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Saad Pasha Zaghlul

Saad Pasha Zaghlul statue in Alexandria

Saad Zaghlul (Arabic سعد زغلول; also: Saad Zaghloul, Sa'd Zaghloul Pasha ibn Ibrahim) (1859-August 23, 1927) was an Egyptian political figure. He served as prime minister of Egypt from 26 January 1924 to 24 November 1924.

A native of Kafrel-Sheikh in the Delta, Saad Zaghlul led the nationalist forces (Wafd Party) in Egypt demanding independence. The British tried to weaken the nationalist cause by arresting Zaghlul, but their action only sparked riots and violence.

On March 9, 1919, what Egyptians call "the first revolution" broke out in Egypt. Protest demonstrations erupted in Cairo and quickly spread throughout the country. Egyptians were infuriated at the British expulsion of Wafd Party nationalist leader Saad Zaghlul and three others who had been exiled to Malta. The toll after three weeks of rioting was 800 Egyptians killed. The British finally backed down and Zaghlul was freed on April 7. On April 11, the Wafd delegation finally reached Paris and presented its case for independence at the Versailles Peace Conference. They were bitterly disappointed by the United States which ended up backing the British Protectorate.

British persecution of Zaghlul continued; he was rearrested and deported to Aden and the Seychelles in 1921, but by this point the national movement had achieved unstoppable momentum; the protectorate was officially ended the following year (although the British retained behind-the-scenes control through their control of foreign affairs and influence over the king), and the Wafd dominated Egyptian politics for decades afterwards.

The elections of January 12, 1924, gave the Wafd Party an overwhelming majority, and two weeks later Zaghlul formed the first Wafdist government. As P.J. Vatikiotis says in The History of Modern Egypt (4th ed., pp. 279 ff.), "The masses considered Zaghloul their national leader, the za'im al-umma, the uncompromising national hero. His opponents were equally discredited as compromisers in the eyes of the masses. Yet he also had finally come to power partly because he had compromised with the palace group and implicitly accepted the conditions governing the safeguarding of British interests in Egypt." Following the assassination of Sir Lee Stack, Sirdar and Governor-General of the Sudan, on November 19, 1924, and subsequent British demands which Zaghloul felt were unacceptable, he resigned, to play no further role in government.

• Vatikiotis, P.J. (1991). The History of Modern Egypt. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4215-8. 

• Al-Ahram: "The bitter harvest" An account of the 1924 assassination in Cairo of Sir Oliver (Lee) Stack and its consequences for Egypt and Zaghloul
• Time: "High Tea, Low Lunch" A 1926 story about Zaghloul's attempt to return to power