The Anglo-Egyptian War was fought between the British Empire and Egyptian and Sudanese Urabist rebels in the Khedivate of Egypt from July to September 1882, resulting in the establishment of firm British influence over Egypt.
In 1881, the nationalist Egyptian Army officer Ahmed Urabi led a coup against Khedive Tewfik Pasha, rejecting disparities in pay between Egyptian and European civil servants, the domination of the army by Europeans and Turco-Circassians, and governmental corruption. In January 1882, the British and French governments sent a joint note to the Egyptian government, declaring their recognition of the Khedive's authority. On 20 May 1882, British and French warships arrived off the coast of Alexandria to quell the perceived anarchy of the Urabi revolt and to protect the Suez Canal shipping lanes. Prime Minister William Gladstone was also concerned with protecting the interests of British bondholders with investments in Egypt, while an imperialist element of the Liberal Party sought to gain a new lease of popularity and power at the expense of the Conservative Party.
On 11 June, an anti-Christian riot in Alexandria killed 50 Europeans. While Urabi ordered his forces to put down the riot, Europeans fled the city as Urabi's army began fortifying the town. The French fleet was recalled to France, but a British ultimatum for the Egyptians to abandon their coastal batteries was rejected, leading to a ten-and-a-half hours' bombardment of Alexandria by the Royal Navy on 11 July. Royal Marines proceeded to occupy the city, much of which had been destroyed by fires caused by explosive shells. Tewfik Pasha declared Urabi a rebel and formally deposed him from his positions within the government, leading to Urabi obtaining a fatwa from the al-Azhar Mosque's sheikhs condemning Tewfik as a traitor to both Egypt and Islam, and initiating conscription after declaring war on the United Kingdom.
The British Army launched a probing attack at Kafr El Dawwar to see if it was possible to reach Cairo via Alexandria, but they determined that the Egyptian defenses were too strong. In August 1882, Garnet Wolseley and a British expedition of 40,000 troops landed at the Suez Canal Zone, and he was authorized to destroy Urabi's forces and clear the country of all other rebels. Wolseley arrived at Ismailia on 20 August, reinforcing it with 9,000 troops and putting engineers to work on repairing the railway line from Suez. At the same time, two British battalions clashed with the Egyptians at Kassassin along the Sweet Water Canal. The main body of the army soon moved up to that position after the 26 August battle, and both the Egyptian and British armies faced off near Kassassin at Tell El Kebir.
On 13 September, Urabi redeployed to defend Cairo against Wolseley, with his main force digging in at Tell El Kebir, north of the railway and the Sweet Water Canal. The British attacked the Egyptians at night, when they did not man outposts in front of their main defenses. While surprise was not achieved, the British stormed the enemy trenches with only 57 losses, killing 2,000 Egyptians; the British had more casualties due to heatstroke than enemy action. The British cavalry pursued the Urabist forces and captured Cairo, which was undefended. Power was restored to the Khedive, and the majority of the British Army left Egypt in November. Urabi was exiled to Ceylon after admitting to rebellion, and British troops continued to occupy Egypt until the signing of treaties in 1922 and 1936 that gave gradual control back to the Egyptian government.