On 30 May 1801, General Belliard of the French Empire was forcibly removed from Cairo by a joint Anglo-Ottoman force. A month later, on 30 August, General Baron de Menou was also removed under similar conditions, ending the two-year rule of the French in Egypt. The absence of a stable government led to troubles throughout the country owing to the usurpation of the centuries-old Mamlukean government. Multiple Ottoman Pashas tried to claim the land of Egypt for themselves, but by 1805, one man emerged. Having been placed in command of the Albanian forces, Muhammad Ali Pasha allied himself with the remaining Mamluks and proved his dominance in Egypt when the Ottoman Sultan declared him Governor. For the next 43 years, Ali Pasha would industrialise Egypt from a medieval country into a powerful nation with ruthless efficiency. He revolutionised the army, and education system and transformed its cotton industry into a defining factor of the economy. Militarily, Egypt would rival its overlord the Ottoman Empire, defeating it on multiple occasions. By the end of his reign, the sultan granted Ali and his dynasty the title King of Egypt, which would continue until the end of Farouk I’s reign in 1952.
Ali was born in Kavala, in modern-day Greece, on 4 March 1769. Upon the death of his parents, Ali was taken in by the Chorbaji, the local governor. It was here that he first made a name for himself as a tobacco merchant, which would no doubt influence his later successes in economic and agricultural policies. When the Ottoman government, the Sublime Porte, was recruiting soldiers to repel the French invasion of Egypt, Ali joined an Albanian mercenary company and he earned himself the rank of Second Commander in 1799. Ali would return to Egypt in 1801 as part of a larger Anglo-Ottoman operation that would successfully expel the French presence from the region. It was here that Ali began to cement his hold over Egypt. In that same year, he allied himself with the Mamluks, the slave soldiers who had ruled Egypt since the mid-13th century, and who had controlled a significant percentage of the land throughout the Ottoman Empire before the French had usurped them. However, at this point, the country was overrun with corruption, lawlessness and foreign interference. The power vacuum left by the French had turned into a battleground between competing Pashas and the Mamluks. Ali used this to his advantage, and with his disciplined Albanian soldiers, he proved himself worthy to both competing factions.
It would be on 17 May 1805 that Ali made his move. Prominent Egyptian scholars, the ulema, petitioned the Porte for the current Wali’s (governor’s) removal. Eleven days later, Istanbul replied. Ali was proclaimed Wali of Egypt but, at that time, he ruled in name only. Outside Cairo, Ali’s authority was disputed by Mamluks and other competing Ottoman governors, not least the foreign powers who wished to take over the weakened Egypt. The British made the first move. In March of 1807, a fleet under General Frazer was welcomed into Alexandria and marched to Rosetta, hoping to claim Egypt as a worthy prize for the crown. Ali successfully defeated the invading force, having marched from Upper Egypt to meet the army. This victory had profound effects on Ali’s control of the nation as the Beys relaxed their demands for autonomy. However, the Mamluks still proved to be a thorn in his side. They posed a threat to Ali’s rule and his legitimacy – a potential uprising against him appeared likely. Thus, Ali devised a plan to ensure this could never take place. In 1811, he invited the main Mamluk leaders to Cairo for a celebration of his son, Tusun. When they arrived, Ali revealed his true intentions. Enclosed in the great citadel, Egyptian soldiers opened fire on the defenceless Mamluks, massacring them. The Mamluks, the most powerful faction in Egypt for centuries, had been destroyed, and Ali swiftly filled the gaps with family and close advisors, securing direct control over the region.
Now Ali could begin his grand project of modernising Egypt. The Ottoman Empire, once one of the most powerful nations in the world, had failed to industrialise at similar levels to its competing major powers, such as Britain, France and Austria, and Egypt was no exception. Even in the early 1800s, it was still very much a feudal society. Ali knew that if he wanted to protect his nation and compete with Britain, France and the Ottomans, reforms were necessary to help industrialise. To do this, he required significant funds. To gain a steady income, he deliberately raised the taxes on tax farms, the main source of income for the Mamluks. When the tax farmers were unable to pay, Ali confiscated their properties and goods so that the state could take direct control. In practice, this ensured that the Egyptian government had a monopoly on Egyptian goods, which they could sell back to the populace or export. He also taxed buildings and institutions that had been gifted to the church under Islamic law. The new revenue funded his new military as well as reducing the power base and influence of his political enemies. Ali created large irrigation systems to improve agriculture and, with the conquest of Sudan in 1822, another grand plan began. To gain more money, a larger income was needed, and cotton would become Egypt’s ‘cash crop’. With seeds from recently conquered Sudan and the improved irrigation network, Egypt swiftly became the 5th largest cotton producer worldwide. While profits were going towards improving the army, the average wage quadrupled. With both the economy and standard of life increasing dramatically within the country, these economic reforms provided Ali with swift and effective methods for the modernisation of Egypt.
Yet Ali’s main concern was of his military, as he believed that Egypt did not have an army that would be able to compete with any of the major powers of the time. He wished to transform this through the creation of the Nizdm-i-Jedi, a modern Egyptian army. To achieve this, he would send students, firstly of Turkish and Armenian origin but later Egyptian, abroad to top universities in Europe to study languages, allowing them to translate military manuals into Arabic so that he would be able to copy their militaries to reform his own. The latest military equipment would also be necessary for Ali’s grand army; therefore, arms manufactories were built in Alexandria and Cairo to supply Ali with cannons, muskets and munitions. Recognising the need for external training to bring his army up to standard, Ali invited multiple French officers to further train his army in the field of modern military tactics. Examples include a certain Colonel Rey, who upon arriving in 1825, improved the quality of Egyptian artillery and gunpowder. General Boyer was also invited in 1825 and had similar successes. He transformed the main army camp and, in around a year, trained three regiments and organised the bureaucracy into “some sort of order”. The cavalry arm of the Egyptian military would also be reformed but later, in 1829. Another French officer, Captain Paulin de Tarle, was brought in to train Bedouin recruits to equal the French cavalry. The following year, seven regiments were ready, and they proved instrumental in the control of Syria.
Ali later invited Antoine Clot, a French doctor who had taught local Egyptians during the French occupation, to found a school of medicine for the Army in 1827. Clot persuaded Ali that the easiest way to keep soldiers healthy was to keep the rest of the population healthy. Since under Islamic Law male doctors can’t treat women, Clot advocated for a school of medicine for women. In 1832, his wish was granted. However, due to stern Egyptian views on education for women, slave girls were bought as an alternative and enrolled in the school to become hakimas (nurses). These nurses were trained as midwives, to give vaccinations and conduct autopsies on female corpses. These transformations revolutionised Egypt; the people now had access to better health care and the army was trained up to continental standards, protecting Ali’s popular and military support.
These investments in the army paid off. A Pasha in Syria had protected 6,000 Egyptians who had escaped the draft and Ali used this as a pretext to invade Palestine and Syria in October 1931. Ali also needed the Syrian wood for his naval dockyards and control on tobacco to ensure as little income was lost throughout his nation. Ali began the campaign by occupying the coastal towns, just like the French had in 1799. While the latter had trouble sieging Acre with its new walls, the city fell after a six-month siege during Ali’s campaign. Damascus was also swiftly captured in June 1832. Throughout this, the Sultan, fearing a threat to his legitimacy, summoned an army of 30,000 to prevent Ali from expanding his territory. Due to the effort and expenses that Ali had spent on his new modern army, the Ottoman military posed little threat. The Grand Vizier himself was captured during a battle near Konia, modern-day Turkey, due to the prowess of the Egyptian forces. Ali could have made a claim to the Sultanate but commanded his armies to halt a mere 150 miles from Constantinople. He feared a coalition from the major powers if he upset the balance of power in Europe by destabilising the Ottomans. Thus, instead of seizing Turkish lands for himself, he negotiated a treaty with the Sultan and secured control over Syria and Palestine. This war had displayed to not only the Ottomans but also the world stage that Egypt was not the nation it had been 20 years ago and was a force to be reckoned with, both economically and militarily.
These successes managed to bring Egypt out of the past and transform it into a major power in the region. Its overlord the Ottomans proved no match for the Egyptian military, further cementing Egypt’s place in the Middle East. However, disaster soon struck. In the final years of Ali’s reign, he suffered a nervous breakdown and relocated to Naples to better his health. His son, the infamous Ibrahim Pasha and Ali’s greatest general, took over in July 1848 but died of a “chest complaint” two months later. Ali’s grandson, Abbas Hilmi, was appointed to Wali, but was much less experienced in statecraft and did not continue his grandfather’s great transformation of Egypt. Fearing the grief would kill him, Ali was not informed of his son’s death and died himself in August 1849. Ali’s 43-year-long reign revolutionised Egypt for the better and his policies ensured that Egypt would continue to be a power in the region – his dynasty would continue to rule Egypt for the next 100 years. Thus, he is remembered to this day as the Father of Modern Egypt.
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