From 1883 to 1914, the Khedive of Egypt and Sudan under the Ottoman Sultan remained the official ruler of the country, but ultimate power was exercised by the British Consul-General.

The terms of the protectorate led Egyptian nationalists to believe that it was a temporary arrangement that would be changed after the end of the war through bilateral agreement with the British.

The British authorities attempted to form a Legislative Assembly that would've better represented native Egyptian interests, albeit with limited political power.

In addition to this many of the religious needs of Egyptian Muslims were completely ignored by Western companies in Egypt, who often disregarded requests of leave for the Hajj, among other slights against the Islamic faith.

[11] In addition, because of Allied promises during the war (such as U.S. President Woodrow Wilson's "Fourteen Points"), Egyptian political classes prepared for self-government.

[12] Shortly after the First World War armistice on 11 November was concluded on the Western Front in Europe, a delegation of Egyptian nationalist activists led by Saad Zaghlul made a request to High Commissioner Reginald Wingate to end the British Protectorate in Egypt and Sudan, and gain Egyptian representation at the planned peace conference in Paris.

[14] Wafdist emissaries went into towns and villages to collect signatures authorizing the movement's leaders to petition for the complete independence of the country.

Since the beginning of the war, the British authorities had declared martial law in Egypt and still held considerable powers after the conflict's end.

[15] In the course of widespread disturbances which followed between 15 and 31 March, at least 800 people were killed, numerous villages were burnt down, large landed properties plundered and railways destroyed by angered Egyptian mobs.

[17] For several weeks until April, demonstrations and strikes across Egypt by students, elite, civil servants, merchants, peasants, workers, and religious leaders became such a daily occurrence that normal life was brought to a halt.

This mass movement was characterized by the participation of both men and women, and by spanning the religious divide between Muslim and Christian Egyptians.

[17] The uprising in the Egyptian countryside was more violent, involving attacks on British military installations, civilian facilities, and personnel.

The Egyptian Expeditionary Force, a British imperial formation stationed in the region, engaged in mass repression to restore order.

Upon returning, Zaghlul helped to develop an underground network of spies that supported the revolution, consisting of agents in the British administration as well as the Sultan's Palace and more.

[20] The revolts forced London to undertake the Milner Mission, which would lead to a unilateral declaration of Egyptian independence on 28 February 1922.

A large amount of the Egyptian public was still outraged over the continued exile of Saad Zaghlul, who had not been allowed to return despite this new supposed independence.