opposition to european interference in egypt's affairs resulted in the emergence of a nationalist movement that coalesced and spread after the british military intervention and occupation of 1882. the immediate causes of what is known to egyptians as the 1919 revolution, however, were british actions during world war i that caused widespread hardship and resentment. specifically, these included britain's purchase of cotton and requisitioning of fodder at below market prices, britain's forcible recruitment of about 500,000 peasants into the egyptian labour corps and the egyptian camel transport corps in the egyptian expeditionary force, and its use of the country as a base and a garrison populated by british, australian, and other troops. after the war, egypt felt the adverse effects of soaring prices and unemployment.