I’m jealous that I don’t have that gene that enables people to learn additional languages, even though I’ve tried), and (b) I do not look on this conversation as adversarial. To me it is an opportunity to learn new things and broaden my horizons, while at the same time reevaluate my own beliefs and values and practice defending the things I believe in (and making sure they're worth defending.)
I’ll start with the direct question you asked me -how do I feel about the Nazis that were trying to occupy Britain? That’s easy - I am not in favor of the Nazis or in general evil totalitarians bent on conquest. But I’ll take it a step further - I also recognize the rise of Nazism in Germany (and other European nations) was a response to the threat posed by the spread of communism. Unlike Gandhi, however, I would not urge everyone to simply give in to German (and Japanese) aggression. His hatred for the British was so intense he was blinded to the fact that unless you stand up to Evil, then Evil will win. Ironic since he is so well known for standing up to "evil" - but an evil that allowed him to exist and protest. If he were trying the same thing in the Soviet Union or Communist China, we wouldn't even know his name.
It’s pretty well known to most of the Western world what happened to the European Jews who didn’t escape Nazism. Perhaps less well known is what happened to the victims of the hugely racist Japanese in their war of conquest. So while communism was the bigger threat, fascism was the more immediate threat.
While we now have little to fear from the ideological descendents of Hitler and Mussolini, untold millions have continued suffering and dying under the hate-filled rule of the totalitarian fascists who style themselves as socialists and communists. For every evil thing that happened in the Second World War, I put as much blame on the communists as I do on Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.
I hope that answers your question.
So it appears (quite reasonably) that you would prefer Western style democracy over being ruled by a colonial power as Britain was. But as you stated, even before the British came your country never had democracy. Even when you had elections, the elected officials were still corrupt puppets of the colonial power Once the British were gone you still felt the oppression because it was the British who taught your elected officials how to be corrupt. (Yes, I know I’m paraphrasing.) Well, here’s the deal - man (by that I mean “mankind”, to include all those other genders) is sinful by nature. Some of us are less sinful than others, but still sinful. As soon as a good law is passed, bad men will look for legal ways to subvert the law. If they can’t find a legal way to do it, they’ll do it by illegal means. That is the nature of humanity. So I submit to you the British did not teach your current crop of politicians to be greedy and corrupt - it came naturally to them because they were human. They would have figured out a way, just as corrupt politicians did long before the British Isles were inhabited. It isn’t the political system the British gave you that enables the corruption. It is everywhere this side of Heaven, regardless of left or right, authoritarian or anarchist.
You said you had democracy in Egypt for a little while following the Arab Spring, but who did you have to select from when you voted, and what did they do with the power they were given, and why do you no longer have democracy?
I think the British are a convenient excuse people who want to be angry, and who can easily and conveniently downplay the contributions the British have made. (I’m not British by the way - my ancestors also fought against the Empire.) Did you know there are former British colonies that were granted independence (no war required) who have large populations of people wishing they still belonged to Britain? Not the sort of thing the leftist-controlled Western media likes to report.
I think hating the British for colonialism is like hating American "imperialism" - it’s certainly in vogue, but then when disaster strikes don’t start looking for Saudi Air Force cargo planes to fly in medical personnel, or Chinese container ships to bring food, blankets, and drinking water - even though they can afford it a hell of a lot easier than we can. As I said, some people are less evil than others.
You did not mention the crimes committed by Europe against the people of Egypt and the other peoples of its colonies, including killing, plundering, injustice and torture. Sorry, but you did not gain my respect nor the respect of anyone who saw his people being oppressed by the Europeans.
Thanks for your feedback
Egypt for the Egyptians! Britain for the British! If not, why not? I could almost smell the avacrdo on toast arising from this woke leaning re-telling of history.
Thanks for taking the time to add your comment.
The Europeans....who built the Suez Canal.
I think Egyptians did the hard work. Europeans designed and oversaw the construction (plus financed it).
Lol Egyptian build the canal by our grandparents blod