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home>About Egypt > Egyptian History: Mohammed Ali - Egypt's 'False Start'

Egyptian History: Mohammed Ali -Egypt's 'False Start'

The reign of Mohammed Ali is often referred to as Egypt's 'false start'. Alongside Saladin he is one of the most revered characters in the Middle East - during his reign in the mid nineteenth century Egypt became a powerful nation state.

In 1799 Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt. When he was forced to withdraw after a few years by the British (who also soon withdrew), a power vacuum opened up. Regional emirs tried to reassert themselves, as did the Ottoman sultan, under whose jurisdiction Egypt lay.

Out of this chaos a new leader, Mohammed Ali, emerged. First he took on the power of the emirs. With typical brutality, he invited them to a reception at the Cairo citadel. Once the guests had all been seated, hired assassins appeared from behind the drapes and massacred them. One escaped to his horse but was forced to the upper levels of the citadel, from where he eventually leapt to his death.

Ali had an ambition for a powerful state, which would be independent (although nominally under Ottoman control). Egypt is good for creating a centralised state - anyone who can control the Nile can control the whole country. Ali first concentrated on agriculture: one million new acres were brought under cultivation. He established factories and taxes to protect the home industry from imports. He also founded schools and a system of public health.

Ali's flourishing economy was designed for one thing: to finance an independent and powerful army. At its height in the 1830s, Egypt's army was the most formidable in the Middle East - nearly a quarter of a million men under arms. Indeed, so powerful was Egypt's army that the Sultan himself petitioned Ali to assist in Ottoman causes.

Yet it was Ali's military power that led to his downfall. European powers were accustomed to a weak and pliable Ottoman regime in the area - Ali's army was far superior. To contain this new threat in the region, British and French fleets sailed to the Mediterranean and blew the Egyptian fleets out of the water.

Mohammed Ali didn't give up. He sent his armies overland to capture Syria, then into Turkey, before threatening Istanbul itself. The sultan appealed to the European powers, who mediated. Ali eventually accepted Syria as an Egyptian protectorate.

Ali's problem was that Britain preferred a weakened Ottoman empire to a new, dynamic one. Britain's interest was not yet imperial but commercial. When, in 1838 the British signed a treaty allowing British companies to trade for negligible taxes, Ali rebelled and declared independence for his territories.

The sultan declared war. The Ottoman forces, however, were quickly defeated; the Ottoman navy sailed as one to Alexandria and defected.

Palmerston set about organizing the five powers of Europe against Ali, getting a joint declaration obliging Ali to remove his forces from the Syria and to restore the Turkish fleet. When he refused, the British bombarded Beirut, before sailing on to Alexandria. Ali realized he had been beaten by diplomacy: with the powers united, he could not fight on alone. Under the terms of the ceasefire, he was obliged to reduce his army to 18,000 men. He died a few years later.

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