ABSTRACT
The British declaration of a protectorate over Egypt in 1914 had been explained and accepted as a step towards independence at the war's conclusion, and expectancy was heightened by the announced Anglo-French intentions towards the Ottoman Empire's Arab possessions and by President Wilson's Fourteen Points. A minor campaign in 1916 against the autonomous sultanate of Darfur had its origins in the deteriorating relations between the sultan, 'Ali Dinar, and the Sudan Government prior to the war, and in Anglo-French rivalry. In 1919 a delegation of Sudanese religious and tribal notables, led by Sayyid 'Ali al-Mirghani, head of the Khatmiyya, went to London ostensibly to congratulate King George v on the successful conclusion of the war. In August the Egyptian army Railway Battalion at Atbara rose in a revolt which was put down by British troops. Political developments in the Sudan were reflected in deteriorating Anglo-Egyptian relations.
