Nile Dream

'''After having secured the country from the Mamluks and the Ottoman forces, Mohammed Ali  did not stay idle. A large number of modernization occurred during this time with primarily, the establishment of a European style army whose men were conscripts. There is much to say about Mohammed Ali ’s reforms but we will get there. This will principally deal with the political and diplomatic situation prior to 1821.'''

The Egyptian Wahhabi War (1811-1818)

'''The wahhabists are a movement which interpret Islam in a fundamental way. This movement found support in the house of Saud, emirs from Nejd. During the 18th century, the Sauds, from their stronghold of Diriyah began to consolidate their rule throughout the peninsula. By 1808, they controlled Nejd, parts of the Trucial States and even Hejaz and with it, the Holy Cities.'''

'''However, their rule was not seen positively by all. They received the enmity of many Muslims after desecrating tombs from the time of the Prophet in Mecca, which they saw as a form of polytheism. And most, they began to condemn the Ottoman caliphate, attacking their caravans, disrupting trade in the region and challenged their claims of defender of the Holy Cities, cities they controlled. That was more than enough for the Ottomans, who were forced to react. And to end the problem, they decided to rely on Mohammed Ali. He was indeed nominally a vassal of the empire, and thus he had to comply to the Ottoman demands. Moreover, it would be a test for him : should he lose the campaign, his rule in Egypt would be shaken ; should he win, the Ottomans won also.'''

'''In 1811, Mohammed Ali  dispatched his new army, using artillery and European drilling. The campaign would be harsh and fierce, but soon the advantage was upon the Egyptians. The Holy Cities were retaken and the Saudis were pushed back into the desert. Infightings throughout the Hejaz continued until late 1817 when Ibrahim Pasha, the eldest son of Mohammed Ali  became the leader of the army to destroy the Saudi state. The march through the desert was exhausting but the Egyptians finally entered Diriyah in 1818 and ended the Saudi state. Diriyah was razed to the ground never to be rebuilt and the head of the house of Saud, was sent to the Porte where he was executed, his head thrown into the Bosphorus. The wahhabists faced harsh repression too, chich accentuated their extremism. The Egyptian were now in control of Hejaz and the Holy Cities in the name of the Sultan.'''

The Sudanese Campaign (1820-1824)

'''After having won in Arabia, the wali (governor in the Ottoman Empire, title of Mohammed Ali ) set his eyes south, into Sudan. Sudan was at this time a divided land, with no real political entities. The wali hoped to exploit the resources of the area, using the arable lands for cotton, outposts in the South to capture slaves along with gold and ivory. And the local potentates offered him a pretext for his ambitions : Mamluks leaders had escaped the massacre of 1811 and had fled to the petty sultanates of the region. The pasha asked they these were handed to him and upon their refusal he sent an army to occupy the region. Led by Ibrahim Pasha, the architect of victory against the Saudis, the Egyptian army moved throughout Sudan without encountering any real resistance. In 1821, they took the area of the actual city of Khartoum,the  city Ibrahim founded for his troops. However it took two more years to subdue many local tribes, and it’s only in June 1823 that Sudan really was conquered. The wali decided to integrate it into his growing state much to the displeasure of the Sudanese. Ibrahim, having liberty of action in the region also decided to profit from the Ethiopian Civil War. Divided since centuries between factions, Ethiopia entered the period of the Neguse Negast, “Age of Princes”, with various potentates claiming the throne of Gondor. One of these, the ras of Tigray had been reduced to the port of Assab on the Eritrean Coast. Ibrahim moved quickly and annexed the city, integrating it along in his conquest of Sudan.'''

'''All began in 1821, with the beginning of the Greek Rebellion. Greeks had been subdued centuries ago with the house of Osman ending the decaying Roman Empire. Soon, the Turks dominated all Greek regions. The occupation was not as harsh as some Greek historians described it but it was certainly not the best situation either. And then came the Western ideas.'''

''' The ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity along with notions of nation-state or constitutionalism entered Greece even if the Ottoman Empire never faced any occupation from the armies of the Revolution. Europeans had indeed acquired a place in Constantinople, especially military engineers, to reform the decaying Imperial Army. The artillery had been for example reformed along the ideas of the count of Toth who had created a school which formed some of the leaders of the Ottoman armies. Although these attempts were unsuccessful because of the Janissaries who refused to change the system from which they profited, the European elite of Constantinople discussed the Enlightening ideas and these spread among the Greek upper class, who held prominent places in the administration. Moreover, some Greek islands, which formed the British protectorate of the Ionian Islands, had been French departments. These ideas along the growing unrest led to formations of secret societies who prepared the insurgency. The sparkle came from Epirus The pasha of Epirus, Ali Pasha had been over the years creating slowly, his own semi-autonomous state, changing sides to enlarge his territory in the Empire. Besieged by Ottoman Armies in his fortress of Janina, he called for help the Greeks which rose along with their patriarch on the 25 March 1821. The rebellion grew in numbers and controlled important territories although their only real hold was in the Peloponnese. The sultan had now to face two rebellions in the heart of its empire. Although he was slowly winning because of his large forces, the war cost the Empire much. The small Greek fleet inflicted great damages across the Aegean, and the islands of Candia and Cyprus had both rose against the Turks. Thus, the Sultan decided to call the Wali of Egypt to help him against the insurgents. Promised both the islands of Crete and Cyprus, Mohammed Ali  sent his fleet against the Greeks forcing them to retire to their ports in the Peloponnese. After establishing his control over the islands, he sent an army led by Mehmet Pacha, one of his cousins, incompetent but loyal, in the peninsula taking, the Greek capital of Nafplion. The Greeks were divided and received no official support from the Concert of Europe, which respected the legitimity principle even if it concerned the “Sick Man of Europe”. After his successes, the Sultan gave his viceroy of Egypt what he had promised. The Rebellion was far from being over but it was now a war of attrition, in which the Sultan did not need the wali, or so he thought. This one could now concentrate on his holdings, and the strengthening of his ambitions.Since his accession to the post of wali, Mohammed Ali had begun to transform Egypt to fit his ambitions and it went by three great measures : developing the economy, institute a centralized bureaucracy and form new armies on the model of the West.'''

'''The Egyptian economy was surely in one of the worst states of its history. The recurrent plagues had decimated a great part of its population, decreasing the wheat production and leading to famines which accentuated the phenomena. Trade was controlled by European companies, who instituted throughout the Levant, a “semi-colonial” system in which the Ottoman Empire had no control over its trade apart from a few symbolic measures. In Egypt, the rule of the Mamluks had resulted in high taxation to finance the Circassian elite. The system had to be changed.'''

''' He first began with a great nationalization of the arable lands throughout the country. The peasantry had lost its land and had to give all its productions to the state, which would then sell it on the international markets. The Egyptian peasants felt bitter at first, but many grew accustomed to the system which guaranteed them a fixed salary for their work and increased the living standard of many. This great land reform was profitable to Egypt because of the introduction of cotton in Egypt. The plant had become a substantial plantation because of the Industrial Revolution and Egypt became soon with British India and the Southern United States, one of the major areas of production in the world. But instead of just relying on the sale of non-manufactured goods, the Wali created a fabric factory in Cairo to transform the home production and sell these new fabrics in foreign countries. This factory employed around 20,000 people in 1825 but due to the increasing rural exodus to Cairo, Mohammed Ali  commissioned an enlargement of the factory to employ 10,000 additional workers. It is often said that this fabric industry was the example that would lead to the development of other industries over the years. But to be able to develop such an industry, Egypt needed an efficient bureaucracy. Bureaucracy in Egypt before 1810, was minimalist, if non-existent. There was the wali appointed by Constantinople, who had to rule over the Mamluk elite but beyond that, there was no real system used for census, taxation and so on. Egypt was predominantly a feudal state where taxation was realized by tax-farmers who then gave back some money to the state. He raised taxes on the tax-farmers, to the point they had to sell back their lands to escape the system. But with the removal of the Mamluk elite, Mohammed Ali was free to create a central bureaucracy with many positions to fill. He first revised the internal divisions of the country which did not correspond to the reality of the situation. The plagues had devastated the cities, which still had however a greater influence than the countryside. He reorganized Egypt in ten provinces responsible for taxation and maintain of order. In fact, this reorganization benefited mostly his family, the wali controlling most of the powers with the key positions controlled by his sons. But the state recruited many Egyptian recruits and formed them to become agents of the state, one of their first tasks being to collect the plantations which would then be sold. Owning all the land and giving a salary to all workers, the state could efficiently collect the taxes. This new bureaucracy was still in its infancy in 1821 but it offered a new mean of social mobility in the previously closed Egyptian society. It was then the national focus of the state to develop it throughout the region of Cairo and Alexandria, the two urban centres of Egypt. The first was the political, learning and industrial centre of the country, concentrating most of the high administration, the Al-Azhar University and also the cotton fabric industries. Alexandria on the other hand, was less populous but was the Egyptian door on the Western World. It was there that was installed the French embassy, there than English, Portuguese and French companies would come to buy Egyptian goods and also the only modern arsenal of Egypt, from where was assembled a new modern fleet, the Taba. The fleet along the Military was the primarily goal of all these reforms.'''

''' The French invasion of Egypt had showed the Middle-East that Europeans were way beyond them Militarily. But not paralysed by reactionaries elements like the Janissaries who had deposed Selim III, Mohammed Ali  began an extensive but needed program of reformation of the army. Firstly, since centuries, the army of Egypt would be constituted of Egyptian soldiers. Having escaped integration of the caliphal army during the Arab Conquest, the peasantry was replaced by Nubian and Sudanese slaves which formed the backbone of the Fatimid army. Then it was the Mamluks and their cavalry. To acquire an army fit for his objectives, Mohammed Ali  relied on a conscription system that touched most of the peasantry. This was a move that induced many peasants to flee as far as Syria to escape the system, others maiming themselves to escape conscription. But in the end, it provided Mohammed Ali with thousands of recruits.'''

''' He had the numbers for his army but he also required a modern staff, initiated to the last military doctrines from the West : quantity serves nothing without quality. He could count on military experts, mostly French ones who while not very numerous had obtained their own quarter in Alexandria and Cairo, a move that angered many Egyptian who accused these Western devils to profane the land of Egypt and committing many crimes inside this special quarter. One of the most prominent of these “local” advisers was Josèphe Anthelme Sève, a French sailor who had taken part in the Napoleonic battles taking part in Trafalgar and Waterloo. Recruited by the Wali to modernize the Navy and the Artillery, he settled in Egypt where he converted to Islam and then was called Soliman Pasha al-Faransawi (Soliman Pasha the French). His help was substantial in many military affairs and he was one of the closest advisors of the Wali. While there were Western advisors in Egypt, Mohammed Ali  wanted to not depend on them too much. For that he began sending promising recruits to France where they were expected to learn the basics of Western military doctrine and French. Learning French was a prerequisite to a great deal of translation that emerged during this period and who was often compared with the great translation from Greek to Arab during the first years of the Islamic World. Helped by the establishment of the first Arabic printing press in the Bulaq quarter of Cairo, used also for publishing the official news of the government, new ideas penetrated Egypt. Mostly military at first, the texts were soon ranging from sociology to history. This movement was just at its beginning during the period we describe, most students would come back to Egypt during the 1830’s. However modernization was not seen positively by everyone in Egypt.'''

The Reaction and the Sudanese Rebellion of 1825

'''While Reforms had positive aspects overall for the Egyptian Society, there was dissent, mainly from religious authorities. The ulemas who had helped Mohammed Ali  get the post of Wali, were soon removed from any secular power, the new wali confining them to a purely religious and moral role. But it was easier said than done, and on Fridays during the Great Prayer, the most reactionary elements of the religious establishment often criticized the course of the country. In March 1823, an ulema who had been advocating to return to the ways of the Past was arrested with some of his collaborators, for siding with the Wahhabists. It provoked a period of unrest in Nubia,  and in the region of Aswan, which was however controlled by the authorities. Later in 1826, a sheikh of Al-Azhar University issued a fatwa against some of the new printed French books, accusing them of spreading lies into the minds of the faithful. Despite his position he received the same fate of the imam of Aswan and was prosecuted for supporting Wahhabism. Mohammed had slowly turned a part of the religious establishment against him, and despite all his measures, the threat of fanaticism represented by Salafists and Wahhabits spread among some of the clergy. The population was uncertain about the situation but opposed  to some of the new measures, mainly conscription and the forced work in the industry. But it was in Sudan that the situation was the tensest.'''

''' Occupation and “Integration” of the Sudan was indeed akin to a form of Egyptian colonialism. There the population faced a dire repression, high taxation, forced work to reap the riches of the countryside, mainly Ivory and Tropical Wood. Egyptian agents even captured slaves up to the Nubian mountains to serve the regime. Some tribes still refused to acknowledge the suzerainty of Egypt. To face these threats, the wali instituted a garrison in Khartoum of local soldiers, the Gihadija. It would soon come to use with the Sudanese Rebellion of 1825. Localized and small in range, the rebellion was soon taken care of by the Garrison who grew in numbers, from 6,000 soldiers at the beginning to 18,000 at the end, including an Egyptian Artillery Corps to help the local infantry. The situation was however not calm and the Garrison was ordered to attack any adversary to Egyptian rule. At the beginning of 1827, Egypt had changed. The military trained in the Western doctrine and used new smaller cannons instead of the great fixed cannons used by the Ottomans before the Toth Reforms. The infantry also faced basic training instead of being thrown into battle without any  preparations.'''

'''The offer of the Sultan was simple : help against the Greek rebels in exchange for territories in the Levant. It would offer an occasion to test the new armies against a weak opponent with a great reward in the end. So Mohammed Ali  accepted the offer, sending his son Ibrahim with the army of Egypt and the admiral Selim with the Taba. While leaving Peloponnese proper to the Sultan troops, Ibrahim decided to strike in the Aegean debarking in the Cyclades at the end of January 1827. The siege of the main bastion of the insurgents in Naxos was swift and proved the efficiency of the Egyptian Army over their “Ottoman” overlords who struggled in the Peloponnese. Deciding to end the war as soon as possible, Ibrahim patrolled the Aegean with the Taba putting down any rebellion his troops faced. But this policy led to a somewhat unexpected outcome.'''

'''On the 15th of February 1827 Ibrahim decided to put down the rebellion on Chios leading to a massacre of the local population. The war had not been merciful on civilians since the beginning of the war. The first act of the Greek insurgents was to take the fortress of Tripolis and massacre the Muslim population, the Ottomans retaliated with the hanging of the ecumenical Patriarch, and massacres of the Greek population in Constantinople itself. But the massacre of Chios was relayed throughout Europe, depicting Ibrahim Pasha as the “Muslim butcher”. This was not the only reason for the changes in the war but it helped the Philhellenists.'''

'''In 1821, the Holy Alliance had refused to help revolutionaries who revolted against their legitimate master. But over the decade, the Philhellenists circles began a campaign to help Greece, many volunteering to take part in the fights like the poet Byron who died during the war. And the new massacres turned the public opinion and eventually an international coalition formed to help the Greeks. There were many countries in the coalition, not all with the same goals. First, there was the Russian Empire, always eager to cut down to size “the Sick Man of Europe”. Then the United Kingdom who wanted to maintain the status quo in the Middle East but because of the Russian intervention decided to take part in the war. France also joined the war, motivated both by a strong Philhellenist movement and also the desire to increase its influence in the region by “protecting” the Greeks. The Portuguese who also joined, wanted to prove their prestige by taking part in the war, the Prussians and the Papal States joined to help France. Thus by July 1827, the Greek war involved France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Prussia, the Papal States and the kingdoms of Portugal-Brazil.'''

'''The situation was unexpected for Mohammed Ali. He had hoped for a small, localized war and was now entangled in an international conflict. He gave supreme power over the Taba and its army to his son, instructing him to help the Sultan but not spoil his own force for the sake of the Turks. Ibrahim relocated his army to Trebizond, a strategic port and area in the east, easy to defend because of the mountains in the area. After arriving there, he faced a Russian Corps twice, defeating them each time but taking heavy losses and unable to get proper supplies because of the decaying state of the infrastructure. And when the Russian tsar sent 39,000 men against Ibrahim, he was unbale to compete. Although the Russians took heavy losses (estimations go as far as 10,000 men were killed in one week), the Egyptian Army was wiped out. Ibrahim managed to escape the battlefield with a few of his troops and marched through the Levant to reinforce in Egypt. The Taba nonetheless managed to strike against the European contingents in the Mediterranean, managing to protect Candia and Cyprus from the Papal and Prussian Corps.'''

'''The constant naval war in the Aegean proved to Mohammed Ali  that he needed to extend the system of arsenals he had developed in Alexandria. It was indeed the only place where his ships could repair, instead of closer bases like Iraklion or Limassol. He began the construction of naval bases all over the areas he controlled, and with it he sent the order to build more ships for his fleet.'''

'''The Taba faced indeed more numerous and better equipped opponents at the sea and was unable to prevent the French Expedition from landing in the Peloponnese who managed to take all the peninsula by September. At Navarino, the combined fleet of France and Britain reduced the Ottoman Navy to shambles which made no further sorties during the war. The Egyptian Navy had managed to escape to Alexandria but most of the ships were unable to sail for the rest of the war. The war with the West proved to the Wali, that he was far from ready to dispose of them. With the loss of his French support, he had lost his source of ammunition, wood and artillery, losses his army felt harshly. During the Summer, the British advanced into Egyptian territory. From their base of Aden they were able to project their power in the Red Sea, and in August, a contingent from India landed in Eritrea. To face these 20,000 men, Mohammed Ali  sent the Army of the Levant to help the Khartoum Garrison in the fight. This one faced at the same moment a new Sudanese rebellion, which was as always easily taken down, but distracted the fight against the foreign army. In December 1828, the combined Egyptian armies defeated the British in Akordat and began chasing down the remaining British forces in the area. But this expeditionary corps would pose problems to Egypt for the remainder of the war. Because of the treason of the Zaydis, who granted military access to British, which soon threatened Hejaz. But in the end, apart from some raids, this army posed no threat to Egypt.'''

''' A surprising development happened in Greece during this period. The Greeks rose in rebellion and refused any help from the Great Powers. They had held for 5 years alone, they could gain independence alone. This uprising was soon put down by the Ottomans but also the French commandant in the region who feared that these revolutionaries spread their dangerous ideas among the soldiers. It led to the battle of Mytilene (French Version), or Mytilene Massacre (Greek Version) when the inhabitants of Mytilene rose the Greek cross instead of opening their gates to French soldiers. No one knows who fired the first shot but it ended in a massacre of the local population by the French soldiers.'''

 1829 : The Alexandria Miracle

'''In January 1829, the Russian Empire withdrew from the war. Threatened in the Caucasuses by Muslim insurgents and by Polish revolutionaries in the West, the Czar decided to end the war, forcing the Sultan to demobilize some of his troops and pay indemnities for the war. While it was unexpected and happily received in Cairo, the European reactions were indifferent. On one side, the czar left the war but on the other side the treaty helped the French and the British in their own war, with the Sultan being unable to mobilize more troops. To break the Egyptian wali, France decided to strike. Instead of deploying troops in the deep south like the British did, they deployed an army of 3,0000 men in Sidi Barrani, planning to march on Alexandria. The Army of Alexandria led by Nuri Bey, was crushed in Matruh losing half of his men, and forced to retreat to Alexandria. Many feared that it meant the end for Egypt but the Wali did not lose hope. He conscripted 8 brigades of 3,000 men putting them under the command of his son Ibrahim. When Adrien Anthoine, the French commander approached Alexandria on the 19th of June 1829, he did not expect to find 30,000 men waiting for him. Having lost his artillery during the war, Ibrahim nonetheless managed to win the day against the French in a victory that has often been called the Alexandrian Miracle and swiftly pursued them into the desert. The French were forced to withdraw by August, leaving Egyptian soil untouched until the end of the war. They redirected their troops into the Aegean, all islands including Candia and Cyprus being occupied.'''

1830 : The London Protocol

'''By the beginning of 1830 the Empire was collapsing. To avoid a large  uprising that would give opportunities to the Russians to expand their influence in the region, the British negotiated the peace agreement, the French imposing the same conditions on the Turks as the Russians. The European powers met in London and established a plan for Greece. The London Protocol established a Greek state ruling the Peloponnese, Attica and the Cyclades. A Bavarian Prince, was crowned Otto the Ist, king of Greece. The revolution had cost the Empire greatly. Disarmed for the time being, It could fall at any time. Mohammed Ali  sent a request to reclaim the Levant he was promised but he received no answer. He decided to take some time before enforcing his demands and turned his eyes to Arabia for the time being. The Greek War of Independence had proved to Mohammed Ali  that he was not in a position to intervene directly against the Great Powers of Europe. If things were to change in the Middle-East, it will be with their approval or their neutrality. Some considered attacking the Ottomans as soon as possible, to strike while they were bound by the treaties. But doing so would make Egypt look like an aggressive and untrustworthy state and as long as the treaties were in effect, the Europeans maintained their attention in the region. Thus Mohammed Ali  despite the opposition of his son Ibrahim, decided to wait. The Levant could wait a few more years. He decided to turn his eyes south, to the Arabian Peninsula.'''

'''The situation near the Bab-el-Mandeb had changed greatly over the past five years. The European Powers who had been absent from the area were making gains. One country in particular : Great Britain. During their intervention in the Greek War, the East India Company had sent a contingent to Eritrea to divert the Egyptians. But to maintain their presence they needed a port, a port that they had wanted to acquire in the area for years to fuel the ships coming to India. Two countries shared the area called now called Yemen. The Zaydi Imamate, a Shiite theocracy which influenced the various sheiks and sultans of the area from their capital of Sana'a and the Hadramaut states often called simply “Yemen” by outsiders. They chose to pressure the first, signing a treaty that gave Aden and its region as a protectorate and also military access throughout the Imamate. This access allowed them to threaten Hejaz for duration of the war, but even in the end, the damages were minimal.'''

'''The help provided by the Zaidis to the UK angered the Wali who decided to strike hard against this state. It would serve as a warning to both the Arabian sheiks who were still Hesitant to trust Egypt and the UK that this region was not theirs and Egypt felt free to intervene as it willed. The launch of the war provoked an uproar throughout Arabia despite the preparations effected by Egyptian agents but it in of itself it was easy, the imam was not able to face the 21,000 men of the Army of the Levant. But someone decided to act against this annexation. The East India Company was still interested in expanding in the name of the crown in the Red Sea. Their contingent had occupied Eritrea during the war and their reports showed promise of rich resources and manpower to extract them. Thus taking as an excuse the protection of the Imam, troops from the Company invaded Eritrea and decided to claim it. They thought it would be easy, taking advantage of the treaty which prevented the Ottomans from recruiting new troops, for in the minds of many Europeans, Egypt was still Ottoman territory, Mohammed Ali  being only the wali of Egypt, not its sultan or king. They were wrong. The first contingent of 15,000 men was wiped out by the Army of the Levant in Hodeida. 7,500 soldiers were made prisoners although the majority were Indian and not British. The second contingent who arrived later in 1831, was also defeated under the walls of Aden, forced to retreat into the uncivilized territory of Djibouti where the Sudan Garrison encircled them. The expedition was a clear failure for the Company who decided to ask help from the Kingdom. The British were reluctant to engage themselves in the Mediterranean once more. To force negotiations, Mohammed Ali sent the Taba and the Army of Egypt to invade the naval base of Malta. Before the siege was over, the consul of the United-Kingdom would ask for negotiations with the Wali which would end with the Treaty of Alexandria of 1834, negotiated with the help of the French consul whose country had slowly begun to rebuild its relations with Egypt, though their relations were still sour after the Greek War. Great-Britain was to relinquish all claims on Egyptian territory and the annexation of the Zaydi territory was confirmed. A point was however unclear in this treaty : Egypt did not give back Aden, considering it a Zaydi possession. In exchange, all British prisoners were released. The British Crown who were not really clear about the situation in the area decided to let the matter drop although later when the EIC was nationalized after the Sepoy Rebellions, the British would soon claim back Aden, as property stolen by the Egyptians.'''

'''The war had given Egypt the control of the Red Sea and the gulf of Aden. The new military tactics which had been developed after the fall of Napoleon were adapted to the Egyptian Army, leading to the construction of fortifications all across the country. Although these years were far from being calm, the lack of a war and the improvement in the relations with the French allowed the Wali to rearm his  country, commissioning new ships for his fleet along with new divisions in the Army. An educational debate also took place during these years. The ulemas opposed the introduction of new methods and new knowledge in universities, often controlled by mosques. Instead of satisfying these people, the wali forced the introduction of new subjects in the universities, taught by the people who began coming back from the West. With all these decisions in favor of modernity, Egypt was clearly no more pushed by the enlightenment but more by the idea of Progress leading to more intellectual thought. But once again, a great part of the population was opposed to the reforms'''

'''In August 1834, Mohammed Ali  decided to act to take what he was promised. The Levant or Sham was an important region for the Middle-East. At the crossroads between Iraq, Arabia, Egypt and Anatolia it was an important place for trade while also being prestigious for containing Jerusalem, the holy place of the three Abrahamic religions. The long coast could also provide more naval bases for the growing Egyptian Navy. Because of these reasons the wali decided to ask to be granted the governorship of the levant along with the areas of Yemen he already possessed. Mehmet Pasha who had fought in the early Greek War and took Nafplion was sent to Constantinople to reclaim the prize for whom “thousands of Egyptians had died”. However the Sultan Mahmud II refused to cede all of the Sham to Egypt, claiming that the promise only concerned Palestine. Faced with much larger demands, he sent  Mehmet Pasha back to Alexandria declaring that he would not cede these territories, not thinking his governor would try to take it by force. He was wrong.'''

'''On the 25th of August, Mohammed Ali  declared war against the Porte to reclaim what was his. However, some of the ulemas who disliked his westernisation politics rioted in Cairo, declaring it would be apostasy to fight the caliph. The same occurred in Sana’a among the Shiite ayatollahs but not for the same reasons. This movement was soon pushed down by the Army of Alexandria led by Nuri Bey in Cairo while the Army of Levant took care of the rebels in Sana’a. From there began the real war. The Armies of Egypt and Levant were to invade Palestine. The Garrison of Khartoum had to face many rebellions from the Sudanese and thus did not partake in the war. To be able to face the Ottoman Empire, the Wali enlarged the conscription, assembling during the whole war 10,0000 Egyptian peasants who were trained.Nuri Bey was sent on a risky mission along with Selim Pasha. The Taba sailed north with 21,000 soldiers aboard. By October 1825, they had crossed the Dardanelles, demolishing the fortresses which were built to avoid enemy incursions into the Marmara Sea and on the 25th of October Constantinople fell to the Army of Alexandria. Taken swiftly, the Ottoman capital was harder  to control, the various communities profiting from the occasion to settle their debts against each other. Surprised by the arrival of the Egyptians, the Sultan barely had the time to flee to Thrace where he began reorganizing his army. The Taba went back to Egypt by December, allowing troops from Europe to cross the Dardanelles.'''

''' What was feared to be a difficult war slowly began to appear like a game for the Egyptian Army. The Kurds took the opportunity to throw off  the Ottoman yoke and diverted away some of the Anatolian forces. In Salonika, Greeks petitioned to join the kingdom in the South, the sultan being forced to accept the matter for the time being. But mostly, the Empire had never recovered from the Greek Wars. The harsh conditions imposed by St-Petersburg and Paris made the recruitment and training of the new army impossible. The fleet crushed in Navarino was nonexistent at the beginning of the war, the last flagship being burned during the fall of Constantinople. Thus the only forces the Egyptians faced in Palestine were coming from the Danubian principalities. Their armies were soon crushed in December 1834 and the road to the Levant was cleared.'''

'''By March 1835, Palestine and many cities of Syria were under Egyptian control, going as far as besieging Antioch in the north. Mohammed Ali  paid attention not to seem too much belligerent, still dedicating the Friday prayers to Mahmud II and proclaiming he only wanted what he was promised, all the Levant. By May, the Taba entered once more the Sea of Marmara, an army of conscripts debarking in Bursa, while the army of Nuri Bey having secured Istanbul pushed into Eastern Thrace. The Taba dominated the straits and blockaded any attempts to cross into Anatolia.'''

'''In Anatolia, the leadership of the Porte’s armies was assured by Hafiz Bey, a loyal but unprepared general who was cut off  from the main command that relocated to Sofia and whose messages had a hard time crossing the Bosporus. He assembled the various divisions present in Anatolia and struck against the Kurds, occupying Diyarbakir and Dayr-al-Zour and crushing the tribal chiefs’ army. Confident in his capabilities, he attacked a conscript army in Transjordan near the town of Jerash. However, the Army of the Levant of Osman Bey soon rescued the conscripts and crushed the Ottoman Army reduced to 11,000 men out of 30,000 before the battle.'''

'''They were crushed decisively in the Syrian Desert. However Hafiz Bey escaped and soon reassembled a new army with which he tried to take back Damascus. Once more he was encircled and his army reduced to ashes by Ibrahim Pasha. This time however, Hafiz Bey did not escape and he was beheaded on the orders of Ibrahim. After the death of Hafiz the Porte did not provide much resistance to the Egyptian Armies The lack of a coordinated structure along with the gradual occupation of the core provinces of the Empire prevented Mahmud from being able to repel the Egyptian armies. By December 1835, Osman Bey and the Army of the Levant besieged Bagdad and soon the wali expressed some new ambitions that worried the Europeans.'''

'''Trying to exploit  the Ottoman weakness, the Greeks declared war on the Empire on the 7th of January, one day after Christmas. Their main goal for the war was to connect Macedonia to the rest of their territory thus taking Thessalia in the process. Fighting “along” the Egyptians, they would prove a nice distraction for the wali, the Principalities armies being sent to fight Greece. But no formal alliance would be issued between Otto and Mohammed Ali, the Greek public having not forgotten the massacres ordered by Ibrahim and not ready to make “a deal with the devil”.'''

'''However Europeans took interest in the situation. The complete occupation of the Straits and the Levant showed to the Concert of Europe that the Sick Man was completely outmatched by the Egyptians. Among the high-command of Egypt two ambitions had arisen. First Mohammed Ali  wanted to receive the Levant, Bagdad and ports in the Persian Gulf and be recognized as rightful sultan of these territories. But his son Ibrahim who had once more defeated his enemies wanted to proclaim his father sultan, instead of the house of Osman, only keeping Mahmud II as caliph and figurehead. The idea of a renewed Empire in the East was met with hostility by the Holy Alliance who were satisfied with the status quo. One Great Power especially bore a grudge against Mohammed : Great-Britain. The occupation of Aden was a blow to the United-Kingdom’s prestige and many in the kingdom cultivated vengeance against such “uncivilized Bedouins”. And thus the British consul in Alexandria presented a compromise to Mohammed Ali  : he would bow to the sultan but receive all the Levant and the area around Adana. If this would not be accepted, then the UK would side with the Ottomans in the war. The British Ultimatum could have been accepted in other circumstances but at this moment they were in an unsustainable situation. First, the treaty of Alexandria that ended the conflict with Egypt was still in effect and thus the UK could not declare war against Egypt without looking like a state that did not honor the treaties it had signed. Moreover the British had given the Greeks green light against the Porte in their war and could not be taken seriously as “defenders of the rightful Ottoman claims”. The war would attract the attention from the various Powers which constituted three camps : firstly, those who supported the Empire, aka the UK, the Netherlands and Russia. Amongst those three only Netherlands would enter the war, Russia preferring only to give some weaponry to the sultan while preparing troops on the border. Secondly those who supported Egypt, aka Prussia and the Two-Sicilies. None would intervene in the war, but it has been said they avoided the Russian entrance by threatening them with entering the war. Thirdly the neutral or “arbiters”, with France and Austria which decided to not let Ibrahim take over the Empire while still giving what Mohammed Ali what he wanted. At some points many feared the outburst of a new European war but it was avoided thanks to the Austrian and French chancelleries.'''

''' In June 1836, all the Levant, parts of Iraq and the Ionian Coast were controlled by the Egyptians. Osman Bey who had taken Baghdad was sent to Diyarbakir to help the Kurds retake the city, both sides agreeing with each other to fight the Ottomans. Meanwhile an army of conscripts was sent to take the Libyan coast. By January 1837, Cyrenaica and the Tripolitanian coast were under control of Mohammed Ali, the ruler of Tripoli siding with Mohammed. Anatolia was slowly occupied, only leaving Cappadocia untouched. Ibrahim Pasha who had entered Istanbul decided to push into Europe, decided to take Sofia and capture the caliph. But his ambitions were soon tempered when a Dutch Expedition Corps landed in Candia. They planned to take the island to have some bases in the Eastern Mediterranean and launch attacks against the logistics of the Egyptians. That would not be tolerated and Ibrahim embarked on the Taba. Arrived in April in Iraklion, he crushed the Dutch in May, taking 10,000 prisoners in the process. This expedition was the only one that the Egyptians faced from the Europeans. The crushing defeat made the Russians and the British ready to negotiate and they soon joined other diplomats in Vienna to propose a treaty that would avoid the deposal of Mahmud II while satisfying Muhammad. The Sultan refused all of it declaring he would not bow to a vassal, although the Empire was already completely destroyed. In October, he made peace with the Kurds who accepted, returning to their mountains.'''

 After being captured by Ibrahim after the fall of Sofia Mahmud finally decided to sign the Treaty of Küthaya on the 3rd of March 1838.

'''The treaty of Küthaya was the result of months of negotiations  among the various European powers and Egypt. The European diplomats met once again in Austria to discuss the consequences of the campaign. The division of the Concert of Europe showed to the public, that war could come back in Europe at any time, which created a dreadful atmosphere in the educated classes all over Europe. Presided over by  von Metternich, the negotiations stalled for many months. But the defeat of the Netherland’s expedition in Crete led the British to send a representative while the Russians declared that they would be respecting the decision of what would be issued.'''

''' The French sent Adolphe Thiers to represent their interests. Frederich-Wilhelm III sent his foreign minister von Werther who had been consul in Constantinople between 1809 and 1813 and had more insight on the area than most of the diplomats present at the conference. Britain sent the head of the Foreign Office, Palmerston. Netherlands refused to send a representative while Ferdinand II of the Two-Sicilies sent Di Pietracella. To meet such an assembly, Mohammed Ali  tasked three men to represent his interests in this new congress of Vienna : Mehmet Pasha, the colonel Sève and El-Tahtawhi, one of the Westernised scholars who had spent 10 years in France. All arrived by October 1837, and the negotiations slowly advanced. The ambitions of Ibrahim Pasha were put aside on the first meeting, unsupported even by the Egyptian negotiators. Reassured by this fact, the European chancelleries accepted more easily the Egyptian demands. The only real defender of the Empire in the Congress was the British minister who violently opposed the dismantling of the Empire to the profit of Mohammed Ali. But he was isolated and all his maneuvers to discredit the Egyptians were met with a polite silence at the best. El-Tahtawhi impressed the European diplomats by his manners and his courtesy, the very contrary of how Ibrahim Pasha had been described since the Aegean massacres. Thus the diplomats issued the first draft of the treaty in December which was accepted by all, except Palmerston who had been recalled home. Their signature would only occur in March after the capture of Mahmud II by Ibrahim Pasha. A new order had emerged in the Middle-East.'''

'''Mohammed Ali  had obtained all of the Levant, Cyrenaica and the greatest part of Iraq. But mostly, he was not wali anymore but the rightful ruler of these territories, a task never accomplished by a rebel against the Porte. Mohammed Ali  had become Sultan of Egypt, Syria, Iraq and Cyrenaica, Warden of the Holy Places and so on… The Porte also relinquished all its claims on all these territories and expressed excuses for their conduct toward Mohammed Ali. The sheik of Tripoli who had not intervened in the war although he was nominally a vassal of the caliph was granted the rest of the Tripolitanian Coast. Tunis was declared independent, with the bey being proclaimed sultan. However, the Europeans received great benefits along the treaty. Two-Sicilies secured influence on Tunis and Tripoli, claiming to protect them from this moment onwards. French rights on Algeria and Morocco were confirmed despite the hostility of the Regency of Algiers towards the French monarchy. Even in Egypt itself, Prussians and French received a great deal of influence, mainly in the economic sector. The Sublime Porte had lost its prestige and its power and one European country was eager to take advantage of that. Nicolas I, tsar of Russia was decided to make the Black Sea, a Russian lake and the collapse of the empire gave him the best occasion to intervene. Although he had accepted the treaty of Küthaya, he did not feel bound by it and one week after the Egyptians withdrew  from Anatolia, the Russians crossed the border and invaded the Ottoman ports. While the United-Kingdom of the Netherlands and Great-Britain stood with the Empire, they had no desire to enter a war against the Russian bear alone. They made guarantees and so on but did not enter in the war. In the Mountains of the East, the Kurds were in a full “civil war” (even if civil war is quite inadequate for the situation described here). What people called Kurdistan was in fact, many tribes who had resisted centralization of the Empire but were in no way a full state. Four principalities were fighting each other for dominance of the territory : Bohtan, Hakkari, Baban and Soran. Badr Khan, the Bohtani emir took the opportunity to rid his principality of the Assyrians who resided in his lands. The massacres were little heard during the Congress until the Patriarch of the Assyrians was forced to flee Hakkari along with most of the Assyrian population. With no place to go, the Assyrians joined their brothers in Mosul where the Assyrian represented the largest population group.'''

'''Profiting from the vacuum created by the treaty of Kütahya which mentioned Mosul as an Ottoman possession, but isolated by the Kurds, the Assyrian took the opportunity to proclaim their own state, the republic of Assyria with the patriarch declared head of the state until elections took place. They were soon guaranteed by Russia who threatened to come after the Kurds, should they decide to invade the republic. Mohammed Ali  after having organised his new Iraqi provinces also guaranteed the Republic while allying with the Kurdish tribes against Badr Khan who was captured and sent to Crete. The emir of Baban, Abdollah Pasha was declared sultan of the Kurds and began creating a proto-Kurdish state that allied with Mohammed Ali .'''

'''Most of Arabia was still a tribal area, with Bedouins relying on familial bonds for exerting their authority on a said territory. It was true everywhere except in Oman, whose sultan also controlled the sultanate of Zanzibar in Africa. Even in Hedjaz, Egypt relied on the Hashemites to administer the territory only being Warden of the Holy Places. In Nejd two powers competed for dominance : the Rashidis from Hail who controlled most of Northern Nejd and the Saudis from Riyadh who wanted to achieve what they nearly did before Ibrahim pasha destroyed Diriyah. In Hadramaut, often called “East Yemen” by outsiders, the Kathiri sultanates had obtained the pre-eminence. The Trucial States and Bahrain still existed. Despite this apparent division, Arabian sheiks, sultans and emirs were often bond by marriages and old family friendships which resulted in the fact that attacking one nearly meant facing all of them. Three outside powers had interests in the area. Persia was allied with the Nejdi emirs and thus threatened Egypt on its Iraqi border. The Negus of Ethiopia was allied with the sultan of Oman, hoping to reclaim Eritrea. And mostly it was the British that opposed any expansion in the area from Egypt. They wielded vast influence in most of these states, even protecting the Trucial States. Moreover, the hatred of the political class against Ali and the seizure of Aden led to the claim of the port in the weeks following the Treaty by Lord Palmerston. If Egypt would want to expand in the Peninsula, it would first need to play among this network of alliances unless it was ready to face all of the aforementioned countries.'''

'''The mediator of the crisis with Austria, France had somehow gamed European status quo and had gained extensive “rights” over Algeria and Morocco and great advantages in Egypt. A small expedition had blockaded Algiers in 1830 and forced the bey to submit to France but the rebellion of the population forced the French out of the country.'''

'''Mohammed Ali  was now Sultan of Egypt, Syria and Iraq. He had achieved what many people had only dreamed of when they revolted against the Empire : win and be recognized ruler of their land. A great ceremony was held in Cairo where he was solemnly proclaimed rightful Sultan of Egypt, heir of the Pharaohs, Saladin and the Mamlukes. His rule was unshaken in Egypt, although some still recognized the power of the Empire, they weren’t numerous. The prayers were in his name on the Friday prayer, the caliph was forgotten by the majority of people.'''

'''To complete the reforms he had begun, Mohammed Ali  decided to assemble new divans in Alexandria, which would rule while he was visiting the new provinces of his sultanate. Most of the people he named were either members of his family or loyal servants of the state and had already occupied their charges although they weren’t directly recognized as such :'''

Grand Vizier : Ibrahim Pasha

Vizier of the Marine and the Mediterranean Islands : Selim Pasha

Vizier of Sham and Iraq : Osman Bey

Vizier of Sudan : Shukru Pasha

Vizier of the Army : Enver Pasha

Vizier of Commerce and Finances : Boghos Youssufian 

Vizier of Instruction, Development of Sciences and of the Press : Rifa'a al-Tahtawi 

Vizier of Foreign Relations : Mehmet Pasha

Vizier of the Modernization of the Army : Soliman Pasha Al-Faransawi

'''As such, this government was still traditional in the sense that only Al-Tahtawi, Soliman Pasha, Shukru Pasha and Boghos Youssufian were not from the close entourage of the Sultan. But the establishment of these vizierates would slowly give birth to the modern ministries of Egypt with the establishment of most of the offices in Alexandria, with an associated bureaucracy which stayed despite the changes in government. Ibrahim Pasha was confirmed as the heir and the principal actor in the Sultanate beside the Sultan himself. Ruling directly over Egypt, he received the power to mediate the conflicts that could occur between the different ministers. The Levant was given to Nuri Bey, the leader of the Army of the Levant, who would later be disgraced because of the tremendous corruption that occurred in the provinces. Sudan was also treated separately and was given to the leader of the Khartoum Garrison, Shukru Pasha. A Sudanese Arabic speaker, he had risen amongst the military and received the power over Sudan, from which he was expected to bring up slaves and riches to Egypt. Selim Pasha, the admiral of the Taba, who played a crucial role in controlling the sea during the war against the Turks, was given the task of expanding the navy in the Red Sea and fighting the various rebellions that often occurred in Crete and Cyprus.'''

'''Enver Pasha was named vizier of the Army, supervising the recruitment of new regiments and paying the sold of the soldiers. However his nomination clashed with Soliman Pasha, the colonel Sève, in charge of modernizing the army, especially the artillery. The two men did not like each other and disrupted each other’s works. Thus, the provisioning of artillery for the forts in Sudan and the new regiments in Levant was disrupted for 16 months until Ibrahim Pasha fired Enver Pasha reuniting the vizierates under Sève.'''

'''To organize trade with the West and also by extension manage the finance of the state, Mohammed Ali  named an Armenian banker, Boghos Youssufian. The Armenians, like in the Empire, formed a community which heavily invested in trade and other economic areas. His nomination enhanced their position but his sense of duty led to efficient and good management, with corruption greatly diminished by the time of his death in 1844. A special Divan was established for Foreign Relations under the direction of Mehmet Pasha, one of the negotiators of the Treaty of Kütahya. Established in Alexandria, like the Marine, he managed the relations of the Western Powers with Egypt, following the directives issued by Mohammed Ali  : friendly relations with France, Prussia and the Two-Sicilies and avoiding war with the United Kingdom.'''

 Eventually Al-Tahtawi, the imam who had accompanied the mission in France between 1828 and 1831, taking part in the negotiations for the treaty was given authority on the matter of Education and Sciences.

The Reforms

'''Two new reforms were adopted during this brief period of time, the two under the direction of both the sultan, his eldest son and the vizier of Sciences. Al-Tahtawi was indeed of the most progressive minister of the state. Devoted to Mohammed Ali, who tried to force Egypt to leave the Dark Ages, he had accepted and integrated the various ideas of Enlightenment, having read Condillac, Voltaire, Rousseau and Montesquieu. A Supporter of democracy, of some measures of secularization and also of progress, he published his impressions on France and French at his return in Egypt.'''

'''Upon his nomination he would reorganize the education system, establishing new establishments of learning, called madrasahs where students could learn Arabic, Coptic, Greek, Latin and French along with specialization either in Civil Service or Military education. Among this new network of schools, four were recognized superior, each in one province. The Cairo Madrasah was the best school for administration, the ministries recruiting the best recruits for their services. The Alexandrian one was specialized in maritime demesnes, the new generation of officer serving in the Taba or in the Red Sea Fleet having studied in Alexandria. Damascus was recognized as a center of learning and languages, the greatest diplomats and translators alike having studying there. Baghdad was home to the liberal arts and also printing presses, even if their publications never amounted to the numbers of the Cairo press. Along with the madrasahs which form the backbone of the modern Egyptian Universities, he designed a special School of Languages and Translation under his leadership, which would translate nearly 1000 European books in the decade following their establishment. This reform allowed Egypt to form the candidates for civil service along with relying less on French or Prussian Schools and was thus easily accepted by the Sultan and the Grand Vizier.'''

'''The other measure concerned the creation of hospitals managed by European doctors in the Sultanate. Health and hygiene were key issues in a country plagued by numerous illnesses and were denounced by Tahtawi upon his return in Egypt. The ruling family was sensitized to the issue because of the age of Mohammed Ali  and also the frequent measures the grand Vizier had to take to deal with the tuberculosis he had caught during his numerous campaigns.'''

'''However these two reforms which provided great results in the long term were badly received by certain elements of society. The creation of a new education system was opposed by the traditional Al-Azhar establishment, who still retained a prominent place in the religious studies of the Islamic World. The introduction of foreign medicines also developed  into the smuggling of opium in some ports of the Sultanate, tensions emerging after a Dutch sailor sold opium in Kuwait. The government reacted quickly by seizing the goods, destroying them and expelling the sailor to the Netherlands but it faced the anger of the locals who had become addicted to the drugs.'''

Along with these reforms, Tahtawi was in charge of the official Gazette (state newspaper), printed in the Bulaq press of Cairo and distributed in Coptic and Arabic throughout the realm.

'''Tahtawi would retain his post until 1848, when he resigned to look after the Bureau of Translation he had established but would be a prominent figure of Egyptian politics until his death in 1873. He published several books introducing ideas of secularization, liberty, equality or popular sovereignty and would be one of the figureheads of the nascent Liberal Faction.'''

The new territories

'''The sultan decided to tour his new demesne, marching through his lands to secure his power in lands often hostile to his reign. He began by visiting Benghazi where he reenacted the various treaties with the Berber tribes and also sending an envoy to the Tripolitanian state. After that he went to the Levant, visiting Al-Quds, Damascus and Aleppo. From there he visited the new sultan of the Kurds in Dayr-Al-Zour and reenacting the treaty of friendship. He then sailed on the Euphrates, stopping in Bahgdad where he assisted at the erection of the new madrasah. He then went down to Basrah where the locals were ordered to build naval facilities to allow his fleet to operate in the Persian Gulf; He would end his tour by doing once more the Hajj and confirming the special status of the Hashemite emir inside the state. He never went into Sudan, confirming the special status of the area seen as a backward but profitable country. in the meantime, reforms were introduced in the new territories with various results. Conscription was of course badly received and the vizier responsible for these territories soon stopped the attempt. Bureaucracy was slowly introduced in the territories especially Lebanon and Palestine but they had not attained the level reached in Egypt proper. An army was slowly raised with levies from the area but they were mostly Turks, Levantine natives were forbidden to take part in the military. Moreover, artillery was blocked because of the tensions between the viziers which slowed considerably the creation of the Army of Al-Quds.'''

The Diplomacy of the new state

'''Mehmet Pasha as said before, only followed the orders of the sultan never showing any special vision in the area but he fulfilled what he was meant to do. Egypt entered an alliance with Tripolitania, Kurdistan and also the sultanate of Oman, trying to secure its position in the Middle-East. The numerous emirs of Arabia still for the most did not recognize the new Egyptian territories but were reluctant to support the caliph who had no real power at the time. Egypt was thus circled by hostile powers, and beneath them, one could feel the work of the British diplomats who exerted great influence in the area.The Russian-Turkish war ended in Russian Victory. They had obtained the freedom of the Romanian principalities under their protection along with some provinces in the Caucasus. However, Great-Britain had secured the integrity of the empire, taking it under its protection. The tsar was now reluctant to continue his plans in the Black Sea with the involvement of the United-Kingdom.The dispute between the two viziers charged of the army was resolved with Sève gaining the upper hand. He decided to immediately invest into European artillery and continuing the recruitment of new regiments in the Levant. “Egypt may be at peace for the moment, but war is lurking around the corner and we better be prepared for it”, replied Soliman to the critics he faced, it was a tremendous project with the construction of new fortifications taking place in Sudan and the Levant. But his words soon appeared to be true.'''

'''The region of Nejd, the Arabian interior was divided between two houses : the house of Rashid based in Hail and the house of Saud based in Riyadh. Both had rose to prominence following the Ottoman retreat and had always refused to deal with Egypt. Among the two, the most dangerous was the House of Saud. They had not forgotten their defeat at the hands of Ibrahim, and the Grand Vizier wanted to take action against the Wahhabis. However, both were also reluctant to take action against the other : Riyadh had placed itself under the protection of many in the area like the Shah of Persia and the British embassies were met with great respect ; on the Saudi side, they could not win directly against Egypt.'''

'''The emir Faisal had devised a plan to regain influence and power. Before striking into Hejaz, he’ll take back Hail and unify Nejd under his banner. What could have been a small war against two Bedouin emirs soon transformed into a large Middle-Eastern conflict and would mark the beginning of the Arabian Wars (1840-1847). The Rashidis soon called their allies to the war and by January 1841, the Saudis faced also Persian, Omani and Yemeni troops. They were doomed but determined and every advance of the allies was obtained at a great cost.'''

'''Egypt was pleased to see the Rashidis winning; they were assured to have a somewhat more secure border in the desert with the Hail emirs and therefore sent a financial participation. But Mehmet Pasha had been informed by informants of attempts of British diplomats to secure a treaty with the Kathiri sultan. The goal of the treaty was not clear but the Egyptian command feared the purchase of a port like Socotra to threaten the Red Sea and Aden. Informed by his viziers Mohammed Ali  decided to follow the plan devised by his son. Egypt would use the opportunity provided by the Nejdi War to strike in Yemen and annex it before the British obtained much influence in the area. Hail would be too distracted to help It;s ally and the Trucial States were not a threat for Egypt.'''

'''While the preparations were made for the war in Arabia, Lebanon and Palestine joined the Egyptian state in having created their bureaucracy. Nuri Bey had to relinquish his control over the regions which did not have a special status anymore and focus his efforts in creating an administration in Transjordan and Damascus. While the efforts were hampered by the wars, the Levantine regions soon proved to be well ruled. The Lebanese bureaucracy was soon taken over by the Maronite minority which showed great interest in serving the Egyptian state. It is no wonder that having been threatened because of their religions for years, that minorities decided to side with Alexandria which showed a more secular policy, the same can be said of Sephardics in Palestine. The School of Beirut would form great minds taking part in Al-Nahda.'''

'''By August 1841 preparations were finished. 45,000 men divided into three armies of the same size were posted on the border with both Hail and Yemen. A message was sent to Yemen : Surrender or War. It was denied and the Egyptian troops entered the Kathiri sultanate. Abdullah bin Rashid answered the declaration by siding with the Kathiris. Egypt was now at war with both Hail, Yemen and Trucial States. The first moves were in favor of the Egyptians but soon it appeared to the high-command that the war would be bloody. Already after two months of fighting, 5,000 men had perished in the desert more than all the deaths in battle at the end of the war. Logistics were hard to manage and raids from Bedouin awaited the troops everywhere. What was called the “Bedouin Nightmare” by the troops had begun and would not stop until the war was finished. Ibrahim who had campaigned in Arabia, taking the capital of the first Saudi emirate was forced to stay in Cairo, his health having deteriorated over the years. The leaders of the armies were not familiar with this kind of fighting and casualties remained high.'''

'''By December 1841, the Nejdi War ended. The House of Saud was forced into exile and Nejd was united under the Rashidis. But they faced an utter defeat near Hail with their army completely routed by the Sultan’s forces. No more real battles would occur until the end of the war but ambushes would cost many more Egyptian lives.'''

'''Already seeing the difficulty of controlling the area, Mohammed Ali  began to make plans to handle Nejd and the Trucial States after the war. Annexing the area would have proven too difficult and thus it was decided to allow some autonomy to walis named by Cairo. However, the opponents resisted harshly and despite being put under a blockade by the Red Sea Fleet and slowly having their territory occupied, they refused to agree to the conditions.'''

'''In August 1842 the Trucial sheiks agreed to the conditions. One of them would be chosen as wali, ruling the area in the name of His Majesty. Moreover they were expected to end all treaties signed with the British and expel the so-called advisors the Foreign Office had provided. The strongholds of British influence in the Peninsula were dead. There only remained Oman and Bahrain to still maintain friendly relations with British government. The decision reawoke the hostility against Egypt in the upper circles and calls for an Intervention in Arabia grew in Parliament. But the government decided to wait for the right opportunity instead of throwing forces against a prepared Egypt. Fighting continued, strongholds were being taken but with no peace signed the war continued. In March 1843, the Sultan signed an act often forgotten because of the Arabian Wars but which posed the foundations of the Egyptian modern transportation system. He signed the  decree ordering the creation of a railroad from Cairo to Alexandria, an act which was to test the efficiency of the Bureaucracy. The reactionaries were angered by this wild course toward progress and the false rumor of the planned destruction of a mosque to build the railroad, They launched a riot swiftly taken down by the police. On the 14th of April, the emir of Bahrain, one of the last independent rulers of the area was convinced to enter an alliance with Egypt, while not taking part in the war. Egyptian forces continued to advance, taking Riyadh and the Gulf Coast but a garrison of 12,000 men was maintained in Abu Dhabi to help the local wali to maintain order. Victory seemed near for Egypt, which would control all of Arabia except for Oman and Bahrain, although the two were allies.'''

But on the 14th of July 1843, Egypt faced the greatest revolt since the accession of Mohammed Ali  to power coupled with a British declaration of war, declaring the last war of the Arabian Wars.

'''The Great Revolt of 1843 has always been badly covered and it is only thanks to the recent works of historians that we are now able to discern the differences in what was often labeled as “a reactionary uprising against Progress”. In fact, the revolt took place in five different places at different times for different reasons.'''

'''All started on the 5th of July in Cairo. Working in the cotton industry had always been a harsh work and it was strengthened by the fact that the Sultan used a system of corvée to gain the workforce needed for his ambitions. Badly paid, exposed to accidents by the government, the Bulaq quarter where the factory was built was home to many incidents between the police forces and the workers. Determined to make savings needed for the war effort, the agents of the Divan of Commerce decided to suspend the pay of the workers, giving them only their primary needs. The news spread like wildfire amongst the workers who decided to end their unfair treatment. The factory was pillaged and the attempts of the police to disperse the mob were swiftly defeated by the rebels. By the end of the day, the riot had spread to the old city and was clashing with the soldiers of the Army of Egypt. Upon hearing the news Ibrahim Pasha left his palace in Alexandria and went of Cairo where he began to put down the rebellion. However the news of the riots were sufficient to launch new uprisings throughout the country. On the 6th Greek patriots attempting the unification with the kingdom of Greece launched a small uprising in Chania. Led by a certain Alexandros Moustakas, their example led to another uprising in Limassol on the island of Cyprus. It is to be noted that these rebels were not deemed important threats and would only dealt with during the Mediterranean Campaign that would end with the siege of Malta. The Greeks had no particular resentment against the Sultan. Apart of a little tribute and the use of the naval facilities, the Egyptian presence was null. Since their annexation to Mohammed Ali, they were  in fact ruled upon native governors which were not interested in joining Greece. The Muslim population helped in keeping the situation calm.'''

'''The Revolt in the Levant was of another nature and scale. The local chiefs who had enjoyed privileges under Ottoman law had been slowly plotting against the Sultan to reclaim their lost positions and offices. They used the opposition of the population to conscription for their plans. The nomination of Nuri Bey only aggravated the matter. Efficient in his implementation of the new law in Palestine and Lebanon, he was also devoid of morality and sense of duty. Installed in Damascus he  overtaxed the locals and heightened tensions between the various communities living there. He became in a few months the most hated man in the Levant and his acts became a rallying point for the various opponents to the regime. On the news of the Bulaq riot the Palestinian notables assembled and launched an uprising throughout Palestine and Syria. Qasim Al-Ahmad a prominent Palestinian figurehead took the control of the rebellion and gathered crowds in Damascus against the “Albanian usurpers” to liberate all of Syria. Lebanon only experienced a small rebellion in Beirut orchestrated by Druze leaders angered by the prominence of the Maronites in the new administration. But beside this small riot, the forces of the Maronite emir Bashir Shihab II were able to put down any sedition. Northern Syria and Iraq did not take part in the uprising, maybe explained by the fact that they were still very much left on their own, Egyptian law and bureaucracy not being totally implemented. Sudan had been home of various rebellions and seditions since its conquest and it was still true during this very episode. Bad treatments, razzias, forced labor were normal life for the Sudanese people. Shukru Pasha was no worse nor better than those who had preceded him. Sudan was considered as an area to be exploited by the Sultan and an idea began to spread amongst the growing intelligentsia, that it was Egypt’s duty to civilize the savages. Sensing weakness after the Cairo riot, the Sudanese tribes rose in revolt and Shukru Pasha had to fight in the very streets of Khartoum against the insurgents.'''

'''Eventually there was another area of uprising, which while quite localized was also important due to the number of people involved. The Shiite people of Zaydi had not accepted the conquest of their state and the exile of the Zaydi imam to Persia. The logistics diverted to the Arabian forces also put a heavy burden on the population. And so they rose against the Egyptians, besieging the fort of Sana’a. Upon hearing the size of the rebellion, the Sultan decided to act quickly by putting down the Cairo riots before sending the two powerful armies of Egypt and Alexandria to liberate the Levant. But it was at this precise moment that the British demanded back Aden. Despite the severity of the rebellions the answer of the Sultan was firm : No Egyptian territory would be ceded while he reigned. And so on the 14th of July 1843, Egypt found itself threatened by various rebellions and a foreign invasion.'''

'''Like in every rebellion, Mohammae and his son were merciless. Ibrahim taking the control of the Army of Egypt entered the streets of Cairo and even cannoned the positions of the rebels leaving entire districts of the city in ruins. And so on the 17th the Cairo riots were finished, at the cost of many civilian lives along with the rebels. Ibrahim would then send the Armenian Youssufian to take care of the “factory problems” since it was his part of the government. In the end Youssufian would condemn the actions of the zealous bureaucrats and asked the Sultan for a revision of the system. His last act before dying was to sign the new organization of the textile factory with better wages and the end of the forced labor. Although many feared, the factory would lack workers, the new wages attracted many poor peasants who produced more than the old corvée system. With Egypt secured Ibrahim moved into the Levant. With nearly 50,000 men under his command Ibrahim was free to take swift and decisive actions against the rebels. Entire villages were razed, their populations deported to Egypt and the leaders of the rebellion all hanged. Al-Quds was freed from the siege by the end of September and Ibrahim decided to strike into the heart of the rebellion : Damascus, while the Army of Alexandria led by Enver Pasha was to help the Lebanese emir against the Druze. By the time the army arrived in Damascus, the city was completely controlled by rebels. However the vizier of the Levant had escaped somehow and joined the army of Ibrahim, urging him to purge the rebels. Like in Cairo Ibrahim showed no mercy for the city. The bombardment lasted three days before the final assault. The rebels tried to flee but they were cornered by the Egyptians. Their leader Al-Qasim tried to avoid capture by assembling his forces and trying to force the siege. Most of his forces were killed and he was captured. After having secured the city Ibrahim organized the execution of the rebel leaders but also decided to listen to the grievances of the inhabitants. The rebellion was too large and assembled the various communities of the city whereas most of the time they were ready to fight each other. The audience of the local leaders denounced the conduct of Nuri Bey and his taxation. After hearing the news and seeing the wealth he had assembled in his palace of Damascus, Ibrahim stripped Nuri from his titles and sent him back to Egypt. The old Sultan would however pardon him when he arrived and he never did anything about his previous actions. The Armies assembled in the Levant would spend the last months of the year hunting the remnants of the rebel and also suppressing the Druze revolt which had risen in  Lebanon. The Sudanese rebellion suffered the same outcome although it would need to wait until March 1844 to have all the rebels dealt with. Shukru Pasha showed a zeal never observed before in putting down the rebellion. He had nearly been besieged in Khartoum before his troops were able to fight back the rebels and he was determined to not live that again. Entire villages were razed and their populations put to slavery. It is estimated that 50,000 Sudanese were sent as slaves to Egypt following the rebellion but only 20,000 arrived to the markets of Cairo and Alexandria because of the harsh treatments and also due to the beginning of the tuberculosis epidemic. Even nowadays Shukru Pasha is seen as a monstrous tyrant and has even passed in the Sudanese language being synonym of monster. As said previously Sana’a was one of the key points in the campaigns in Arabia and Yemen. And thus it was decided that some of the troops assigned to the pacification of Nejd would be sent to the city to stop the rebellion. The 25,000 men were much needed and the rebellion only stopped after harsh treatment and countless executions. Moreover the landing at Assab only strengthened the faith of the rebels in pushing back the Egyptian forces, some joining the British during the battle of Aden in April 1844. Anyway this rebellion prolonged the Conquest of Yemen, allowing the various Bedouin tribes to prepare their defenses in the desert, costing the lives of even more Egyptians.'''

'''At each point that each revolt ended in the same way : a bloodbath. Demographically it has been observed that at least 1/10th of the Palestinian population was killed or deported with more maimed. In Syria, Damascus also saw a fifth of its population either killed or maimed. Lebanese revolt was scarce and concentrated in the Druze community which did not suffer as much as the others because of their surrender after the fall of Damascus. Sudanese tribes were also deported into slavery and Misri settlers were brought in, to continue the occupation of the land. The Shiites of Sana’a experienced great losses although less numerous than the other rebels. And for the Greeks, apart from the rebels, the civilian population never really suffered any damages from the Army. Economically, the rebellion destroyed the various areas touched by it. In Cairo proper, all the Bulaq quarter and parts of the old city were in ashes, an opportunity used by Mohammed Ali  to build a modern city in what could be grossly compared to the Haussman renovation of Paris and would be crucial in the new industrial policies that would come in the last years of the Sultan’s rule.'''

'''After the Order reestablishment, the rebellion was treated by the government as a whole as “reactionary forces” aimed at isolating from the West and going back to the Dark Ages, with of course Wahhabis influence. When histories of the period were later published the authors took back this point of view and preferring to devote their work on the achievements of Mohammed Ali  and his successors. On the other side many Islamists commemorated the revolt as one of the key moments leading to their creation in the early 20th century. It would need the monumental work of Mahmud Nuri, A History of the Revolts of 1843, to see the period better researched by historians. It is now fully admitted that there was propaganda of the regime on the subject, even if nowadays the public opinion still prefers to acknowledge  the victories and the progress brought by the dynasty rather than the dark side of their history.The United Kingdom’s declaration of war did not surprise many in Europe, the British had many reasons to hate and fight the Egyptians. First and foremost the Treaty of Kutahya from which the British ambassador left in fury denouncing a threat to international order had upset the balance of the region with the Russian Empire eager to take its part of the Turkish cake. The threat of the Russian Navy controlling the Dardanelles was drawing closer each day and that, because of Egypt. The matter of Aden, which had been annexed along with the Zaydi possessions only worsened the already deleterious situation. The prospect of a Canal between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea was also becoming a viable project instead of a dream and many in the Imperial administration wanted to assure the control of the said Canal which would, if it ever was completed, be vital to the British policy. British agents had tried before attacking Egypt to secure the island of Socotra under the protection of the Yemenis but before the negotiations could begin, Egyptians had heard of the potential deal and struck against the  Arabian sultanate. The key factor in the outbreak of the war came of the treaty of Abu Dhabi in which British officials were expelled by the new pro-Egyptians authorities from the Trucial States. The alliance of Bahrain with Egypt confirmed the fact : the British had lost all their influence in Arabia. Determined to end the whole affair and reaffirm their position in this part of the world, the British prepared troops for operations in the Sultanate, waiting for the right occasion. On the news of the revolts, the ambassador launched the war.'''

'''The war against the British coincided with a slow but steady decline of the health of the two major figures of Egypt : the Sultan himself and his son Ibrahim. The revolts followed by the declaration of war made the old man doubt everyone even in his family, entering paranoia and panic attacks at random times. By 1847 the Sultan had been isolated from all governmental affairs, high-officials fearing a mad decision during not lucid times (their fears having been confirmed in 1847). Ibrahim Pasha who had taken the lead of the Army of Egypt was in no better state. Tuberculosis had taken it’s toll on him and even before campaigning he was coughing blood. Leading the armies in the deserts of the Middle-East worsened his condition to the point that he needed a week of rest after every battle. But he was determined to end the war, with Aden in Egyptian hands, telling his men before the battle of Hama that “he preferred dying than to let one acre of Arab soil fall  to the Europeans”, a speech that is said to have greatly inspired his troops before the battle. The war had nonetheless begun. The hostilities began in Northern Syria near Hama after a British Corps of 10,000 men crossed the Ottoman border and try to incite the locals to rebel along the other in the South. Unfortunately for them the inhabitants refused to heed their call and the British were forced to besiege the city. By Christmas 1844, all the British soldiers were either dead or captured, Ibrahim ordered the relocation of the prisoners to near the Delta to be used as pawns in favor of peace. The second British expedition took place near Aden, the actual objective of the war. Landing in Assab in Eritrea, forces from the E.I.C quickly established a base from where they could strike into Arabia proper. The Sudanese Garrison could not do much, already occupied with the revolt. Diverting troops from the Arabian theater, Yusuf Pasha was able to outsmart the British commander who had begun the siege of Aden. On the 21st of April, with the combined forces of the Army of the Levant and Army of Jerusalem, he routed the British Corps which dispersed from small ships to sail back to Assab. However as soon as they arrived at the beach, the Red Sea Fleet had shelled the ships. With no place to flee, the remaining troops surrendered to Yusuf Pasha. In a single day he sent 15,000 prisoners back to Egypt. In May a small fleet was sent to try to rescue them on the coast of Sinai but they were soon dealt with by the Red Sea Fleet. The operations were much in favor of the Egyptians but the situation was not all well everywhere. The bad treatments and the repression in Sudan triggered a new tuberculosis epidemic. The deliveries of slaves to Egypt only spread the illness up north which killed many people in the cities of Alexandria and Cairo. The armies in Arabia suffered from it as well in addition to the fighting with the locals. This peculiar epidemic killed approximately 200,000 people in the Sultanate. In February 1845 the colonel Charles Mundy of the EIC landed in Basra at the mouth of the Tigris to try to open a new front to alleviate some pressure from the Bedouins. But his 6,000 men were not enough. On the 2nd March, the emir Abdullah Al-Rasheed surrendered and went to Alexandria where he formally bowed before the Sultan and acknowledged him as his rightful suzerain. The Egyptians were quick to dispose of him and name his brother Ubayd, wali of Nejd. The former head of the Rashid house was however not expelled and he lived a peaceful life in Alexandria until 1848. The submission of the last Bedouin tribes did not actually calm the old Sultan. Afraid of his succession he entered a mental crisis and lived a recluse in his palace. Having met the ambassador of France he expressed his fears of seeing Egypt decaying after he passed away. "My son Ibrahim is old and sick, my grandson Abbas is indolent, and then children will rule Egypt. How will they keep Egypt?" The question of succession was indeed at the center of Egyptian politics. Not having written succession law, the successor was to be chosen by the Sultan himself. The obvious candidate was Ibrahim who had already taken much of the charges of his father. But his bad health avoided an easy succession. His sons were too young and not experimented to take the charge. Another candidate was Abbas’s son of Tusun, who was the first son of the Sultan but who had died during the first campaign against the Saudis. He had left one son, Abbas, a reactionary and shy character who was despised by many in the high spheres of government. But his status of eldest into the family attracted him some partisans. Mohammed Ali  had many other sons but they were either incompetent or young. Amongst them, only one was respected enough to maybe succeed his successful brother : Mohammad Said. But born in 1822, he was only 23 at the time and was studying in Paris, far from the intrigues of the harem in Alexandria. Ibrahim was campaigning at the time, decided to settle the problem of Charles Mundy before he could do much harm. Before leaving Egypt he granted his support to a reform initiated by Sève : the professionalization of the army. The French colonel had indeed decided to adopt a large reform of the recruitment of officers by ending the traditional system. All officers had to pass an exam to obtain their post and much of the newly promoted men were the students the Sultan had sent to Europe and who had received a Western education. The trend would only strengthen over the years with the inclusion of the new students formed in Egyptian schools. However it alienated many old officers who were stripped or degraded to a lower rank because of their incompetence, many joining reactionaries hoping to reclaim their lost privileges.'''

'''By June, Charles Mundy and his men had been captured after a tough fight on the beaches of the Persian Gulf. The colonel tried to escape by the Persian Border, only to be arrested by Persian forces and given to Ibrahim. The British position in the Gulf was eroded and the Qajar Shah was keen to support indirectly Egypt against the Westerners who had secured advantageous treaties over the years. Eventually in September, the Kathiri sultan surrendered. Yemen was thus integrated into Egypt and it’s royal  family was exiled. Arabia was now either directly or indirectly under the dominion of the Sultan of Egypt. Bahrain was allied and tied to the Sultan and Oman enjoyed great relations even if it had refused to join because of the numerous ties that bound the sultanate with the British notably in Zanzibar. Mohammed Ali understood and renewed the pledges of friendship although nobody mentioned alliances anymore. The War with the British still went on but there were no active fights. The British hostages were well treated –by Egyptian standards- except the Indian sepoys. The Muslims were treated on equal terms with the European soldiers but the Hindus were put to work with the Sudanese rebels and none of themwould never see India again although they were never put into slavery. In december a small British unit from Malta landed in Crete trying to join the local rebels and establish a base for further operations. Informed of these operations, the Egyptian sent the Taba and the Army of Alexandria who defeated the British corps near Knossos. Decided to hasten the end of the war, the Army was ordered to take the island of Malta to force negotiations. The island was swiftly secured but British officials still refused to end the war until Aden was given back. The Arab front was calm thanks to infighting in Punjab which soon escalated into a war. To enhance their claim on Aden and force the Egyptians to accept peace, the British high-command decided to send a 27,000 men army to Cyprus. The Taba was unable to disrupt the landing which occured in May 1846, but defeated the small navy on their return to England. The Army of Alexandria was sent to Limassol where they would wait further reinforcements to attack the British. The British did the same, having learnt that the Egyptian Army was on par and even in better shape with European Armies. The Army of Egypt had stayed in Iraq and was slowly coming back to the coast. In August, the preferred son of Ibrahim, Ismail was sent to Paris where he would receive a Western Education. The practise was not exceptional since Said was already in Paris along with many Egyptian students On the same month, Sherif Pasha, the vizier of the diwan al-maliyah (ministry of finances and commerce) who had succeeded to Youssufian enlarged the old industries of Cairo. The act was aimed at creating a large industrial basis in the capital to break the European monopoly on industrial goods. Although many factories weren’t profitable for years it provided a symbol for Egypt with local goods being sold in Europe and acquiring a good reputation on foreign markets. The Army of Egypt had relocated to Cairo for the winter, resupplying and recruiting new recruits for the Cyprus campaign when a new riot occurred. This time it was more structured although doomed from the start. Abbas son of Tusun, angered at being slowly disposed of, had contacted rebel leaders and joined them. The rebellion however mobilized not much men and after 5 days of fights inside the streets of Cairo Abbas and other leaders fled to the Levant. There they mobilized a great force in Alep numbering 20,000 men. Alarmed by the turn of the events, the Sultan who had become senile ordered the Army of Alexandria to come back and chase the rebels enabling the British Corps to take the control of the whole island. By January 1847 the rebellion was ended and Abbas captured, sent back with chains to Alexandria. There in a madness event, the Sultan, his own grandfather ordered him to be beheaded for treason. The act shocked everyone in Egypt. Mercy was not yet his principal virtue, but killing his own grandson was an act unseen from his part. The Viziers would from this moment isolate him in his palace of Ras-El-Tin in Alexandria which was just completed. The memory of his grandson would however haunt him until his last days, showing deep regret of his action. By March, 47,000 men under the command of Ibrahim Pasha landed in Cyprus determined to take back the island. The battle of Nicosia and the following pursuit to Limassol led to a stunning victory for the Egyptians with the British either dead or fleeing, at the expense of 7,000 dead and wounded for the Egyptians. This campaign had deteriorated the health of Ibrahim to the point he could not walk anymore, instead being carried by slaves. However his determination was fierce and he declared that “he would only join Allah when the British would sue for peace.” He crushed easily a new expedition to Crete on the 8th of June. The entire war had been in favor of the Egyptians. Except for the brief period of three months during which they controlled Cyprus, the United Kingdom had faced only defeats. But in fact the whole war was not a crucial affair for the kingdom. It committed small forces and did not even enforce a blockade which would have forced the Egyptians to give back Aden. But a more important matter changed the mind of the British government. On the 10th of June, Nicolas I of Russia declared war upon the Ottoman Empire along with Prussia. Prussia,who had been an ally of the Bourbons during the two previous decades had broken off their alliance after Adolphe Thiers, the French Prime Minister during a short period of time, claimed the West Bank of the Rhine as French territory. After this Rhine Crisis which ended with Thiers resigning, the king of Prussia had decided to look East, towards St-Petersburg. Nicolas I was more than happy to break his isolation and confident in his forces he declared war for seizing fortresses in the Caucasus along with Black Sea ports. This swift change forced the British high-command to bid for peace. Egypt would be a thorn in their side as long as the war went on. And so on the 25th of June the British consul John Murray signed a peace treaty which marked the return of the status quo ante bellum. The legend says that Ibrahim died as soon as the ink was dry on the paper, ending his life saying : “My duty is done there”.'''

'''The death of Ibrahim was a shock for Egypt. Holding until the very last moment of the war, the Colossus of Egypt as he would be later called by the popular tradition was buried in the Mosque of the Citadel of Cairo commanded by Mohammed Ali  after the death of his son Tusun and which would host the sarcophaguses of the royal family. The procession went through the streets of Cairo where a great crowd stood silently for the last travel of Ibrahim along with many official legates but without the Sultan himself. Many whispered at the time that he did not even realize the death of his elder. What is sure is that he would not get better, entering manic states many times. Upon hearing the news, the Viziers assembled to decide the succession policy. With the Sultan not in a state  in which he’d be up to the task of ruling the vast country that Egypt had become, the Viziers decided to make no changes : integration and expansion of the Egyptian model of government in the conquered areas ; state monopoly on trade and factories ; repression of every rebellion against Egyptian rule. The apparent heir Said had came back from France upon receiving the news of the death of his brother. Placed in a position he had not expected to hold, he tried to swiftly learn the needs of the government, the viziers and the administration. However, his young age and his lack of any prowess on the fields of battle looked weak in the eyes of many at the highest positions. He found himself three allies in his hell that was the Diwan : Soliman Pasha, Selim Pasha and El-Tahtawi albeit he had retired to the Schools of Languages. Small rebellions occurred from time to time, never as big as in 1843, but forcing the Egyptian forces to always be on the move. Wahhabis in particular had earned a great influence amongst all those that had lost their status or their lifestyle because of the “reforms”. There was always a retired officer, Palestinian deportees or old workers from the factory to threaten the establishment. The only city spared by this was Alexandria, bustling with activity thanks to the opening to the West and the favor of the royal family. In January 1849 s strange affair began which led to the launch of an expedition to subdue the Somalians. A small garrison had stayed in Aden led by Yusuf Pasha. This megalomaniac but interesting character considered the area his own domain although he did not dare rebel and found solace in ruling over the Bab-El-Mandeb. A small ship owned by an Egyptian trader was attacked by Somalian pirates. As soon as survivors reached the ports and informed the authorities Yusuf took the command of the army and entered the territory of Djibouti. There he led expeditions along the coast to find back the ship and the goods it carried. Doing this he entered the territory of the Majerteen sultan who sent a messenger to Cairo to ask Yusuf Pasha to retreat out of his territory. The high-command was astonished at the news that one of the generals had entered foreign territory without authorization but it provided an excuse to formally annex the Sultanate and access the Somalian markets and goods. Thus the expedition went on, annexing the old Sultanate by June 1850 ; the Sultan fleeing south to Mogadishu where he was sheltered by the Sultan there.'''

'''In the rest of the world, the war between Russia, Prussia and the Ottoman Empire came to an end with Russia annexing various territories in the Caucasus and on the shores of the Black Sea. The Empire still existed on paper but each Russian war showed how much they relied on the British to help them. The Austrians faced in the same time a great revolt of the Hungarians in what was later called the “Springtime of Nations”. Apart from this country much of Europe did not encounter great changes. The Sultan of Egypt, a simple Albanian commander from humble origins, who had taken control of Egypt and the Middle-East, introduced the ideas of the West, subdued or killed the opponents to his rule, had just died. The Diwan and the Royal Family soon assembled to choose his successor. Said was chosen with a large majority and led the ceremony. He ordered a general mourning for the death of his father. The procession in Cairo was surrounded by respectful Egyptians who had come to pay their respects to their old ruler, like they had done to his son Ibrahim. The Consuls were invited to the ceremony and here is what the British representative wrote : “The ceremonial of the funeral was conducted with great intelligence by his successor who showed a great respect to the memory of his illustrious father. The attachment and veneration of all classes in Egypt for the name of Mohammed Ali  are prouder obsequies than any of which it was in power of his successor to confer. The old inhabitants remember and talk of the chaos and anarchy from which he rescued this country. In truth my Lord, it cannot be denied, that Mohammed Ali, notwithstanding all his faults was a great man” After the ceremony and the end of the mourning, the new Sultan of Egypt assembled the officials of the government to discuss the future course of the country in what was to be known as "The Speech of the Citadel" The official divan hall, often called by ambassadors the audience hall, was full with the highest dignitaries of the regime. One could see the different ministers, the consuls, and all the important functionaries. The wali of Nejd, Ubayd Al-Rasheed and the Wali of Dubai and Abu Dhabi attended the ceremony, waiting for their confirmation by the new Sultan. Along the Bedouin embassies, was also present the Sharif of Mecca, Muhammed bin Abdulmuin of the House of Hashim. No one really knew what the Sultan was about to say and the audience was filled with mixed feelings and expectations. The Liberals, and their key figure, El-Tahtawi were hoping to see the Sultan enact a Constitution ; the Traditionalists, represented there by the mufti of Al-Azhar since the execution of prince Abbas. Between these two factions, who were literally on opposite sides in the hall and stayed by themselves, not speaking much and waiting religiously on the speech, were located the supporters of the old Sultan ways, who did not expect much and were content with their current position. This awful mob of nepotism, corruption, oldness and inefficiency was quite noisy, talking about their new estates in Nubia or the latest slave they had obtained from Sudan. Then arrived the personal secretary of the Sultan, a little Greek man wearing spectacles, the kind of man you immediately think of as a bureaucrat. He announced the arrival of “Mohammed Said bin Mohammed, sultan of Egypt, Levant and Iraq, emir of Nejd, Cyrenaica, Warden of the Holy Places”. The new Sultan was dressed in a European military costume, a scimitar on his flank. His whole demeanor inspired fear, especially to those who had frequently seen the cultivated young man who had just came back from Europe. The last months of his father had been harsh on him and he bore a deep desire of revenge against those who had opposed his accession to the throne. He had not even talked but already the whole place went silent. He sat on his throne, looked into the crowd for a few moments, He checked that his secretary was ready to write down the whole thing, and then began to speak. “I am happy to see that you all were able to come here to assist this peculiar audience. You were all great servants of my Father and I expect you will serve me with the same diligence. My father, may he rest in peace, was a great man and I hope we won’t waste all the efforts accomplished under his reign. For too long we have been considered as inferior, poor uncivilized savages who were destined to be used in favor of Western interests. But my father, alone, stood against the West. Alone, he understood that the weakness of the Islamic World did not come from a lack of piety or from our moral wrongs. No, we were plagued, we still are, by the thought that progress is unfaithful, that one could not be a good Muslim and interact with the West, that one was unfaithful by reading books of science. We are far from the era of the Righteous Caliphs, when the Arab World was the center of civilization and science while Europe struggled in the Dark Ages. Instead the current caliph sits in the City of the World’s Desire as a puppet of the British and is no longer in a position to protect the ummah. No more shall we be victims of the Europeans. We defeated them in the deserts, in the mountains of Crete and Cyprus, in the very Mediterranean Sea, we repelled them from the beaches of Egypt. And we will continue. As long as our rightful claims are not acknowledged and accepted, then we shall fight for what is ours. And it is the duty of Egypt, and thus mine, to protect our brothers from Muscat to Rabat. I affirm it here, we will not let our Arabian brothers be annexed by European powers. Egyptian armies and ships will protect the Arab world ! I promise that someday we will avenge the offences of the vile and perfidious British. Those who will not submit will be crushed, for Progress can’t be halted by particularisms or personal interests! We will be at once the shield and the sword of our millenary civilization ! Some wonder if I will grant to my people the rights that European people enjoy. I witnessed the Western way of governing during my studies in France and Prussia. While I am sympathetic to the idea, I think we all know who would gain support of such move : the reactionaries. The ignorant masses can’t be given any credit when they can be manipulated by demagogic speeches. And I don’t trust the “so-called elite” either. Look at some of you, taking the money from the State, placed in your positions because of your familial connections. Has your position really helped improve Egypt ? No I will take upon me to lead Egypt into this age of constant change. I will do what is in my power to protect my people both from foreign powers and also from the enemies within. And I will begin now. All high-officials will be examined by a loyal commission and you will have to defend your results and the money you used during your charge. Some amongst you seem to be fearful of such examination; you should be. You will learn that Nuri Bey, whom my father had pardoned will be executed tomorrow and most of his possessions seized by the State. There are some people that can’t be pardoned. His actions launched an uprising in Syria which cost thousands of lives. He has been judged accordingly. We also affirm here the confirmation of the current walis of Nejd and the Trucial Sheiks under our benevolent rule. However, the Sharif of Mecca will be stripped of the exceptional powers, my father had given him, but will keep his honorary role. Hedjaz is no more a special province of the Sultanate. You can now leave gentlemen and fulfill your duties”'''

''' first year of Said takeover was calm. The Citadel speech, as it had been called, had put an end to the riot problem that had plagued the last years of Mohammed Ali ’s reign. Not that the opposition was silent and inactive. The liberals mostly had gained approval in the urban centres and the newly educated elites and were trying to make the Sultan pass legislation on a variety of subjects like freedom of press. The Egyptian press was at the time completely controlled by the State which had put loyal journalists at the head of the few newspapers that the Cairo Press printed. In June 1851, one of these officials decided to allow an article that blamed the royal bureaucracy in the management of the Arabian provinces. But this isolated act did not last : the Sultan having heard of it, imprisoned the foolish man and reaffirmed his opposition to reforms.'''

'''The mind of the Sultan was focused on the Horn of Africa. The conquest of the Geledi Sultanate had brought an influx of goods and had reaffirmed the Egyptian control on the Arabian Sea. However, the border with the Majerteen sultan proved to be a tension point. Egyptian slave traders often crossed the border like they did in Ethiopia and captured many locals which were to be brought to Egypt proper. One of them was captured and executed by the Somalian authorities. This act proved to be a nice excuse for the Egyptian government who wanted to increase his domination in the area. The tensions rose and eventually Egyptian armies crossed the border and invaded the last independent Somalian realm. The local Sultan was defeated in Mogadishu and surrendered on the 18th of September 1852. By March 1852 Egypt had rose to prominence in the Middle-East and was acknowledged by Western chancelleries as a nation on par with their own. The Two-Sicilies, once a Great Player of the Vienna Order was now relegated to a secondary power place and was not seriously considered anymore. The Egyptian diplomats on the other hand tried to exert their influence over their neighbours, especially Oman, Tripoli and Bahrain. The Arabian walis were already under complete control and the nations mentioned before, all had friendly relations with Cairo.In the same time, Said decided to officially change his regnal title. Sultan was quite common in fact in the Islamic World and did not have a clear equivalent in European minds. Decided to show that he was the equal of European sovereigns, he declared himself to be Malik Misr, Mashriq, Hejaz, Nejd, Yaman wa's Sudan (King of Egypt, Levant, Hedjaz, Nejd, Yemen and Sudan). This long title was although often shortened to “King of Egypt” in the Western Embassies. Another small step taken by the Egyptians to normalize relations with the West was to officially ban slave trade and expeditions into the African tribes. Issued in 1852, the edict was largely ignored by slave traders and the government did not have the will to intervene directly into this sensible matter until later. The first European country to acknowledge the new situation was surprisingly the kingdom of Two-Sicilies. The Sicilians had encountered several problems with liberal riots, economic recession and local resistance in Tunis and Tripoli. Sardinia-Piedmont was becoming aggressive and often challenged the Bourbons of Naples. The Liberals were slowly gaining the support of the people at home. A demonstration in 1854 was soon put down by the Royal forces and in a speech the King reaffirmed that reforms would come later when Egypt would had become calmer and more prosperous. However the urban elite; who benefited the most from the opening to the West, sided with the Liberals and wanted reforms as soon as possible. Alexandria and its surroundings became the bastion of the Liberal Party which hoped to see Tahtawi or another figure becoming Prime Minister. The only concession the King accepted was to allow free press under the condition of censorship by the state. In the end, censorship was omnipresent and the promise of “free speech” was but an illusion. One of the most important supporters of the Reformists in the government, Selim Pasha, the admiral of the Taba and a war hero died in 1856. To honour his achievements, the King granted him national mourning and buried him in the Mohammed Ali  mosque next to the first Sultan of Egypt. By 1857, the Middle-East was Egyptian. The last Arab independent rulers were slowly put under the influence of Cairo’s politics. The sultan of Oman and Zanzibar along with the Emir of Tripolitania gave Egyptians special trade rights and were “invited” to open their governments to Cairo advisors. The emir of Bahrain who tried to oppose the situation by trying to align with London was forcefully put back into Order when the Egyptian fleet bombarded his palace and forced him to sign a humiliating treaty with Egypt in September 1857. The decade would see an outburst of thought in various domains. Firstly Egypt invested in medical science. The old efforts of modernization had seen foreign doctors invited to the country but the King decided to not rely on the West, in particular in this field of science. Various faculties of medicine were established in Egypt along with several new hospitals. Techniques to fight typhus or tuberculosis would save many lives throughout the country and would help to enhance the logistics of the army. The University of Alexandria would see many developments in political thought with the introduction of ideologies from the West and also the leading principles of state and government. In this liberal bastion one would often see discussed, the issues of secularism, constitutionalism or nepotism. The King would also take a special interest in developing the railroads in the Middle-East, supporting the creation of the Levantine Railroad Company and financing the construction of the railroads in Persia after negotiations with Nasseredin Shah. The tensions between Ethiopia and Egypt had deep roots. During the conquest of Sudan, Ibrahim had taken control of the port of Assab along with Eritrea, cutting any sea access the Ethiopian Princes had enjoyed before. They were then forced to rely on their Somali neighbours for the little trade they made with the world but the Egyptian soon closed this way once more. The borders between the two states were also often crossed by slave traders who raided the local population and brought them to Khartoum and then Egypt itself. By 1859, Ethiopia was ruled by Tewodros II, who managed to rule the country but with many difficulties, the local princes enjoying a rather large autonomy. The trigger for the war was the Djibouti affair. Between Assab and the old Majerteen sultanate lied an unclaimed piece of land with many petty tribes fighting against each other. Both Tewodros II and Said laid eyes on the area, the first to regain access to the sea, the second to connect Somalia by land with the rest of his realm. Ethiopian forces began to mobilize, ready to annex the warlords but Egyptians were faster, signing agreements with local leaders and putting down the others. The diplomatic relations which were already sour, were cut off. Ethiopia had become a thorn in the side of the Egyptians and the military was soon called to the border. The declaration of war was issued in January 1859 and the campaign ended in December.'''

'''Needless to say, Ethiopia was weak, still technologically backward, divided by personal ambitions, still embroiled in the “era of Princes”. Against this opponent, Egypt fared well. The troops were disciplined, trained according to European doctrine. It was, for example during this war, that Egyptians strategists were able to put to use Clausewitzian theory. The only advantage the Ethiopians had, was their manpower, but it soon crumbled after the numerous defeats they encountered. Their first offensive in Somalia was put down, while Egyptian forces captured the Northern fortresses. Eventually all ended during the battle of Gonder.'''

'''The last Ethiopian forces commanded by the Emperor and the numerous negus of Ethiopia decided to retake the capital which had fell in September. Their 40,000 men soon put the Egyptian garrison under siege but they were themselves tired and exhausted and did not expect an Egyptian army to fall on them. Enver Pasha had made his soldiers hasten their speed to catch the Ethiopians by surprise ; it succeeded. Placing his artillery on a safe hill, he was able to blow the enemy defences and disorganized them completely. Having the control of the rest of the area he made sure none escaped and 20,000 prisoners were captured during the battle. 80,00 died, notably the Emperor and some of the great Negus, whom had been hit unintentionally by the artillery. The little nobility that had survived, gathered and surrendered to the Malik. The peace of Axum was the foundation of Ethiopian-Egyptian politics. The Egyptians took the region of Harer, inhabited by many Somalis and made the Ethiopians renounce claims Djibouti. They swore to protect Ethiopian independence, while gaining free and unlimited access to the market to the detriment of the other powers. In exchange, Said decided to enforce his previous edict and stop the slave trade on the border (but not addressing the matter in Kenya, or South Sudan). He also became arbiter of the Ethiopian politics, choosing the next Emperor after the death of Tewodros. The succession was unclear since the previous emperor had produced no heir. Moreover the greater part of the nobility had been killed during the war and no claimant was powerful enough to rule the whole country. Thus, the Egyptian government chose the successor of Tewodros : Menelik II as he would be called. The son of the negus of Shewa, heir of the prestigious Solomonid dynasty, Menelik was only 15 years old and had spent most of his life in detention after the death of his father. Until he was “deemed” wise enough to rule, a Council of Regency would be held, under the supervision of the Ethiopian Partriarch, and containing the Egyptian ambassador who was here “to help the modernization of the country and ensure the interests of Egypt”. Menelik was crowned swiftly and his first act was to sign the treaty of Aksum. Egypt had won large lands in the Horn of Africa while gaining influence in its southern neighbours, which had been proved to not be a threat. In August, the European powers had once again ceded Ottoman lands to the kingdom of Greece, sponsored by the UK since they had lost their influence in the Sublime Porte’s government. This time, Greeks held Gallipoli and all land contact from Constantinople to Bulgaria was lost. Nobody knew what awaited the Turks and if they would still exist in the years to come …After the Ethiopian war the prestige of the Malik was even greater but it did not shut down the liberal opposition. The liberals and reformists convinced more people every day and the censorship of the press did not alleviate the problem, worse it helped it. No riots or demonstrations were launched but the opposition always seemed to convince functionaries and ministry servants. Eventually Said decided to grant the liberty of the press to the Egyptian people. The press flourished, especially in the urban centres of the kingdom even if most of the population was still illiterate (according to censuses, only 15% of the population could write and read during this period). It is during this period that also appeared the republican supporters, even more radicals than most reformists. Although there was no election and no way to actually know the percentage that supported them, most contemporary historians estimate it to at least 35% of the population especially according to the later records.'''

'''With the peace achieved both inside the kingdom and on its borders, the most interesting events of 1861 concerned Egyptology. Egyptology, the study of the old Egyptian civilization, had only emerged as a science thanks to the French invasion of Egypt under Bonaparte. The influx of scientists in the area helped rediscover great works of architecture and culture but it was only rudimentary. It created on the other hand appeal from the upper classes for the subject, like Orient had been during the XVIIIth century. The real beginning came with the deciphering of the hieroglyphic writings by the French anthropologist Champollion in the 1820’s with a copy of the Rosetta stone, taken by the British when they left Egypt after the Napoleonic Wars. Many expeditions followed to uncover the secrets of the Egyptian civilizations and the Egyptian government was not highly interested in the matter at the time and let most expeditions without any further control.'''

'''However from 1858 onwards, these expeditions multiplied and the Malik himself took an interest in the matter. He created the Supreme Council of Antiquities in 1858 with the task of conserving, studying and regulating all archaeological excavations and findings in Egypt. The direction was given to Auguste Mariette, another French Egyptologist who had been very active on various sites such as Saqqara or Memphis. Upon meeting him at the recommendation of the French court, Saïd declared : “It is our responsibility to watch carefully our monuments. In 500 years, will Egypt be able to show scholars who will visit it, these monuments as we see them now ?”. It is to be noted that the post of director of this Council was awarded only to French until the 1930's.'''

'''This institute would be at the origin of many discoveries and excavations throughout Egypt. In 1862, the Malik funded the creation of a museum whose task would be to display the latest artefacts uncovered during the various works of the Council. The Bulaq museum is the direct ancestor of the Egyptian Museum of Cairo which sees millions of tourists each year. Soon Egyptology became a source of great prestige for the country and the university of Cairo became the scientific center for all that concerned Ancient Egypt, the greatest Egyptologists coming there to teach or study.'''

'''But behind the “cause of science” lied also a great diplomatic scheme. In fact, the French had petitioned for a favoured access to excavations sites in the Valley of the Kings, asking to be able to take back some of their findings in the process. And it was granted by the convention of the Louvre, which gave France a special status in Egyptology, a field which they would dominate in Europe for the greater part of the XIXth century. No other European nation was offered such a generous offer and the Brtish or German expeditions were heavily watched by the government, which kept whatever they found on the field. This special treaty was used by the Egyptian government to strengthen the good relations they enjoyed with the French government. Mohammed Ali  had already used this strategy when he ruled, the most notable event being the gift of a Luxor Obelisk to Louis XIX in 1836. This Obelisk is still present nowadays at the Louvre. Eventually, the Egyptian and French governments signed a treaty of alliance which heralded a power bloc in the Mediterranean. This strategy of giving special rights for excavations in Egypt was soon labelled by the press as “Mummy diplomacy” and the theme has been used in caricatures most of times, Franco-Egyptian relations were dealt with. One country was far from content from this accord : Great-Britain which still claimed the port of Aden and who had special interests in Morocco, where Egyptian agents were slowly trying to influence the internal politics of the Sultanate which had been reduced to Fes and its neighbourhoods.Along with Egyptology, Egyptian universities were filled with many reflexions and schools of thought. The opening with the west, the nature of the state, ideologies, the place of Islam in the modern society, positivism were amongst the many fields explored by scholars of Al-Nahda (Arabic for Renaissance). The plurality of views created an outburst of thought in the whole Islamic World, not seen since the glorious days of the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad. Soon, the question of nationalism emerged on the intellectual scene and would influence the politics of the Egyptian State.'''

'''Prior to Arab Nationalism, the ideology existing among the intellectual spheres related to the question of Pan-Islamism. The idea of a caliph leading the whole ummah (community of believers aka all Muslims) was at the core of the Islamic civilization but the failure of the house of Osman had relativized this notion. Some scholars, mainly sheikhs of Al-Azhar advocated the unification of the Arab peoples to then lead once again the Islamic World and using the shari’ah as the basis of law. However their support was weak, even though these ideas would give birth to the Muslim Brotherhood and multiple Islamist organisations during the XIXth century. Islam saw a renewal of thoughts during the XIXth century especially after the ideas of Jamal ad-Din al-Afghani and his student Muhammad Abduh. While a supporter of Pan-Islamism, Al-Afghani (literally “the Afghan”), was the main theological supporter of modernism, especially in science demesnes to fight the Western Imperialists, especially in Northern India where he felt that Muslims were threatened and oppressed by the British government. Butrus Al-Bustani On the other hand, Egypt was also under the influence of a new ideology whose main supporters came from Lebanon and among them Butrus Al-Bustani. Butrus was born in a Maronite family, but converted to Protestantism after contacts with American missionaries, he took part in the first translation of the Bible in Arabic. A secular at heart, especially after the numerous Maronite/Druze conflicts which had been quelled by the authorities but could surely have been got out of hand, he advocated the separation of religion from the state and formulated the first use of national solidarity. These thoughts sparked an ever growing movement in Egyptian universities which gave birth to Arab Nationalism. The central idea of this ideology was that the peoples from the Arabic World from Mauritania to the Persian Gulf constituted a single nation tied by a common language, history and culture. Some made Islam one of these pillars tying up with a larger Islamic solidarity current while other like Al-Bustani only made it a cultural link rather than a criteria for being an “Arab”. This movement was not extraordinary and looked much like other nationalism in Europe. In fact the consciousness of being an Arab before being either Egyptian, Lebanese or Muslim was very low at the time. Only the educated spheres were great proponents of the idea and it would only be after the mass education system was introduced that one could say that people associated with the idea of nation It is also at this same period that emerged a thought directly coming from Europe, which would be later popularized by Rudyard Kipling in his poem : “The White Man’s Burden”. Many scholars and politics began to justify the various campaigns of the Egyptian government as a way to propagate civilization. One could not let the Europeans alone in colonization ; the Arabs had the duty to spread their own model of civilization to the “inferior races”. The more radicals argued of the superiority of the “Semitic Race” which had been corrupted by Asian and European inferiors and would later give their own version of eugenics. The idea of one state encompassing all the Arab peoples appealed to one person : the King of Egypt. Unlike his father, Said felt Egyptian and Arab. He had been born in the land of the Nile, and spoke Arabic fluently. How much he was a nationalist at heart is uncertain. It is sure that he used it to strengthen his position. Using the vast influence he wielded in the Middle-East, he issued the Ras-el-Tin Proclamation which called all “the Arab peoples to unify around Egypt to protect their culture and civilization”. This text became one of the foundations of Arab Nationalists and he still quoted nowadays. Soon after this proclamation, the various Arab leaders united in Cairo on the 7th of March 1862 for what would became the foundation of the Arab Union. The call of Said had been answered by all the leaders of the Arab World except Morocco. In Cairo met on the 7th of March 1862, the king of Egypt Said, the wali of Nejd Talal Al Rashid, the sharif of Mecca Abdullah Kamil Al-Hashim, the sultan of Oman and Zanzibar Thuwaini bin Said, the Hakim (litteraly caretaker) from Bahrain Muhammad Al-Khalifa, the emir of Abu Dhabi and wali of the Trucial States Zayed Al-Nahyan, the sultan of Tripolitania Mehmed Karamanli, the Bey of Tunis Muhammad III as-Sadiq and the emir Abd-El-Kader representing the various Algerian tribes. All agreed on the principle of a united Arab Union although the actual Constitution had to be written and validated by the various representatives. One point was clear : all Arabs, be it from Mashriq, Misr, Hedjaz or Maghreb were considered full citizens of the new state. The question of Berbers and Arabicized populations was controversial and would be left for later instances. Many questions were in fact controversial.'''

1) the question of the actual name and the title given to the King of Egypt. He had been behind the whole process and wanted to play an active role ; Two solutions were debated :

- the country would be the Arab Union, and the king of Egypt would gain the title of President of the Union (“Rais”) - the country would become the Imperial State of Arabia and the King of Egypt would gain the title of Imbratur (emperor)

2)The question of reforms :

'''Egypt was a liberal bastion and wanted to continue in liberal reforms, but the new populations were far more conservative. Three camps opposed :'''

- the abolitionnists who wanted to end slavery inside the country (and often also integrate the African-Arabic populations like Sudanese or Somali)

- the supporters of an elected assembly who wanted to allow the higher classes to elect representatives

- the conservatives who were happy with the current status

3)The question of Crete and Cyprus :

'''Crete and Cyprus had been annexed by Mohammed Ali  who wanted more naval bases in the Mediteranean. However the population was rebellious and the actual cost of the islands surpassed the advantages.'''

- Some wanted to keep the islands

- others wanted to allow them autonomy (aka releasing vassals) by allowing them to form their own states

- others wanted to sell them to Greece

4)The question of the Assyrians :

the Assyrians did not feel Arab and maintained their own culture but they also shared many similarities with many of their Arabic neighbours.

- some considered that they could be allowed a special status in the Federation and that negotiations should be made with the Assyrian republic of Mosul

- others considered that the Assyrians inhabited rightful Arabic lands and that they should be assimilated – by force if needed.

'''After a whole month of deliberations between the different Arab leaders, Said proclaimed the birth of the new Imperial States of Arabia, a state encompassing all the Arab peoples regardless of their religion. The flag that had been created by the Pan-Arabist society Al-Fatat was hailed throughout the whole Middle-East. In a ceremony which many European ambassadors attended, Said became Imbratur, the closest equivalent to Emperor in Arabic which did not hold a religious meaning like Caliph. In the same ceremony, the Arab leaders became Kings, at the exception of the Trucial Emirates and Algeria. It had been one of the key of the negotiations : the various leaders had different titles, and it was the cause of many tensions between them. Said decided to put all of them on an equal footing while making them recognize his new status. To win over the Bedouins who were the fiercest to oppose unification, he gave back Hedjaz to the Hashemite family and elevated the title to a kingdom. The Constitution gave preeminence to the Imbratur. The state followed a Federal model : the United government (often the same as the Egyptian one) handled diplomacy, the economy, infrastructure, education and the military and his decisions overran the ones made by the governments of the states. The Union was divided in thirteen subdivisions of various sizes and power. The old crown of Egypt was divided in 5 states, 4 retaining the same ruler and only there to administer more efficiently the various Arabic lands that Mohammed Ali  and his successors had conquered. The kingdom of Egypt was by itself the biggest state of the whole Empire. Sudanese leaders had asked for a separate kingdom, a proposition that Said refused outright. Arabia, already the least populated region of the new state, was on purpose divided into various rulers. Said had hoped that by playing the various factions against each other, he could easily suppress his opponents. The strategy was flawless, and until the 1900’s, it was rare to see the Shiites of Sana’a collaborated with the Ibadis from Muscat or see the Hashemites and Rasheedis agree on a political matter. In fact it was the western Arab states that would pose the most problems to the Egyptian dynasty. More populated and better organized, these states would often ally with one another against the centralizing tendencies of the Federal government. It is to be noted that Algeria did not become a standard kingdom, lacking a unified rulership. They would form a confederacy between the various tribes and emirates with one elected Rais for a certain period of time, a model the Trucial States also adopted to form the United Arab Emirates.'''

'''While the division in 14 different states inside the Empire may seem to be simple, the administration inside these states was far more complicated. All the territories of the Egyptian crown had adopted a division of the territories in muhafazah (governorates). These governorates constituted the lowest division apart from the cities. In Tunisia and Tripolitania, the territory followed the old wilayah system inherited from the Ottomans but actually, soon only the name stayed different for they adopted many of the Egyptian reforms. Outside of this, administration was complicated to say the least. Oman which was the more urban than the Arabian kingdoms established governorates in the decade following the constitution but the Bedouin states would still use an informal system to govern over the large desert lands of the Peninsula and it was only with the development of censuses and the sedentarization of the nomad population that changes happened. Algeria was as always divided in various tribes, cities and emirates, each keeping its old customs.'''

'''The Constitution of 1862 reaffirmed the various rights enjoyed by Egyptian denizens but would go even farther with the abolition of slavery. The Arab World had used slavery since Antiquity and both Oman (via Zanzibar) and Egypt were important on the slave market. The bill seems to have been nearly refused, winning only because of the tensions between the liberals and the conservatives. It was a sign of hope for the Sudanese and Somali people who considered themselves rightful citizens of the Empire. Despite the principle being in the first articles of the Constitution, slavery would remain an important part of the Arab society until the last years of the century, when the Federal government would issue an important campaign to “free all men” on its territory. The elective principle had been ruled out by the creators of the Union but would soon become a reality.'''

'''The first acts of the new Federal government was to recruit many new divisions for the Army especially in Maghreb, where the European occupation of Morocco pushed many young recruits to join to defend the Motherland. But most of the army was gathered East where the Empire claimed the ancestral lands of Iraq from the Kurds and the Persians ….'''

'''In 1863, Mohammed Said died, Imbratur of the Imperial States of Arabia, Malik of Egypt. He left behind him an impressive legacy, having modernized Egypt, making her the equal of the European powers, securing an alliance with France and unifying the Arab people under the Egyptian banner He left however no direct successor to Egypt and the Empire : his sole heir Ahmad Rifaat died in a train accident on his way from Alexandria to Cairo in 1858. He had organized his succession and it posed no problem in Egypt and the Empire. He designated his nephew Ismail, son of Ibrahim, that had been expected by some to take the throne at the death of Mohammed Ali .'''

'''After having buried his successor in the Mosque of the Citadel in Cairo, he was crowned King of Egypt, Syria, Yemen and Iraq and acknowledged by the others Kings of the Empire as the rightful Imbratur and leader of the States. A resolute modernist and westernizer, he would continue the policies of his predecessors. New ports were created throughout the Empire, universities were opened in Tunis, Algiers and Oran, railroads were expanded and the new great Middle-East market helped the growing Arab industry which was still far from reaching the French. The new Imbratur took a different approach in the reclamation of what was considered “ancestral Arab lands”.'''

'''Lending an open hand to the Assyrian Republic, he was met with an outright refusal of the Russian faction of Mosul who opposed any negotiations with the States, feeling secured by the Russian guarantees. Ismail saw that Assyria would have to wait : diplomacy had failed and would not change so easily while a military annexation was out of the question with the Russian behemoth protecting the Republic. The matter of Khuzestan, Persian lands controlling the Tigris estuary and inhabited by Arabs was also avoided for the time being, the Shah also being protected by the Czar. But one country did not possess the same guarantees : Kurdistan.'''

'''Kurdish tribes and then the Kurdish Sultanate controlled most of the old Mosul eyalet and while in some parts, Kurdish people constituted the most important group in raw numbers, it was always a relative majority with many Mashriqis and Assyrian populations living in these lands. Kurdistan had enjoyed an alliance with Egypt since the Oriental Crisis in which both countries fought for their independence. Mohammed Ali  had even helped one Kurdish leader to emerge victorious in the ensuing Civil War. But all these things did not matter much in the minds of the Arab leaders : the Sultan possessed rightful Arab lands, settled since the early victories of the Rashiduns.'''

'''A declaration of war was swiftly issued to Diyarbikir. The disputed territories were soon in the hands of the Arab Army. The remaining Kurdish army was crushed in the defence of the capital.'''

'''The Sultan was replaced by a cousin who was more in line with Egyptian interests, putting Kurdistan in the Arab sphere. All lands around Mosul were now in the hands of the Arab Empire, isolating even more the Assyrian republic. The lands were attached to the Baghdad government and Ismail issued a special declaration protecting the Assyrians who had been persecuted for centuries by the Kurdish populations. The “Semitic” party influence was slowly growing but negotiations for integration of Mosul into the States were still far.'''

''' After the Arab attack on Kurds, Persia and the Ottoman Empire were afraid of the growing power of Arabia. The Ottoman Empire still bore a deep hatred toward the dynasty that had overthrown its rule over the Middle-East and Europe. Rumors also circulated in diplomatic offices that the Kurds had been promised the East of Anatolia after the loss of Northern Iraq. Persia, embroiled in a process of modernization was protected by the Czar but watched with fear as Arab troops assembled on the banks of the Tigris, ready to invade Khuzestan. Thus was signed the treaty of Ankara in January 1864 which created a defensive alliance between Teheran and the Sublime Porte. That was the occasion, Cairo had waited for. On the 14th of August 1864, a declaration of war was issued to the Ottoman Empire for the liberation of the “Kurdish homeland”, a Casus Belli that was ridiculed by many in the West since it was only 6 months after the war for Northern Iraq. On the same day, Persians honored the treaty and entered war with the Imperial States of Arabia. Thus began the “Omar Operation”, named after the 2nd Rashidun Caliph. That war was also the first to be placed under the Geneva Convention, which Arabia had signed.The Plan was pretty simple : 20 divisions had been gathered in Northern Syria from which they were ordered to capture the contested lands between Kurdistan and the Ottomans. Meanwhile, 3 armies of 15,000 men secured the Arab-Persian border. The estuary from the Euphrates and Tigris was left undefended to attract the Persian Army. The Red Sea Fleet was ordered to blockade the Persian Gulf while the Taba was ordered to stay in the arsenal of Alexandria (The high-command feared the Turkish navy that was undoubtedly better and more numerous than the Arab one). Despite the preparations from the strategists, things did not go according to the plan, for worse and better. The Persian Fleet managed to sink half of the Red Sea Fleet near Dubai, forcing the rest to hide in ports until the end of the war. The high-command expected the Turkish troops to attack them directly into Syria but they only caught half of them into the Cilician mountains. A corps of 30,000 men landed on Cyprus. The Ottoman plan was to use the island as a base for punitary expeditions into Syria and Egypt to distract the invasion force. But on the 28th of September, the Ottoman Fleet was separated because of the bad weather. The transports of the fleet were somehow caught by the Taba and completely sunk. The Turkish Navy still kept the superiority in the Mediterranean but the expeditionary corps was stuck on Cyprus until the end of the war. With Turkish forces divided the Arab armies encountered no real opposition while occupying Anatolia.'''

'''In Persia, the main Persian Army was caught up by the new armies near Abadan. The battle ended with a victory of the Arab Army, which would continue on pursuing the survivors in Fars, crushing completely the remaining forces during November 1865. The various Arab armies continued to advance into Persia and in June Teheran was in sight. The diplomatic situation was perfect to take advantage of Persia. In December 1866, the Austro-Prussian War has ended in victory for Prussia which forced the Habsburg’s to acknowledge the Hohenzollern preeminence in Germany. With Russia focused on Europe and seeking the help of other powers help in this, Arabia could do what it wanted against Persia. On the 25th of July, the Shah signed the treaty of Teheran relinquishing all “rightful” Arab territories located on the Eastern bank of the Tigris. With Persia out of the war the Ottomans had to bid for peace, signing the treaty of Constantinople on the 27th. The Umar Operation had worked : The Turks were even more weakened and Persia had lost Khuzestan without the intervention of the Czar.The war had once again ended with an Arab victory, a symbol that strengthened the still recent Union. The annexation of Khuzestan had increased the territory of the kingdom of Iraq and secured the estuary of the Tigris and Euphrates, allowing for a better transportation of the goods on the rivers to the Gulf. The influence of the nicknamed “Semitic Party” in Mosul had grown to the point that Russia exerted the same influence in the government that the supporters of a Union with Cairo did. Negotiations had begun but still led to no formal treaty. Baghdad was also chosen to host the institute responsible for the creation of a standardized Arab language, which is called nowadays the MSA (Modern Standard Arabic). A college of scholars (coming mainly from Syria and Egypt) would adapt the classic Arabic (which had not evolved much since the Quran) to Modernity. The language went through the process of isti’rab (arabisation) ; the syntax was simplified ; new words were introduced to describe the realities of the Modern World (like science or democracy). The side effect of this transformation was that under the influence of the Christian members of this institution, the language lost much of its religious meaning (new words were preferred to words coming from the Quran for example). The first Standard Arabic dictionary was published in 1870, and became the basis for schooling and administration throughout the Empire. Shortly after the Baghdad Museum was created, akin to the Bulaq museum, an institute responsible for the study of the archeological findings in the Levant and Mesopotamia. Most of the great Mesopotamian sites were not discovered but the findings of the Assyrian Assyriologist Hormuzd Rassamhad caught the attention of the Imbratur who gave him the same funds and resources that the Egyptian institute led by Mariette had.'''

'''The war had also proven the need of a Canal linking the Mediterranean and the Red Sea for the Arab Navy to be efficient. Ferdinand de Lesseps, the great mind behind the construction of the Canal was already well known in Egypt. He had been named consul in Alexandria in 1832 and had already tried to persuade Said to support his project, who then refused because of the conditions proposed by Lesseps. But Lesseps tried again to convince the new Imbratur in 1866. After many talks and negotiations, the States acquired 51% of the shares of the Company responsible for the construction of the Canal. Most of the other share-holders were French because Lesseps had marketed the shares at the Paris Stock-Exchange. The project was a daunting task, especially in monetary terms. However, one European power was not satisfied with the treaty : Great Britain. The Canal was needed for the Empire but its control by the Arabs meant that in the eventuality of war, it would be inaccessible to the Royal Navy'''

'''During the war, another rather important event had also happened : the Royal Geographic Society in London had proposed a hefty sum to the first explorer that could determine the source of the Nile. The Imperial States of Arabia was one of the first countries to mount an expedition : the Nile had been the heart of Egypt for thousands of years and its true source was wrapped in legends. Egyptians officials were particularly interested in discovering the Source and then try to secureit from any other Great Power. The prospect of the Nile being used as leverage against Egypt frightened the government and pushed them to give more funds to the expedition.'''

'''But the largest consequence of the victory of the war was the amendments to the Constitution of the Empire. Ismail was a great supporter of Western Ideas but was reluctant to give away his autocratic power. On the other hand, the various independent Arab leaders were angered by the current situation which had stripped them of most of their powers. The Sudanese leaders also wanted to increase their standing in the Empire, not to be seen as “inferiors” anymore by the Egyptians. The pressure of these different parties led Ismail to make concessions. All men paying certain taxes along with the regnal families, the tribe leaders and the religious dignitaries were granted the right to elect representatives for the Federal Assembly of the Empire, which met in Alexandria. The Imbratur still exerted a great amount of power and the government answered to him, not the assembly. The Empire was far from being a rightful democracy but for the first time, there would be a small but still influential  counterpoint to the ruler of one of the World’s Great Powers.'''

'''The second consequence of the amendment was the creation of the kingdom of Sudan separated from the Kingdom of Egypt. Egyptian rule was badly seen throughout Sudan even amongst the fanatic Arab patriots. The conquest by Ibrahim Pasha had been harsh and the exploitation following the annexation harsher. Many Sudanese resented the Egyptian rule as despotism and oppression. The Kingdom, its capital established in Khartoum, still had the Imbratur as King, but the local affairs would be handled by Sudanese, not by petty Cairo officials. In many ways, it was not a Revolution : the domination of Sudan by Egyptians was ended to the benefit of Arabic-speaking Sudanese. They would continue for years to exploit the Black populations in the West and South of the country. It was somehow better perceived by many but the reality was still bleak, and the autonomy granted to the Sudanese was reserved only to the “worthy and best”. Khartoum had asked for the annexation of Eritrea and Somalia, since these territories were now separated from Cairo by land. This request was not accepted by Ismail, who did not want to give away all his power to upstarts from Sudan. These territories were considered Crown colonies and would continue to be administered from Cairo until the aftermath of the Scramble for Africa.'''

'''The new Constitution promulgated, the landed elite of Egypt were called to elect his representatives. There were mainly two factions opposing each other : the Liberals and the Imperialists (or Conservatives). The first built a campaign centred on the lowering of all taxes on the people of the Union, lowering of the tariffs and continuation of the political reforms. Imperialists were proponents of the status quo and the continued role of the Imbratur in the government. Both factions had the same external policy : negotiations with Assyria, alliance with France and reclamation of Morocco, although the Liberals were publicly supporters of diplomacy and less supportive of the war. The most prominent leaders of the Liberals were El-Tahtawi and Butrus Al-Bustani. Both at first were, writers but had become prominent figures in politics of the nation. Butrus particularly was soon seen as the natural candidate for the post of Prime Minister : a Lebanese Christian along with a firm patriot was seen as a rallying figure for the Empire.'''

'''The elections ended with the victory of the Liberals in the Federal Assembly. Most of the voters outside the Crown of Egypt who had voted for the Liberals had done so to annoy Ismail, mainly in the Peninsular states. With the Liberals securing 60% of the seats, Ismail had to nominate Butrus as Prime Minister of the Empire. When asked why he decided to do so, he answered : "My country is no longer in the Middle-East; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions".'''

'''The new government was soon assembled. Apart from the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Education which was given to Tahtawi the other ministries were loyal men who also served in the Egyptian government. The most important were Nubar Pasha, for Diplomacy, Raghib Pasha for Finances and Riyad Pasha for the Interior. The Army and Navy were under the direct supervision of the Imbratur who would not relinquish power so easily. Cooperation between the Prime Minister and the Imbratur was not always easy considering that both had different agendas but it never became bad to the point of Ismail firing the Prime Minister and choosing his own.'''

'''Ismail had used large amounts of state funds to expand the army despite the opposition of the Liberals who feared the power of what had become "a state within the state". But they soon went silent upon hearing the plan of the Imbratur. After having assembled the different leaders of the Arab World he declared it was time to force the Europeans out of Morocco and integrate the local Sultanate into the glorious Arab nation : they had succeeded in Iraq, they would succeed there. The diplomat Nubar Pasha was quickly sent to France where France confirmed they would take part in the war.'''

'''Thus on the 13th of February 1868 the Empire declared war on Spain to reclaim the Rif, the Mediterranean coast facing Gibraltar that the Spanish had occupied lately, expanding their old colony of Melilla. The other Moroccan colonizers, namely the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Netherlands joined to defend Spain while French armies crossed the Pyrenees and invaded North Spain. The Arabs had assembled 20 divisions on the Algerian border where 11 British divisions had been deployed to “pacify” the colony. Upon hearing the news, the British general Colbert Haig redeployed his troops to Spanish Rif due to his troops having low supplies and needed to be reorganized. The General responsible for the Western Front, Ali Pasha Sherif, decided to divide his available forces and occupy the region of Tangier before entering Rif proper.'''

'''During this time, Kazim Pasha leading the Army of Alexandria attacked the island of Malta with the help of the Taba. The island was vital for British efforts in the Mediterranean and was thus one of the main objectives of the early campaign.'''

'''But the Tangier Front suddenly collapsed after the battle of Wudja in May. The dispersion of the troops had allowed the British to pierce the few defences of the Arab armies in Wudja. Even after reenforcing the attacked troops with his own, Ali Pasha Sherif was unable to turn the tide, and with the help of a Spanish Army who had crossed the Strait, Haig was able to throw the Arabs into Algeria, even occupying Oran in the process. Ali Pasha Sherif was disgraced for his poor planning of the campaign and spent the end of his life breeding horses in his domain in Upper Egypt.By November, the Army of Alexandria had joined the other Maghrebi divisions and Kazim Pasha was granted the control of the Western Front. He reorganized the armies that had fought the British and pushed once more into Morocco. The few months had allowed for better tactics to be taught to the Arab officers, particularly in defence with armies able to dig-up new fortifications in a few days instead of relying on the natural shape of the country. All this combinated with the skills of Kazim, a Druze Syrian who had risen the ranks of the Crown armies in a few years, allowed the Arab armies to fight back the British and capture 4,000 prisoners during the battle of Melilla. This was the last land battle fought in Morocco proper. The Spanish Army was busy with fighting the invading French armies in Vasconia and Catalonia and could not spare sending an army to Africa.'''

'''With complete control of Tangier and of the Spanish Moroccan territories (Rif and Agadir), Egyptian diplomats added these territories to their demands for peace along with the British controlled region of Tangier. The hopes of the Arab diplomats was that all Morocco apart from the Dutch colony would be liberated and integrated into the Empire.'''

'''At home, the success of the war along with a number of liberal publications made the influence of the Liberals grow. Butrus had been unable to make a single reform pass and the success of the war had granted Ismail a popularity he could not oppose. But the bourgeois from Alexandria, Tunis, Damascus were all waiting for the right moment to assert their rights.From 1870 (annexation of Morocco) to the treaty of London the war entered a new phase : before, battles of importance took place on land in the Moroccan desert, the Dutch forts or the Spanish cities. But with only Great-Britain still fighting, the war became mostly naval. Tangier might have been occupied, it did not change much for the Empire where the Sun never sets. They always had the upper hand against the French and Arab navies and used this to their advantage : trade in the Channel and the Atlantic was severely disrupted by the Royal Navy and the Taba was forced to retreat into the arsenal of Oran after a battle near Gibraltar. British dominance of the sea was complete.'''

'''The British Army used this to invade the Greek islands under the control of the Arabs. Both fell in the late months of 1840 with the tacit support of the local population who hoped to be united with Greece. The main expeditionary corps, led by Colbert Haig (the same man responsible for the defeat in Morocco) was garrisoned in Candia waiting further reinforcements to invade the vulnerable Nile Delta. At the same time, another army landed on Malta and soon reoccupied it.'''

'''Eventually the Taba was able to secure a few victories in the Mediterranean. The continuation of the war was not met with discontent in the population, in fact it cemented even more the Unity of the Arab peopls with many popular meetings to help the military and spontaneous bursts of enlistment into the military. In October 1872 the military high-command ordered the liberation of the Arab islands from the British. 48,000 men were gathered in Alexandria but the navy which had been damaged could only transport 24,000 at a time while the Army under Haig numbered at least 37,000 soldiers. The landing proved to be easy due to  the British being garrisoned in the Western half of the island and not expecting the Arabs to launch an invasion. Haig moved quickly, fighting the Arabs while the artillery had not been deployed yet. But fortunately, the regulars from Egypt had established fortifications in the hills and the British assault cost 18,000 men,. The British soon fled to the Western mountains but the fight had cost many Arab lives with half the army unable to pursue the enemy. It would be only one month later after reinforcements had arrived from Alexandria that the Arabs cornered the British in the Cretan mountains and captured 10,000 prisoners among them Colbert Haig. Soon after, the Arab armies landed on Cyprus and liberated the island.'''

'''At home, it was time for the second elections of the States. The elections of the Liberals had brought no real political or social reforms but the early successes of the war allowed them to keep their position in the political arena. Amongst the crowds which had no right to vote however, socialism inspired by the ideas of Marx had gained much support pledging to make social reforms that would benefit the people. But it had unsurprisingly no consequence on the vote since only the landed elite could vote. The Liberals were re-elected with a larger majority in the Parliament and Butrus Al-Bustani was confirmed in his functions along with his government.The last great action of the war would be the recapture of the island of Malta by Arab troops in November 1873. Despite this action, the United Kingdom still refused to cede Tangier to the Arabs and even declared its support for the old Alaouite Sultan of Morocco who had been deposed.'''

'''With both sides exhausted by the war, the French diplomats, with the full support of Nubar Pasha, negotiated the treaty of London often called “La Paix Honorable de 1873” (Peace with Honour of 1873). Tangier will be ceded back to the British but all the other gains of the Arab Empire were recognized by the British government.'''

'''The status quo ante bellum with Great-Britain created resentment against the government and also the Imbratur who had accepted the treaty. The new territories were incorporated into the Union as the Malikate of Morocco, the 15th state of the Empire. The son of the traitorous Sultan was crowned by Ismail in Cairo after a decision of the “Princes Council” (gathering of all the leaders of Arab states). The only problem was the Rif which had been heavily colonised especially in Melilla. Cairo promised fair treatment to the Spanish inhabitants but the local Maghrebi were prone to revenge and looting, and many decided to leave for their homeland than to stay and be at the mercy of “uncivilized”.'''

'''The end of the war was also marked by the end of negotiations with the Assyrian republic of Mosul. The Semitic party had gained influence for many years and during the war the Republic had finally asked for guarantees from the Empire after the lack of interest in the area from St-Petersburg. Nubar Pasha had initiated a process of integration of the Republic into the Empire with the help of the famous Assyriologist Hormuzd Rassam who had volunteered himself for the mission amongst his coreligionists. Mosul and its surroundings would integrate the Empire as a special state for an undetermined period of time but it was specified that they would integrate the Iraqi state in due time. In exchange the Assyrians would obtain an equal status with the Arabic people : their freedom of religion was protected and Aramaic was given full recognition as an official language of the kingdoms of Iraq and Syria. Moreover the Empire would use its influence in Kurdistan to protect the local Assyrian populations from persecution. The Treaty of Mosul signed on the 5th of February was an overwhelming success for the Empire. All of Iraq had been reclaimed in full from both Persians and Kurds without the intervention from the Russian Empire, an outcome no one had truly believed possible.After many reclamations from his ministers and the Parliament the Imbratur lowered the age required to vote in local and imperial elections. However the votes were still biased in favour of those who already had the right to vote : the richest class of the population got a double vote in the elections meaning that their vote counted twice in the results. Asked on his opinion toward the reforms, Al-Bustani answered that it was better than nothing but that it would not last long.'''

'''Soon a serious incident happened in Suez : Bedouins had attacked the construction site of the Suez Canal, starting a revolt among the workers. It was suspected that the attack had been planned by the British, the biggest opponents to the project but the Bedouin leaders refused to say who had given them weapons after the situation had calmed down. The Revolt was quelled by an increased wage of the workers and the end of the corvée system, instituted by Mohammed Ali  to get access to a cheap labour force among the Egyptian peasants. The cost was huge for the Empire both in time and cas, on the 29th of May 1875, the Suez Canal was finally opened. After 10 years of work in the hot barren sands of the Sinai, ships could freely travel from Europe to Asia without going around Africa. The Canal Company proved to be essential for the Arab economy since the state controlled 51% of the shares, the rest being divided into numerous French, Armenian and Arab share-holders. Benefits exceeded all predictions in the first year and even more in the years to come. Even nowadays the Suez Canal is one of the most important locations of  international trade and it was the same in 1875. However, thousands of workers had been injured or killed in the process, notably because of the use of corvée system but it was of course overshadowed by the prestige and benefits it brought to the Arab states.The Middle-East was far more uneventful except for the end of the double vote in December. The Liberal Parliament had pushed for its abolition since its establishment and the Imbratur had acceded to their demands. In the end the double vote could only be used in some local elections and did not influence national politics much.'''

'''It was a period of economic prosperity coupled with stability and innovation : Cairo, Alexandria, and Baghdad had experienced great renovations and public works inspired by the work of Haussmann  in Paris. Squares were placed along the streets, the most famous being the Tahrir Square in Cairo.. Arab scientists and scholars were on par with their European counterparts although none were responsible for a crucial discovery in science. In Syria Aleppo was a meeting point for the cultivated elite of Northern Syria, the works, of it’s writers were published all across the nation especially in the poetry. It was also during this time that began both a phenomena of rural exodus toward the local “capitals” of the Empire and other great cities where industry and trade brought riches never possible before in the countryside  and deserts of the Arab lands along with the settlement of the nomadic populations, although this peculiar process would only get even larger with the discovery of oil.'''

'''But the peace didn’t mean that Arab armies weren’t on guard. Nobody knew when war could erupt once more for Morocco or worse, the disputed territories in Iraq. Some Kurds were interested in helping Russia get back the Northern territories around Mosul and the Shah of Persia wanted Khuzestan back. Ismail decided to prepare for all eventualities and began expanding what the nation deeply needed if it wanted to affirm its status as one of the Greatest Powers in the World : the Navy. The Marine had been one of the keys of the successes of Mohammed Ali  but the late years of his reign had seen the end of investments into this field and under his successors the Egyptian Navy had decayed to the point of being a burden in maritime operations along with the French. Only the skills and patriotism of the sailors along with the French invasion of Ireland had allowed the Taba to score some victories against the Royal Navy. The Imbratur had put into motion the most ambitious plan for an overhaul of the Arab Navy : naval bases were expanded or even created from scratch in Morocco and great government funds went into acquiring new technologies to defeat the Royal Navy. Amongst them the crucial point was the plans of ships entirely made of steel, the famous ironclads designed into the Shipyard of Alexandria. The Imbratur convinced of the inner superiority of this new design, ordered the construction of a new Fleet fated to be used in the future wars against all opponents that would threaten the Arabian Seas. A new generation of naval officers arose, trained in the best naval schools and the Imbratur already dreamt of the day when the Arab flag would be hoisted in the streets of London – a thing that was seen by the high-command as folly considering how the Taba had no experience and that the ships would take quite a time to be built.'''

'''The cost of this naval effort was vigorously criticized by Arab socialists who denounced that the Imbratur was ready to invest thousands of dinars into ships but none into the improvement of life of the lower classes. A particularly influential pamphlet was distributed into Egypt about the creation of a minimum wage for workers to stop the “slavery-like” wage. Not waiting for the approval of the Parliament, Ismail issued an edict creating the first minimum wage in the Arab history. Along with the recent removal of the corvée system he hoped to raise the plebe’s opinion of him, and it relatively worked, strengthening his image of a benevolent ruler.'''

'''It was however not sufficient to appease resentment from the Somalis. South Somalia was administered as a colony, not different from Sudan before Khartoum obtained autonomy. Yusuf Ali Kenadid, a prominent Somali leader took arms in January 1877 and demanded better rights for the Somali and the end of Egyptian exploitation of the African Horn. Unfortunately for him his recruits were scarce and he was rapidly captured by the Army sent to pacify the region and later hung after being prosecuted for sedition. He is still seen nowadays as local hero, who tried to defend the Somalis from exploitation by the Egyptians.'''

'''In June, the Parliament passed several laws ensuring the status of political parties and protecting the right to oppose the ruling government through the Parliament and the vote without retaliationAfrica was the only continent which had been unexplored and claimed by Western Powers in 1880. France, Great-Britain, Portugal, Spain held small ports and islands around the continent but the lands far from the sea were still out of reach of the White Man’s hand. The Arabian Empire had a somewhat better position with Arab imams having reached Timbuktu in the 1860s as part of a diplomatic mission to the Toucouleur empire and Zanzibari expeditions penetrating far and deep into the Great Lakes’ region. Thus when the French called for an International Congress to be held in Paris to discuss the colonization of the continent the Arabs were far more prepared in taking their claims than their European counterparts.'''

'''In the general document of the Conference the Empire claimed Mauritania, the Sahara and the Nile basin. The other powers, mainly France and Great-Britain that is could not come at an agreement in West Africa and others areas leading to the uneasy situation where there was no real delimitation in most of Africa. The rule of being the first arrived to enforce its claim was agreed upon by the present powers but no one really thought it could last, especially in highly contested areas.'''

'''Arab officials soon pressed their claims in the Dark continent. The desert south of Algeria saw several negotiations with the Tuareg leaders who for the most accepted the nominal rule of Cairo at the conditions of obtaining their own territory inside the Empire in the Future. Given the organization of these tribes along the harsh conditions of the Saharan desert the rule of the Empire would not be felt in these areas for a long time, living the Tuareg to their usual businesses. In Mauritania, the Arabized Maures tribes were hard pressed to join the Empire, although they were offered the same rights as the other Arabic peoples.'''

'''Meanwhile the Rift Valley and the lands west of the Sultanate of Zanzibar also saw the Arabs extend their domination over the Eastern African Lands. The Empire on behalf of the local Sultanate engaged Hamed bin Mohammed el Marjebi to help them in this task.'''

'''El Marjebi was a rather disreputable person by the new Arab standards : he held several plantations and even though his slaves had been freed following the repelling of slavery he was still making them work in rather dubious conditions and they were forbidden to leave. Everybody knew in Zanzibar and Cairo but he was too influential and useful to be sentenced in any trial. He knew all routes to the interior, which he had used extensively to collect ivory and slaves, being known by local tribes as “Tippu Tip”. He was hired by the Cairo government “to enforce the claims of the Zanzibari sultan” in exchange for getting the title of governor of these new lands.'''

'''Arab officials in the East African lands soon adopted the same methods as the European governments to deal with the locals and exploited them to get what they wanted : fruits in plantations but also metals and wood. They took the same mantle of civilized bringing the benefits of the modern world to the backward tribes, implementing infrastructure, creating hospitals but most of these were obtained through forced labor.'''

'''At home the Parliament lifted the restrictions that existed on the creation of unions. Before, unions had to be approved by the management of the company meaning that the real activists were denied and the existing ones were collaborating with the top.'''

'''Archeology also was in the process of becoming an actual science instead of an organized pillage of old civilizations’ relics. The department of archaeology at the University of Cairo was renowned for the quality of it’s information and those who lectured here. Egyptian excavations were continuing but several expeditions were funded across the Levant and Mesopotamia like in Petra.'''

Many archaeological findings were exposed during the Berlin World’s Fair where the Arab delegation surpassed the Prussians organizers in the eyes of many.