Mohammed Ali

Mehemet Ali, viceroy of Egypt

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali often written (in Arabic : (Muhammad Ali)) ^, . It is generally considered the founder of modern Egypt ^, .

Kavala.

Muhammad Ali was born in Kavala in present Greece (then Ottoman Empire ) Albanian parents. According to many French, English and other Western journalists who met him, the only language he knew was Albanian and to a lesser extent Turkish. He was the son of a tobacco merchant named Ibrahim Agha and his wife Zainab. Muhammad Ali was the nephew of "Ayan Kavala" ( Crow ) Husain Agha. When he lost his father during his childhood, Muhammad Ali was raised by his uncle and cousins. As a reward for his hard work, his uncle gave him the rank of " bolukbashi "so he can collect taxes in his town of Kavala. It acquitted this task successfully and rose to the rank of second in command under the orders of his cousin Sarachesme Halil Agha in the contingent of volunteers who were sent Kavala to reoccupy Egypt after the withdrawal of Napoleon. He married the daughter of Ali Agha, Emine Nosratli, a rich widow of Ali Bey. The expedition arrived at Aboukir in spring 1801.

Mamluk jumper.

The French withdrawal had left the Ottoman province without a leader. The power of the Mamluks had not been much weakened annihilated, and the Ottoman forces were in conflict with them in the race for power. During this period of anarchy, Muhammad Ali used his Albanian troops on two fronts, first to conquer the power and the second for his personal prestige. In 1805, the people wearied by incessant wars and infighting protested his anger, led by the ulema, a group of prominent Egyptians demanded that the Wali (governor), Ahmad Kurshid Pasha resigns and leaves the power to Mehemet Ali.

The Ottoman Sultan Selim III , not being able to oppose the rise of Muhammad Ali, consolidated the position of the latter. During the fighting between the Mamelukes and the Ottomans between 1801 and 1805, Muhammad Ali made sure never to lose the popular support that led him there. By positioning itself as the protector of the people, Muhammad Ali had managed to contain the popular opposition to the consolidation of his power.

Despite their defeats, the Mamluks, who had controlled Egypt for more than 600 years and had extended their rule over all Egypt, threatening the power of Mehemet Ali and planned to end his assassination. Thus in 1811, he invited the leaders Mamelukes to a feast in the Citadel of Cairo in honor of his son Tousoun , to be named in a expedition to Arabia. During the meal the Mamelukes were imprisoned and murdered, leaving the governance Mehemet Ali of Egypt.

Later Muhammad Ali transformed Egypt into a regional power which he saw as the natural successor of the Ottoman Empire. This decaying because of the power thus taken by the Janissaries that hindered any idea of reform, sometimes dictating orders to the Sultan up to the assassination of leaders who do not submit to their will (4 sultans were killed by the Janissaries in less than two centuries). Muhammad Ali summarized his vision of Egypt as follows:

"I am well aware that the Ottoman Empire going every day to its destruction ... On its ruins, I found a vast kingdom ... to the Euphrates and Tigris."

Reform in Egypt

The mosque of Muhammad Ali (1830-1848), the citadel that dominates the city of Cairo.

The viceroy, introduced sweeping reforms in Egypt: he established an army of conscription -based peasants in Egypt, which he used to push the frontiers of Egypt. He engaged in important infrastructure such as roads and canals by mobilizing more than 300 000 farmers, men, women, children, torn from their homes and the cost of many lives taken by disease, deprivation and abuse. It also envisaged the construction of a railway from Cairo to Suez and the digging of a canal linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, two projects that will not have time to make but which will be completed by his successors. He made the country one of the world's leading producers of cotton. He also distinguished himself with social reform and the establishment of schools modern. Modernization efforts have often required the assistance of France.

Autonomy

He remained officially during his reign a vassal of the Sultan Ottoman, but in reality did not hesitate to pursue an independent policy. He suppressed on behalf of it a revolt of Wahhabis in Arabia , from 1811 to 1818, then came to his aid in the Greek War of Independence between 1824 and 1828 in exchange for various jurisdictions and this last operation caused the destruction its fleet in the Battle of Navarino.

He fell out with the Sultan and went to war against him in 1831. Edited by his son Ibrahim Pasha , the armies of Muhammad Ali took over the Palestine and Syria , and came up a few days' march from Constantinople. On 21 December 1832, an Egyptian army of 15,000 men defeated the Turkish army of 100,000 men during the Battle of Konya. A Franco-British diplomatic intervention led to a negotiated solution in 1833 , leaving control of Syria and Palestine to Egypt.

In 1839 , Sultan Mahmud II, continued the war, but suffered a decisive defeat at the hands of Ibrahim Nizib June 24, 1839. He died shortly afterwards and Egyptian armies again approached dangerously Constantinople. It took a European intervention to repel them. In 1841 , Muhammad Ali and Ibrahim had to cede control of Syria.

Muhammad Ali was deposed in July 1848 under the guise of mental incapacity. He abdicated on September ¹ , and died in August 1849. Two of his son, Ibrahim and Abbas , succeeded him but were forced to agree to share power with the British Empire.

Progeny

He had at least four three son succeeded him as head of Egypt:

• Toussoun (1794-1816)
• Ibrahim (1789-1848)
• Abbas (1813-1854)
• Mohammed Said Pasha Said (1822-1863)

Bibliography

• Guy Fargette, Mehemet Ali the founder of modern Egypt, Editions L'Harmattan, Paris, 1996, 231 p. ( ISBN 978-2-7384-4064-8 ).
• Sinou Gilbert , The Last Pharaoh: Muhammad Ali, 1770-1849 (with a presentation by Christiane Desroches Noblecourt ):
  • First edition: Editions Pygmalion, Paris, 1997, 507 p. ( ISBN 978-2-85704-517-5 );
  • Reissue: Editions Pygmalion, Paris, 2009, 504 p. ( ISBN 978-2-7564-0303-8 ).
• Caroline Gaultier-Kurhan, Muhammad Ali and France: Napoleon's unique history of the Orient, Editions Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris, 2005, 267 p. ( ISBN 978-2-7068-1910-0 ).
• Prince Ibrahim Osman, Caroline (Gaultier-Kurhan) Kurhan and Ali, Mohammed Ali the Great: intimate memories of a dynasty, Editions Maisonneuve & Larose, Paris, 2005, 127 p. ( ISBN 2-7068-1858-1 ).
• Online illustrated ^No. 2, dated Saturday, May 29, 1858.

Notes

See also

External Links

• Life of Muhammad Ali on the site Memo.fr

• Portal History
• Portal of the Ottoman Empire
• Egypt portal

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