Person1859 – 1927

Saad Zaghlul

Also called: Saad Zaghloul

Leader of the Egyptian national movement who headed the Wafd, stood at the centre of the 1919 revolution and became prime minister in 1924

Born to a rural landowning family in the Nile Delta, he studied at al-Azhar and was influenced by the Islamic reformer Muhammad Abduh. He took part in the Urabi revolt, then became a lawyer and judge and served as minister of education and of justice. Leading the Wafd from 1918 in demanding independence from Britain, he was twice exiled, to Malta and to the Seychelles. He became prime minister in 1924 but resigned under British pressure after the assassination of the governor-general of the Sudan, and died in Cairo in 1927.

Where they went

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1 related event

  1. 1

    When leaders of the Wafd ("delegation") headed by Saad Zaghlul were exiled, anti-British protests swept Egypt. Britain recognized Egyptian independence in 1922 but kept troops and other privileges.

Themes this person appears in

  • National Movements in Asia and Africa1915 – 1948

    From the Hussein–McMahon correspondence to the founding of Israel — three decades in which India, West Asia, Southeast Asia and Africa, swept up in the tide of self-determination after the First World War, pressed toward independence and modernization