November 11, 2019

Lest We Remember

In early March 1919, demonstrations in Cairo, mainly by students, initiated an outburst of anti-British rioting, which within a few days spread through all the lower provinces and extended to upper Egypt. The situation was exacerbated by the local civil service's declaration of a general strike and the rapid suspension of railway and telegraph services. In the absence of a large British force in Egypt, elements of the Australian and ANZAC Mounted Divisions, then awaiting embarkation to Australia, were instructed to restore order. Within a month of the uprising order had been restored and principal political agitators imprisoned. The flexibility and mobility of the ANZAC forces involved were principal factors in the suppression of the rioting.
At the Australian War Memorial web page for the Egyptian Uprising 1919, "Category: Riot"

See also the collection items: an improvised cricket bat from Egypt in 1919, which for some reason they keep in the Western Front gallery, and the diary of an Australian CO - I wonder what all the references to military courts involving men with Arabic names were about.