The Egyptian Corps

This book tells about a serious incident in Egypt's modern history, not mentioned in school history books, and no book has been published to document it despite its deep impact on Egypt. Britain requested the Egyptian government — during World War I — to issue orders to the district officers and elders to arrest young farmers, tie them with ropes, and deport them with the British army to Sinai, Palestine, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, western Turkey, Greek islands, France, Belgium, and Italy; to perform hard labor such as building a railway line and loading and unloading ships. Indeed, about 530,000 farmers were deported when Egypt's population was 12 million, and about 50,000 farmers were killed, which is 10% of Egypt's farmers! When the farmers disappeared from the land, the crop decreased and food prices rose; famines occurred in parts of Egypt. The mistreatment of farmers by the British, beating them with whips, and humiliating them caused widespread anger at the authorities, who forced them to join the Farmer Corps, leading to uprisings in multiple areas in 1918. These quickly turned into a revolution that merged with the city revolution led by Saad Zaghloul in 1919, making the rural revolution more violent. Ultimately, the protectorate was abolished, a constitution and parliament for Egypt were declared, and British advisors were expelled, although the British army remained.