Wilson’s self-determination doctrine galvanized Egyptian independence hopes after Ottoman protection dissolved

Evidence

Egyptians’ nationalistic feeling suffered during World War I, when London declared Egypt a protectorate of the British empire. With the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire, Egyptian nationalists lost the nominal alternative of allegiance to the sultan; although it took longer to abolish the caliphate, the Islamic empire that had united them with other Muslims around the world was terribly weakened and a bulwark against European imperialism was lost. But there seemed to be ideological support from outside Egypt’s borders that, if mobilized, could fill the political vacuum left by this loss, demonstrated most dramatically when President Woodrow Wilson delivered a powerful speech to the League of Nations declaring that all nations had the right to self-determination. — Eve M. Troutt Powell, A Different Shade of Colonialism_…, 819

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the mechanics of protectorate status vs. direct colony rule, useful against Sudan’s Condominium status in this comparative reading.