Mapping Egyptian Peasants WWII
Narrative illustrated art
After the Ottoman Empire fell behind. Egypt became under the rule of the British. The occupying power used its authority to include Egyptian men on the battlefield for its side. The call was out since Egypt became part of the British rule and should stand by Britain in the war as a form of duty towards the authority. The recruitment of the peasants was made in cities covering Egypt from Alexandria to Aswan. Many peasants joined, however many were forced by power under the corvée system. The recruitment called peasants to join, aged from 20-35. The total of 327,199 exported labourers were shipped in steamship to Europe and on train tracks to Palestine. Labours were divided into two categories, ELC (Egyptian labours corps) and CLC (Camel labours corps). The ELC group were handling the heavy-duty work as digging the ground for water in the desert, building Railtrack for shipping and movements, etc. The CLC were a group with well knowledge of camels, which were used to transfer things between army camps and locations.
Labourers were distributed among distribution points and camps for preparations before moving to the port for shipment. In total Egypt sacrificed 1,200,000 men during the war
The maps narrate the recruitment of the peasants who died in the battlefield and were treated poorly in the interest of the occupying power. The treatment of the peasants echoed and became one of the reasons for the 1919 revolution. Many Egyptian men lost their lives either in battlefield fighting or from the horrible conditions they faced in serving the army in Europe. Unfortunately, the Egyptian men did not get their deserved honour ceremony, regardless that Egypt has up to 11 commonwealth cemeteries only for the first world war.
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