Most uniforms in the Egyptian Military Museum represent periods of peace and thus are of limited interest to the wargamer. The museum displays a few uniform examples from more vigorous times. In addition to full scale dress models, the museum presents several fine photograph sof units from which uniform details can be determined. Most uniform guides for the period show Egyptians in khaki and Sudanese in blue during the campaigns. Curiously enough, the museum's displays do not include any khaki uniforms for the period 1882-1899, the era most played by colonial wargamers. The khaki uniform examples are dated from the reign of Khediver Said (1854-1863) and of King Fuad (1917-1936). While military artists can wreak havoc with proper illustration of uniforms, three military paintings executed in the late Nineteenth Century are in the Egyptian Military Museum. The first painting is of Orabi and his regiment confronting Khedive Tewfix in September 1881. All soldiers wear blue double-breasted uniforms and white belts. The second painting is of the battle of Tel el Kebir in 1882 and shows white uniforms and black belts. The final painting is of the campaign in the Sudan; again the Egyptian troops wear the white uniform. Lieutenant-Commander Casper F. Goodrich, a late 19th Century American naval observer in Egypt, in his Report on the British Naval and Military Operations in Egypt, 1882 reported the Egyptians wore white or blue uniforms (p.335). (He notes further these were more conspicuous than the British red in the desert fighting.) The museum's displays do not support the popular notion of khaki attributed to uniforms of this period. In general it exhibits the Egyptian soldier in a simple white uniform. If the khaki uniform was worn during the British period of 1882- 1899, either few examples remain, or they are not displayed for their reflection of British control, a barely understandable reason. SOLDIERS OF THE KHEDIVE ISMAIL (1863-1879) The Khedive Ismail preceded the better known Khedive Tewfik. The period between Ismail's loss of power, at the instigation of the British and the French in 1879, and Ahmed Orabi's army revolt in 1882 was probably too short a time to result in significant uniform changes. Consequently, these uniforms were worn during the period of British intervention of 1882. Subsequent photographs suggest these uniforms were worn much later. Infantry: The infantry uniform in the museum features a white single-breasted tunic with short standing collar. The six buttons are of brass. White trousers are tucked into white puttees, in turn worn over low black leather shoes. A brass buckled waist belt and a red fez with black tassel complete the uniform of the common soldier. Cavalry: The cavalry uniform matches the infantry uniform except in one detail. Simple white piping around the sleeve is placed a short distance from the cuff of the horseman's tunic. This combines with an inverted "V" piped slightly higher on the sleeve as well. Artillery: Only an officer's uniform is presented in the museum display. The coat is a long dark blue model with maroon cuffs and a short standing collar edged in gold. The gold edging at the cuff consists of piping set in three equally spaced bands. The upper and lower bands swing up toward the elbow and form a "V". The middle band is fashioned into an inverted spade shape at the point of the "V". The pants are maroon with a wide dark blue stripe. A bushy blue tassel hangs from a maroon fez. Leather accessories are black. 1882 UNIFORM The Khedive Tewfik replaced Ismail in 1879 at the urging of the British and the French. They made the move to ensure greater control of Egyptian finances. In one cost cutting move, Tewfik reduced the size of the army. This effort had a noble objective, but the Khedive executed the reduction at the expense of native Egyptian officers. Resenting the foreign Albanian and Turkish officer corps, several Egyptian colonels objected to their placement on half pay. The agitation eventually led to an army revolt headed by Colonel Ahmed Crabi. In 1882, after the Khedive fled to the British fleet, Britain intervened in Egypt to disperse Orabi's army. A photograph in the museum dated 1882 shows a solder in a fez wearing an all-white uniform with the long coatee of Ismail's period. The leather equipment includes the waist belt as well as a single belt worn over the left shoulder. 1896 UNIFORM A battalion parades in Cairo for a camera in the year of 1896. The uniform caught in this image matches that of the Khedive Ismail years, although the puttees appear slightly taller and the fezes a touch shorter. The officers of the unit stand in the front rank or sit astride their horses in dark pants. Their coatees do not show the waist belt. My inclination from examining other uniforms in the museum would be to paint the pants dark blue. LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY EGYPTIAN STANDARDS Near the Moquattam hills overlooking the minarets of Cairo presides the El Gabal Citadel of Sultan Saladin El Ayyubi. Behind these medieval walls, Mohammed Ali Pasha's El Haramik palace sprawls and today houses the Egyptian Military Museum. Scattered in the corridors and halls rest several Egyptian standards of the late Nineteenth Century. Having lived in Egypt for over two years, I acquired a limited facility with colloquial Arabic and a lesser knowledge of the written word. I managed visits to the museum during my stay, the last in May of 1986. During this final visit I took my most detailed notes of the standards exhibited in the museum. The standards have labels in both English and Arabic, the English captions literally translating from the Arabic. The dating of the standards ranges from 1897 to 1899 with a handful dated from the Khedive Abbas the Second period (1892-1914). The British deposed this ruler in 1914 for taking a pro-Turkish stance. The central device of crescent and one star on the displayed examples failed to surprise me when studying the standards of 1897 to 1899. Yet all the Khedive Abbas the Second standards carry three stars, as well as two labelled 1897 and one labelled 1898. Upon noticing this variation, I became curious as to the proper labelling of the standards. The officers at the museum could not offer an explanation. Unfortunately, additional research into the format of the national flag yielded little satisfaction. The national flag during 1867-1879 contained three crescents, each with a star. The Egyptians considered their nation to consist of three parts: Lower Egypt, Upper Egypt, and Sudan, each represented by a crescent. The Egyptians used a five-pointed star in contrast to the Turkish six- pointed star. It is not until 1923 when Egypt obtained its own constitution that a single crescent with three stars was adopted for the national flag. Let us consider the history of the Egyptian army during this time. The unfortunate Khedive Tewfiq suffered the agitation of the Egyptian Army in late 1881 and early 1882. Colonel Ahmed Orabi, the proponent of an Egyptian officer coup, orchestrated many of the events in this period. When the British intervened and occupied Egypt in 1882, they restored Tewfiq. At that time, the Egyptian Army was purged of ringleaders but otherwise was not significantly changed. Later after the failure of the Khedive's forces in the First Sudan War, the Egyptian Army was withdrawn from the Sudan in 1884. In 1885 the British undertook to train and officer the Egyptian Army to boost its effectiveness. The Egyptians defended their frontier with Sudan from 1886 to 1896, during which period Abbas the Second became the Khedive. The British launched the Dongola Campaign of 1896 with the retrained Egyptian Army and commenced the reconquest of the Sudan. A series of treaties between Egypt and England arose after the Battle of Omdurman and the subsequent subjugation of the Sudan. Signed in 1899, the treaties established mutual rule by England and Egypt over the Sudan, effectively reducing the Egyptian role. Considering these diverse historical events and their impacts, I believe the standards labelled for Abbas the Second were those used before 1899. Units began to apply battle honors from the previous campaigns around the time the treaties with England became effective. At that point, the star representing the Sudan could not remain without offending the English. Instead one star was employed to represent a united Egypt rather than the graphically distinctive use of two stars for Upper and Lower Egypt. This explanation has circumstantial support when examining the texture of the material, its weave and the color of the various components applied to the standards. For everyone's consideration I present both types of standards chronologically according to the above proposition as to their period and with the museum's dates. All standards measure approximately thirty inches and appear square. PRE-1899 STANDARDS A medium green material forms the field of these standards. The ribbons name the unit without the use of a written numeral. Ninth Battalion: (dated by the museum from Abbas the Second) Silver crescent and stars edged in red. Red ribbons with gold-yellow trim and inscription. Fringe pattern of red/grey/grey fringe threads repeated. Tenth Battalion: (dated Abbas the Second) Silver crescent and stars without trim. Red ribbon with gold-yellow trim and inscription. Fringe pattern of silver/red/red fringe threads repeated. Eleventh Battalion: (dated 1898) Olive rather than green standard with beige/grey trim. No ribbon but a battalion scroll above the crescent and a battle honor below the crescent; for scroll pattern, see post-1 899 standards below. Third Battalion Infantry Guns: (dated 1897) Gold crescent and stars without trim. Red ribbon with gold trim and inscription. Five battle honors on the fly and five battle honors on the hoist of the standard of the post- 1899 pattern; see below. Gold fringe. Twentieth Battalion Infantry Guns: (dated 1897) Dark green crescent and starswith red trim. Red fibbons with gold-yellow trim and inscription; gold fringe. Artillery Battalion: (dated Abbas the Second) Blue-green rather than green field with gold fringe. Crescent and stars are gold with red edging. Ribbon is red without trim. POST-1899 STANDARDS The field of all the post-1899 standards is olive green, and all standards have gold fringe except as noted above. The crescent and star are are green with maroon edging. All battalion numbers are in scrolls above the crescent. Battle honors were contained in similar scrolls. All scrolls are separately appliqued in red cloth trimmed yellow. The Arabic script is yellow. The unit is given by using a numeral; see example of the Fourth Battalion and Table of Equivalents. Fourth Battalion: (dated 1897 by the museum) Five battle honors on the fly, five on the hoist and one below the crescent; see example. Fifth Battalion: (dated 1897) One battle honor on the fly and one honor on the hoist, centered on the star. Sixth Battalion: (dated 1897) Olive green fringe instead of gold. One battle honor below the crescent and one each on the fly and the hoist. The regimental scroll is trimmed but it contains no designation. The star appears grey. Seventh Battalion: (dated 1899) Three battle honors on the fly and three honors on the hoist. Ninth Battalion: (dated 1897) No battle honors. Tenth Battalion: (dated 1897) Placement of battle honors as for the Sixth Battalion. Crescent and star color is grey-green, edged in red. Back to Table of Contents -- Courier Vol. IX No. 6 Back to Courier List of Issues Back to Master Magazine List © Copyright 1991 by The Courier Publishing Company. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com