Independence Treaty!

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The British occupation of Egypt lasted for about 72 years, from September 1982 to June 1954, when the last English soldier left. The Egyptian national movement for independence and constitution grew during this period. This movement achieved its goal in the constitution first in 1923, while the struggle continued for complete independence and the evacuation of the British forces that remained in the Suez Canal area. This independence was achieved in stages, starting with the declaration of February 28, 1922, and continuing through the 1936 Treaty, the ninetieth anniversary of its signing this year.

Historians, as well as politicians at the time, disagreed on the evaluation of this treaty, which its supporters called the Treaty of Honor and Independence.

The presence of several thousand British soldiers in the Suez Canal area was the main focus of this dispute. Those who objected to calling it a treaty of honor and independence believed that the presence of these forces meant the continuation of the occupation, while those who supported them considered that they had achieved a major leap forward on the basis that complete and complete independence is achieved through several stages of the national struggle. The fact is that the 1936 treaty was the result of a long struggle that depended on the presence of popular momentum invested in negotiations with the British.

To be fair, in 1936 it was not possible to extract anything better from this treaty. Egypt achieved three of the goals of the national struggle. The first is Britain’s recognition in Article 1 of Egypt’s independence and the relationship between the two countries turning into an alliance. The second is to abolish the unjust foreign privileges that have oppressed the people for so long.

The third goal was Britain's recognition of Egypt's right to evacuate the remaining British forces when it had a large army equipped with modern weapons. Thus, the 1936 Treaty was an important and major step, by the standards of its time, towards the conquest of complete independence and the evacuation of the last British forces from it, eighteen years after the signing of that treaty.