Anglo-Egyptian treaty of 1936

The Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of 1936 (officially, The Treaty of Alliance Between His Majesty, in Respect of the United Kingdom, and His Majesty, the King of Egypt) was a treaty signed between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Egypt. Under the terms of the treaty, the United Kingdom was required to withdraw all its troops from Egypt, except those necessary to protect the Suez Canal and its surroundings, numbering 10,000 troops plus auxiliary personnel. Additionally, the United Kingdom would supply and train Egypt's army and assist in its defence in case of war. The treaty was to last for 20 years; it was negotiated in the Zaafarana palace, signed in London on 26 August 1936 and ratified on 22 December. It was registered in the League of Nations Treaty Series on 6 January 1937. In November 1918, seven prominent Egyptians from the landed gentry and the legal profession, including Sa'd Zaghlul, formed a delegation, or wafd, whose chief goal was the complete independence of Egypt from British rule. But when the wafd asked the British High Commissioner in Egypt if they could represent the country at the 1919 Paris Peace Conference, he refused. As a result, the delegation organisers took their message of independence to the people of Egypt and this led to the founding of one of the most popular political parties in modern Egyptian history. Wafdist leaders thought that the ideas of independence and constitutional government were closely related and they had someone to model themselves after - the British. In 1923, a constitution was proclaimed, and in January 1924 the first elections were held to decide who would be a part of the new parliament. Many European-educated Egyptians believed that the mere existence of a constitution and a parliament would legitimise Egyptian claims for complete independence. But Egyptian democratic independence ran into many obstacles; the nature of the constitution gave many powers to the king, including the power to dissolve parliament.