AHC: British Egypt

With a POD after 1815, have Britain make a full protectorate out of Egypt (rather than an Egypt that thinks it's independent) and rule Egypt and Sudan as a joint protectorate (British Egypt-Sudan Protectorate).

Is this possible? If the British can suppress the Indians then surely they can do the same to Egypt? How would this occur?

Good luck

SvoHljott said:

With a POD after 1815, have Britain make a full protectorate out of Egypt (rather than an Egypt that thinks it's independent) and rule Egypt and Sudan as a joint protectorate (British Egypt-Sudan Protectorate).

Is this possible? If the British can suppress the Indians then surely they can do the same to Egypt? How would this occur?

Good luck

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Well your comparison is a bit false. India was a disunited mass of states, ethnic groups and religions. Egypt is far more united in comparison which means it's harder to play divide and rule.

That said it is of course possible to have more overt British control, but why? What do the British gain from it? It would annoy the Ottomans and no doubt spark more unrest from the Egyptians themselves. Not sure what Britain gets that it doesn't already have except more problems.

Where's the money in owning Egypt?

Legend-in-Exile said:

Well your comparison is a bit false. India was a disunited mass of states, ethnic groups and religions. Egypt is far more united in comparison which means it's harder to play divide and rule.

That said it is of course possible to have more overt British control, but why? What do the British gain from it? It would annoy the Ottomans and no doubt spark more unrest from the Egyptians themselves. Not sure what Britain gets that it doesn't already have except more problems.

Click to expand...

This highlights quite well the common problem to all these ''what if the British took [Insert land mass and/or country here]: the British Empire was interested in money and/or trade rather than eternal glory or colossal borders.

Hong Kong and Singpore are much more representative examples of how Britain like to operate than India in that they very much preferred to obtain a port city from the local powers and leave it at that.

The question to ask when you wonder whether the British Empire would take any given territory is : Is there money in it? Hell, the reason they even gave up during the American Revolution because the colonies had proven themselves to be a consistent drain on British resources.

SvoHljott said:

With a POD after 1815, have Britain make a full protectorate out of Egypt (rather than an Egypt that thinks it's independent) and rule Egypt and Sudan as a joint protectorate (British Egypt-Sudan Protectorate).

Is this possible? If the British can suppress the Indians then surely they can do the same to Egypt? How would this occur?

Good luck

Click to expand...

united Egypt-Sudan at independence? (Not including South Sudan)