Denshawai Incident

Dinschawai (or Dinsawi; Arab دنشواي Dinschawāy ) is a village in the Egyptian Nile Delta that it became a symbol of colonial arbitrary justice in a bloody incident in 1906 and the reaction of the British colonialists.

On June 13, 1906, during the period of British rule over Egypt, wounded British officers during the pigeon hunting near Dinschawais a resident of this village. There was a dispute between outraged residents and the officers in an officer was killed.

The British Consul-General Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer convened a military tribunal. He had the declared intention to make an example and left no doubt that he expected death sentences. 59 residents Dinschawais were arrested, sentenced to death four and eight people flogged publicly in front of their families. In addition, long prison sentences in labor camps were imposed.

The event sparked outrage in Egypt directly from, was the occasion for the formation of the first nationalist party of Egypt and also changed the setting of the urban national movement to resist the fellahin. The farmers of Dinschawai were stylized into " martyrs " of the new national movement. The poet Ahmed Schauki wrote verses about the event and the press made ​​it known throughout Egypt.

The Earl of Cromer one of Merit was meanwhile awarded in the UK. As the British press began a critical look at the Dinschawai incident and George Bernard Shaw protested against the arbitrary judgments, the tide turned. In December 1907, the government ordered the release of all prisoners and Lord Cromer had to resign.

The events surrounding Dinschawai resulted in a significant recovery of the nationalist movement in Egypt and shaken the self-understanding of the British Empire sustainable.