On Philip Abrams and a Multi-Faceted “Historical Event”: The Urabi Movement (1879-1882) in Egypt

This article explores the Urabi Revolt (1879-1882) in Egypt as a unique historical event from Philip Abrams’ theoretical perspective. Abrams argues that the extent of the complexity and uniqueness of a historical event can be assessed based on the conjunction of various elements and aspects the event embodies. The Urabi movement represents a “puzzle of the complex factors”, to use Abrams’ terminology, which impacts a large-scale social transformation – the transition of Egypt from a Middle Eastern monarchy to a modern nation-state. Departing from this point of view, in the article, I argue that the Urabi movement was a convergence of a range of loosely related developments over the course of a historical event. Hence the question here is not about choosing a single development among a variety of them and focusing on it to explain the whole process, but about capturing how each development shaped the course and character of the event and to what degree