Anglo - Egyptian War ( 1882 ) The Anglo - Egyptian War occurred in 1882 between Egyptian and Sudanese forces under Ahmed Orabi , and the United Kingdom . Background . In 1878 , an Egyptian army officer , Colonel Orabi Pasha , initiated a coup against Tewfik Pasha , the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan , because of grievances over disparities in pay between Egyptian and European employees , as well as other concerns . In January 1882 the British and French governments sent the " Joint Note " to the Egyptian government , declaring their recognition of the Khedive ' s authority . On 20 May 1882 , British warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria . France had withdrawn at the last minute . On 11 June 1882 , a riot occurred in Alexandria that killed 50 Europeans , though Colonel Orabi ordered his forces to put down the riot . On 11 July 1882 , after confused orders , British warships began their bombardment of Alexandria . Reasons for the invasion . The reasons why the British government sent a fleet of ships to the coast of Alexandria is a point of historical debate , as there is no information available that is capable of identifying a definitive cause for the invasion . In their 1961 essay " Africa and the Victorians " , Ronald Robinson and John Gallagher argue that the British invasion was ordered in order to quell the perceived anarchy of the Orabi Revolt , as well to protect British control over the Suez Canal in order to maintain its shipping route to the Indian Ocean . A . G . Hopkins rejects Robinson and Gallagher ' s argument , citing original documents and second - hand sources to claim that there was no perceived danger to the Suez Canal from the Orabi movement , and that Orabi and his forces were not chaotic " anarchists " , but rather maintained law and order . He alternatively argues that British Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone ' s cabinet was motivated by protecting the interests of British bondholders with investments in Egypt as well as pursuit of domestic political popularity . Hopkins cites the British investments in Egypt that grew massively leading into the 1880s , partially as a result of the Khedive ' s debt from construction of the Suez Canal , as well as the close links that existed between the British government and the economic sector . He writes Britain ' s economic interests occurred simultaneously to a desire within the ruling Liberal Party for a militant foreign policy in order to gain political domestic political popularity to compete with the Conservative Party . Hopkins cites a letter from Sir Edward Malet , the British consul general in Egypt at the time , to a member of the Gladstone Cabinet offering his congratulations on the invasion , " You have fought the battle of all Christendom and history will acknowledge it . May I also venture to say that it has given the Liberal Party a new lease of popularity and power . " John Galbraith and Afaf Lutfi al - Sayyid - Marsot make a similar argument to Hopkins , though their argument focuses on how individuals within the British government bureaucracy used their positions to make the invasion appear as a more favourable option to Gladstone ' s cabinet . First , they describe a plot by Edward Malet in which he portrayed the Egyptian government as unstable to his superiors in the British cabinet in order to provoke a British military intervention , which Galbraith and al - Sayyid - Marsot write contributed to the decision to invade . They portray him as having been naive , that he believed that he could convince the British government to militarily intimidate the Egyptian government , though he never imagined a full - out invasion or occupation . They also describe the actions of Admiral Beauchamp Seymour , commander of the British fleet that bombarded Alexandria , who personally hastened the start of the bombardment by exaggerating the danger posed by Orabi ' s forces in Alexandria to his ships in his telegrams back to the British government . Course of the war . Initial British bombardment . The British fleet bombarded Alexandria from 11 – 13 July followed by British marines occupying it . The bombardment was very one sided , the British did not lose a single boat . Much of the city was destroyed by fires that broke out as a result of the bombardment . Orabi had his men start these fires to ruin the city that the British were taking over . The British then installed the Khedive Tawfiq , who declared Orabi a rebel and took away his political rights . Orabi ' s response . Orabi then counteracted by obtaining a fatwa , which was authorised by Al Azhar shaykh s which stated that Tawfiq was a traitor who brought on the occupation of Egypt by a foreign nation and stated that he betrayed his religion . Orabi also ordered conscription and he declared war on the United Kingdom . British Expeditionary Force order of battle . The British army tried to reach Cairo through Alexandria but was stopped for five weeks at Kafr - el - Dawwar . In August , a British army of over 40 , 000 , commanded by Garnet Wolseley , invaded the Suez Canal Zone . He was authorised to destroy Orabi ' s forces and clear the country of all other rebels . 1st Division ( Lt Gen GHS Willis ) 1st Brigade ( Maj Gen HRH The Duke of Connaught ) 2nd Brigade ( Maj Gen Gerald Graham VC ) Divisional Troops 2nd Division ( Lt Gen Sir Edward Hamley ) 3rd ( Highland ) Infantry Brigade ( Maj Gen Sir Archibald Alison ) 4th Brigade ( Maj Gen Sir Evelyn Wood VC ) Divisional Troops Indian Contingent ( Maj Gen Sir Herbert Macpherson VC ) Cavalry Division ( Maj Gen Drury Curzon Drury Lowe ) 1st ( Heavy ) Cavalry Brigade ( Brig Gen Sir Baker Creed Russell ) 2nd ( Bengal ) Cavalry Brigade ( Brig Gen H . C . Wilkinson ) Division Troops Army Troops Army Train Battle of Tel el - Kebir . Orabi redeployed to defend Cairo against Wolseley . His main force dug in at Tel el - Kebir , north of the railway and the Sweet Water Canal , both of which linked Cairo to Ismailia on the canal . The defences were hastily prepared as there was little time to arrange them . Orabi ' s forces possessed 60 pieces of artillery and breech loading rifles . Wolseley made several personal reconnaissances , and determined that the Egyptians did not man outposts in front of their main defences at night , which made it possible for an attacking force to approach the defences under cover of darkness . Wolseley sent his force to approach the position by night and attacked frontally at dawn , which they did successfully , officially losing only 57 troops while killing approximately two thousand Egyptians . The Orabi forces were routed , and British cavalry pursued them and captured Cairo , which was undefended . Khedive power was then restored as the authority of Egypt . British Military Innovations . Railway – During the build up to the battle at Tel - el - Kebir the specially raised 8th Railway Company RE operated trains carrying stores and troops , as well as repairing track . On the day of the battle they ran a train into Tel - el - Kebir station at between 8 - 9am ( 13 September ) and " " . . . found it completely blocked with trains , full of the enemy ' s ammunition : the line strewn with dead and wounded , and our own soldiers swarming over the place almost mad for want of water … " " ( extract from Captain Sidney Smith ' s diary ) , Once the station was cleared they began to ferry the wounded , prisoners and troops with stores to other destinations . Telegraph – In the wake of the advancing columns , telegraph lines were laid on either side of the Sweet Water canal . At 2 am ( 13 September ) Wolseley successfully sent a message to the Major General Sir H Macpherson VC on the extreme left with the Indian Contingent and the Naval Brigade . At Tel - el Kebir a field telegraph office was established in a saloon carriage , which Arabi Pasha had travelled in the day before . At 8 . 30 am ( 13 September ) after the victory at the battle of Tel - el - Kebir , Wolseley used the telegram to send messages of his victory to Queen Victoria ; he received a reply from her at 9 . 15 am the same day . Once they had got connected to the permanent line the Section also worked the Theiber sounder and the telephone . Army Post Office Corps – The forerunners of Royal Engineers ( Postal Section ) made their debut on this campaign . They were specially raised from the 24th Middlesex Rifles Volunteers ( Post Office Rifles ) and for the first time in British military history , post office clerks trained as soldiers , provided a dedicated postal service to an army in the field . During the battle of Kassassin they became the first Volunteers ever to come under enemy fire . Aftermath . Trial of Orabi . Prime Minister Gladstone initially sought to put Orabi on trial and execute him , portraying him as " " . . . a self - seeking tyrant whose oppression of the Egyptian people still left him enough time , in his capacity as a latter - day Saladin , to massacre Christians . " " After glancing through his captured diaries and various other evidence , there was little with which to " demonize " Orabi in a public trial . His charges were down - graded , after which he admitted to rebellion and was sent into exile . British occupation . British troops then occupied Egypt until the Anglo – Egyptian Treaty of 1922 and Anglo - Egyptian treaty of 1936 , giving gradual control back to the government of Egypt . Hopkins argues that Britain continued its occupation of Egypt after 1882 in order to guarantee British investments , " Britain had important interests to defend in Egypt and she was prepared to withdraw only if conditions guaranteeing the security of those interests were met - and they never were . " Consistent with this view , investment in Egypt increased during the British occupation , interest rates fell , and bond prices rose .