Muhammad Ali Pasha

**Muhammad Ali Pasha**, also known as **Muhammad Ali of Egypt** (,  , ; ; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was an Albanian. He became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan.

Though not a modern nationalist, he was the founder of modern Egypt because of the dramatic reforms he made to the army, economy, and culture of Egypt. He also ruled some Levantine territories outside Egypt. The dynasty he established ruled Egypt and Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Muhammad or Mehmet Ali, most probably a Kurd or from Albanian origin, was born in the Ottoman Empire, in Kavala, a city in the area which currently is the Greek province of Macedonia. His ancestors migrated from a village of İliç in Eastern Turkey. He led a group of Albanian troops sent to Egypt. They were part of an Ottoman force that reoccupied Egypt after Napoleon's French troops left. The Ottomans had ruled Egypt by a Wali (Governor) with Mamluk troops. The Mamluks were former slaves that had become a military force with an economic power in Egypt.

The French Capitulation of Alexandria left a power vacuum in the Ottoman province. Mamluk power had been weakened, but not destroyed, and Ottoman forces clashed with the Mamluks for power. During this period of anarchy Muhammad Ali used his loyal Albanian troops to play both sides, gaining power and prestige for himself.

## Reforming Egypt 
Muhammad Ali’s goal was to establish a powerful, European-style state. He sent promising men to Europe to study. Students were sent to study European languages, primarily French, so they could translate military manuals into Arabic. He then used both educated Egyptians and imported European experts to establish schools and hospitals in Egypt.  European education also provided talented Egyptians with social mobility. Bright boys from poor families could work their way up, and become successful.

A byproduct of Muhammad Ali’s training program was the establishment of a Civil Service. Establishing an efficient central bureaucracy was needed for Muhammad Ali’s other reforms. In the process of destroying the Mamluks, the Wāli had to fill the posts that the Mamluks had previously filled. He divided Egypt into ten provinces, each leader responsible for collecting taxes and maintaining order. Muhammad Ali installed his sons in most key positions; however, his reforms did offer Egyptians opportunities beyond agriculture and industry.

## Military campaigns 
At the start, Muhammad Ali waged war on behalf of the Ottoman Sultan, Mahmud II, in Arabia and Greece.  Later, he came into open conflict with the Ottoman Empire.

His first military campaign was an expedition into the Arabian Peninsula. The holy cities of Mecca, and Medina had been captured by the House of Saud, who practiced a form of Islam called Wahhabism. Armed with their new religious zeal, Muhammad ibn Saud began conquering parts of Arabia.

With the main Ottoman army busy in Europe, Mahmud II turned to Muhammad Ali to recapture the Arabian territories. Muhammad Ali in turn appointed his son, Tosun Pasha, to lead a military expedition in 1811.  The campaign was turned back in Arabia; however, a second attack was launched in 1812 that recaptured Hejaz.p43-44 After a two-year campaign, the Saudis were crushed and most of the Saudi family was captured. The family leader, Abdullah ibn Saud, was sent to Istanbul, and executed.

The terms of the peace were that Muhammad Ali would withdraw his forces from Anatolia and receive the territories of Crete and the Hejaz as compensation.  Ibrahim Pasha would be appointed Wāli of Syria.  The peace agreement fell short, however, of granting Muhammad Ali an independent kingdom for himself, leaving him wanting.p122

## Notes 

## References 
### Sources 
* Ahmed, Jamal Mohammed. *The Intellectual Origins of Egyptian Nationalism*. New York: Oxford University Press, 1960.
* Berger, Morroe. *Military Elite and Social Change: Egypt Since Napoleon*. Princeton, New Jersey: Center for International Studies: Woodrow Wilson School for Public and International Affairs, 1960.
* Beška, Emanuel *Muhammad Ali´s Conquest of Sudan (1820-1824)*. Asian and African Studies, 2019, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp.&nbsp;30–56. https://www.academia.edu/39235604
* Bowring, John. Report on Egypt 1823-1838. Projectis Publishing, London. 1840 (reprint 2021) http://projectispublishing.com
* Dodwell, Henry. ''The founder of modern Egypt: A study of Muhammad'Ali* (1931) online. 
* Fahmy, Khaled. 1997. *All The Pasha's Men: Mehmed Ali, his army and the making of modern Egypt.'' New York: American University in Cairo Press. .
* Fahmy, Khaled. 1998. "The era of Muhammad 'Ali Pasha, 1805–1848" in *The Cambridge History of Egypt: Modern Egypt, from 1517 to the end of the twentieth century.* in M.W. Daly, ed. pp.&nbsp;139–179, Vol. 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.  online
* Goldschmidt, Arthur, Jr. *Modern Egypt: The Formation of a Nation-State*. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1988.
* Hill, Richard. *Egypt in the Sudan 1820–1881*. London: Oxford University Press, 1959.
* Hourani, Albert. 2002. *A History of the Arab Peoples.* London: Faber and Faber. 
*al-Jabarti, Abd al-Rahman. 1994. '' 'Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti's History of Egypt.* 4 vols. T. Philipp and M. Perlmann, translators. Stuttgart: Franz Steiner Verlag. 
*Jarvis, H. Wood. *Pharaoh to Farouk*. London: John Murray Limited, 1956.
* Lacouture, Jean and Simonne Lacouture. *Egypt in Transition*. Translated by Francis Scarfe. New York: Criterion Books, 1958.
* Marlowe, John. *A History of Modern Egypt and Anglo-Egyptian Relations 1800–1953*. New York: Praeger, 1954.
* Marsot, Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid. *Egypt in the Reign of Muhammad Ali*. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984.
* Pollard, Lisa. *Nurturing the Nation: The Family Politics of Modernizing, Colonizing, and Liberating Egypt, 1805–1923*. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2005.
* Rivlin, Helen Anne B. *The Agricultural Policy of Muhammad ‘Alī in Egypt*. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1961.
* Vatikiotis, P.J. 1991. *The History of Modern Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak.* Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. . online free to borrow
* Finkel, Caroline, *Osman's Dream'', (Basic Books, 2005), 57; "Istanbul was only adopted as the city's official name in 1930..".

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## Further reading 
* Aharoni, Reuven. ''The Pasha's Bedouin: tribes and state in the Egypt of Mehemet Ali, 1805–1848* (Routledge, 2014)
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* Fahmy, K.Fahmy, Khaled. *All the Pasha's men: Mehmed Ali, his army and the making of modern Egypt'' (Cambridge University Press, 1997)
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* Kelly, J. B. "Mehemet ‘Ali's expedition to the Persian Gulf 1837–1840, part I." *Middle Eastern Studies* (1965) 1#4 pp: 350–381.
* Panza, Laura, and J. G. Williamson. "Did Muhammad Ali foster industrialization in early nineteenth‐century Egypt?." *The Economic History Review* (2014). online
* Sayyid-Marsot, A.L., 1984, *Egypt in the reign of Muhammad Ali* (Cambridge University Press)
* Silvera, Alain. "Edme‐Framçois Jomard and Egyptian reforms in 1839." *Middle Eastern Studies* (1971) 7#3 pp: 301–316.
* Stewart, Desmond. "Mohammed Ali: Pasha of Egypt" *History Today* (May 1958) 8#5 pp 321-327.
* Toledano, E.R. (1985) "Mehmet Ali Paşa or Muhammad Ali Basha? A historiographic appraisal in the wake of a recent book." *Middle Eastern Studies* 21#4 pp: 141–159.
* Ufford, Letitia W. *The Pasha: How Mehemet Ali Defied the West, 1839–1841* (McFarland, 2007)

## Other websites 
* Al Ahram special on Muhammad Ali
* *Biographic Sketch of Mohammad Ali, Pacha of Egypt, Syria, and Arabia*