Muhammad Ali Dynasty of Egypt (Many Wonderful Things)

Alawiyya Dynasty in Egypt
	Alawiyya Dynasty in Egypt
	خدیو مِصر‎‎ (Khedivate of Egypt); السلطنة المصرية (Sultanate of Egypt); المملكة المصرية (Kingdom of Egypt)
	Deposed
Flag	Coat of arms
	Anthem; "Salam Affandia"
	Map of the dynasty's extent. Medium green = Anglo-Egyptian Condomonium. Light green = ceded to Italian North Africa
Capital	Cairo
Languages	Arabic, Egyptian Arabic, Ottoman Turkish, English
Religion	Sunni Islam, Coptic Christianity
Government	Constitutional Monarchy Egypt, 1805
Monarch
British High Commissioner
Prime Minister
Legislature	Parliament
Historical Era	Early Modern
	Population
Currency	Egyptian Pound

The Muhammad Ali Dynasty (Arabic: الأسرة العلوية) was the ruling dynasty of Egypt, Sudan and Levant from its creation in 1805 until the Egyptian revolution in 1953. It was originally founded by Muhammad Ali, a Serbian soldier who rose in ranks enough to take over the most valuable resources of the Ottoman Empire. The dynasty was the most effective at modernizing and reinventing the nation more than most dynasties before it since antiquity. Late in its history, the nation saw gradual dissilusion and colonization by the British Empire as it was made more of a protectorate outside of the Ottoman juristiction.

History[]

Origin[]

Muhammad Ali (1769-1848) was an Albanian merchant who was put in charge of the Balkan forces under the Ottoman Empire. Ali was given to the task of driving out the French after they occupied Egypt under Napoleon. In 1803, his army of mercenaries took over the entire occupied territories in Egypt and Levant, launching a three-way civil war between Ali, the Ottomans, and the Egyptian Mamluks. The Ottoman attempts to establish a governate over Egypt was killed by Ali in 1804, followed by a defeat of the British attempt to invade through Alexandria. He established complete control in 1805, followed by campaign in the Levant that captured that territory as well in 1807. At that time, Muhammad Ali pushed for the title of Khediv, or Viceroy, while the Ottoman Sultan recognized him as Wali.

After the First Saudi State captured Mecca in 1811, Muhammad Ali dispatched his son Tusun to invade the Hejaz. Although initially being defeated at the Battle of As-Safra, Tusun was ultimately able to capture the cities of Jeddah, Mecca and Mediah by the end of 1812. In 1813, Muhammad Ali left Egypt and left his son Ibrahim to rule in his stead. Ibrahim continued the campaign against the Saudi state, ultimately crushing the Saudi state by the time Ali returned in 1815.

Muhammad Ali worked to reform the military of Egypt, modernizing it on European lines in order to stay one step ahead of the Ottoman Sultan Murad II. By 1821, he already had a budding fleet of trained ships, mainly using French advisers. In 1823, he replaced most of the Albanian and Turkic military with native Egyptians and Sudanese soldiers.

From 1820-1824, Muhammad Ali led a series of campaigns to expand Egypt's control over tribes in Libya and Sudan. Although this would technically be expanding the borders of the Ottomans further into Africa, the Turks were so decentralized that Egypt was left essentially as Ali's own empire. In 1824, the newly-acquired territory saw a revolt led by a certain Ahmad, followed by 20,000 peasants, which was quickly crushed that year.

During the Greek War of Independence from 1821-1828, Muhammad Ali dispatched his fleet under the command of Ibrahim to occupy Crete and Morea. Ibrahim's invasion proved to be the most effective Ottoman forces within the war, matching the regular troops of Greece until the intervention of the European powers. In 1828, a british attack on Alexandria forced Ibrahim to withdraw his forces.

Expansion[]

In order to fund his expanding industry, Muhammad Ali went to war against the Ottoman Sultan in 1831, launching his invasion from Levant into Syria and Anatolia. The Battle of Konya on May 27, 1832 captured the region a mere 150 miles from Istanbul. By December, Ali managed to extend his power across the desert into Syria as far as the Euphrates River. This created a more critical situation for the Middle East in the eyes of the European powers. In particular, the British Empire saw the loss of the Suez and the Euphrates valley to be a dangerous possibility.

In May 1833, intervention of Russia and Germany forced a peace agreement at the Convention of Kutahya, ceding all of Syria and Adana to control under Muhammad Ali. At that point, Ali had a fully independent Egypt ruling its own empire, from the Taurus mountains in Turkey all the way to Sudan. The Ottoman Empire itself was close to collapse to Ali's power. In Spring 1839, the Ottoman Sultan mounted an attack from southern Mesopotamia in an attempt to dislodge Ali from the region.This proved disastrous, as Ibrahim routed the Ottomans at the Battle of Bir in June. Seeing this violate the earlier peace agreement, Ali was ready to push out and conquer Turkey with Mesopotamia. The European powers flew into a panic, referring to the situation as the "Oriental Crisis", and convened a meeting of the powers in London in 1840 to settle the issue. As Muhammad Ali was not willing to accept peace at this time, the Great Powers of Europe intervened to stop Ali's expansion.

In the resulting Second Ottoman-Egyptian War, the allies focused on naval intervention in Syria first, led by Robert Stopford, before proceeding with an invasion overland led by the German commander Helmuth von Moltke. Acre was also bombarded, but without any permanent invasion. This caused a rapid collapse of Ali's control over Syria and Adana, and in 1841 he ceded control over all territories outside of his original lands in Egypt and Levant. The British recognized Ali's control over Egypt and Africa, but created a joint condominium over the Levant region.

The end of Muhammad Ali's reign would see various restrictions laid on by the Ottoman overlords, as well as certain economic disasters caused by Nile flooding and cattle diseases. The next successors of Muhammad Ali were generally brief and uneventful. Ibrahim died after two months, predeceasing Muhammad himself. Abbas I reigned six years in seclusion until he was murdered by his servants.

Said Pasha (r. 1854-1863) was very fascinated with French culture and technology, falling under its influence throughout his reign. In 1856, Said agreed with the British East Telegraph Company to construct the Suez Canal. By this time, however, much of Egypt's territories in Levant and Sudan had fallen into crisis due to periodic slave raiding. As a result, the British condomonium of the Levant gained tigher control, and much of Lebanon and parts of Palestine began adopting more British culture as Egypt adopted French.

British Occupation[]

Egypt under Muhammad Ali Dynasty alt — Territorial history of the Muhammad Ali dynasty

Ismail Pasha reigned as Khediv from 1863 until 1879. Ismail originally was welcomed as a new era which hoped to reform and modernize the efforts of his grandfather Muhammad. Indeed, for much of his reign Ismail reformed the government and cleared out beuracracy left under his immediate predecessor. However, unlike his grandfather, Ismail did not openly fight against the Ottoman Sultan, but instead coerced and bribed his way to power. In 1867, Egypt was promoted from being called Wali to Khediv as the dynasty originally wanted it. The Suez canal under British development was finally completed in 1869.

However, with American exports stopped by the American Civil War, coupled with a devastating war against the Ethiopian Empire, Ismail quickly became completely bankrupt after the completion of the canal. Between grueling taxes, rapid expenditure and rising debt, the western powers of France and Britain were becoming concerned in relation to their economic investments in Egypt, particularly their ability to access India through the newly completed Suez. Formal investigations to the situation began in 1875, and in 1876 the powers of Europe agreed to establish a Dual Control between Britain and France over Egypt. Ismail tried to rectify the economy at the last minute, but he was suddenly deposed from power by telegram in 1879, placing his son Tewfik in power.

Immediately after the Dual Control was destablished, Egypt rose up in revolt under the leadership of Ahmed Urabi, an early Arab nationalist. The Urabi rebellion from 1879-1882 was quelled only by a full invasion and occupation of Egypt by the British from India and Europe. establishing Egypt as a more permanent colony. Sir Garnet Wolseley, invading the Canal region through Ismailia, was most instrumental in the campaign.

At the same time this was going on, Sudan broke away from Egypt being led by a fringe religious group under Muhammad Ahmad, who claimed to be the Mahdi. The Mahdists killed the British governor Charles Gordon at Khartoum in 1885, and continued to rule Sudan for the next 10 years. In 1896, the Mahdists finally fell to a joint Anglo-Egyptian occupation over the region.

World War One[]

562px-Cairo-Demonstrations1919 — Women protesting in the 1919 Revolution

With Levant being broken off as independent in 1905, and the disastrous Denshawi incident in 1906, general resentment of British rule began breeding Egyptian nationalism in the first decades of the 20th century. This was quickly picked up by the German Empire, who funded Egyptian rebellion as a way to counteract British power. In 1914, the Khediv Abbas II nominally supported the Ottoman Empire as part of the Centralist powers in World War I, but was quickly deposed in favor of his uncle Kamel. With the Ottoman Empire disintegrating in favor of the Anglo-Levant campaigns in Syria and Mesopotamia, Egypt was officially reorganized as an independent Sultanate, remaining under British protection and military occupation.

Although the British greatly de-militarized Egypt with the aftermath of World War I, nationalist movements for complete independence persisted. The Wafd party led by Saad Zalghlul attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 to petition their position. When Zalghlul was deported to the island of Malta, a general revolt known as the 1919 Egyptian Revolution spread across the whole region. Even after the initial violence was put down, protests from both male and female Egyptians persisted until 1922. After investigating the situation, the British parliament wrote up a treaty of mutual alliance in 1920, and in 1921 the High Commissioner Lord Allenby declared the unilateral independence of Egypt as a Kingdom.

Primarily, the British government was concerned about the imbalance of power in the Middle East subsequent to the Ottoman collapse. The Syrian War, which broke out in 1920, ultimately ended with Hashemite control over the whole region by 1922, followed by unsuccessful attempts to support internal opposition until 1925. Seeing this future likely, Allenby hoped to keep Egypt as an ally in the region by granting their independence. Transjordan likewise was a key region by sustaining the mandate until after World War II.

Farouk I became King in 1936, taking on the title of "King of Egypt and Sudan" to cement his claim to both regions of Africa. After Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935, Farouk agreed to the British treaty, leaving much financial and military control, especially over the Suez Canal, still in British hands. At this same time, the government of Egypt was increasinly liberalized, giving more power to the Prime Minister. Farouk was intrumental in aiding Syria and Iraq during the First Kurdistan War, in an attempt to remove Communism from the Middle East, but its ultimate failure proved to be the beginning of his decline.

Decline and Fall[]

In World War II, leaders of Arab nationalism in both Egypt and Levant sided closer to the authoritarian governments of the Axis powers, in general resentment of British colonialism. Fearing Erwin Rommel's quick march in Egypt towards the Suez, as well as cutting off Mandetory Transjordan, the Allies responded by invading both Egypt and Levant in 1942. The King was forced to briefly abdicate in favor of direct occupation on February 5. This apparent weakness of the King in favor of foreign rule greatly dissilusioned the Arab nationalists in the nation, most importantly the military under Gamal Abdel Nasser.

During the years of post-colonialism after World War II, Nasser and his Free Officer Movement grew in power as the weakness and incompetance of Farouk became more apparent. Egypt's failure to intervene in the 1948 Levant Conflict was a particular point of disgust among the officers, especially in light of the more successful Transjordan Republic which gained independence in 1946. This ultimately lead to a military coup in 1952, at last removing the king from power. In the remarkably-bloodless 1952 Egyptian Revolution, Farouk was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Fuad II. Fuad was an infant, however, and on July 23, 1953 he was compelled to leave Egypt forever by Egyptian government under Nasser and Muhammad Naguib, proclaiming the Republic of Egypt.

Economy[]

Due to his reforms in 1808, Muhammad Ali managed to acquire control of nearly all soil in the land of Egypt and Levant, removing the power of previous feudal lords. He then proceeded to add a number of industrial practices to strengthen Egypt's economy as well, including the introduction of factories. By the early 20th century, mechanized industry was the norm. Cotton also became a large export starting in 1822, imported originally from Sudan.

External trade relations were a key step in ensuring economic stability, both for imports and exports. Trade from the Red Sea into India began under Muhammad Ali, as well as other African states. In Europe, the French always remained a very close partner to Egypt due to their common colonial interests in North Africa. Britain began its economic intervention with the Treaty of Balta Liman in 1838, which greatly curbed the use of trade monopolies. However, the precedent of that treaty was later used by the British to intervene in Egypt during the bankruptcy of Ismail Pasha.

Originally, Egypt used the Egyptian Pound based on the British currency. After British occupation in 1882, Egypt introduced the gold standard.

Demographics[]

Stereoscope of Pyramids from the Second Age in Egypt

The population of Egypt had been stagnate at around 3-4 million for many centuries until Muhammad Ali took over in 1805. Over the decades of his modernization and reforms, the population suddenly took on a dramatic exponential growth. This was mostly due to a great imrpovement on mortality rates, which increased life expectency by 15 years. By 1870 the population had reacehd 7 million, and in 1897 the population was over 9 million. Egypt also saw a rapid rise of immigration as became a larger center of comercialization, totalling as much as a million immigrants of Greek, Armenian, and Jewish origin.

Due to the admiration of French culture and gradual French influence, much of Egypt's common language in the public sphere was written in French. This persisted right up until the 1952 Egyptian Revolution, in spite of Britain's best efforts to disceminate English.

With the advent of Zionism and the vision of a Jewish state in the Levant, the late 19th century saw a gradual influx of Jewish people coming to live in the Levant region. The Austrian Jewish philosopher Theodore Herzl was the main leader in the World Zionist movement towards the end of the century, seeing Europe as growing increasingly anti-semetic and intolerant of Jewish people.

The First Aliyah, or ascent to Zion, saw the influx of thousands of Jews into Levant between 1882 and 1883, largely funded by non-Heredic Jewish philanthropists. By 1900, Jews made up 6% of the total population within the region. After the Dreyfus affair revealed anti-semitism within the French government, the World Zionist Congress was founded in 1897.

Art and Science[]

The French had left behind a full scientific and cultural expedition after the initial occupation by Napoleon. This was in the form of western knowledge in medicine, anthropology, and chemistry, but also a very large representation of aegyptography. The scientific advancement and cultural sophisitcation of the French greatly impressed Muhammad Ali, and imported as much French art as he could. The later successors of Muhammad would try to copy as much style and arcitecture from France into the city landscape.

In the later 19th century, British colonization in Egypt greatly helped to allow more direct access for the sciences of archaeology and aegyptography. Many of the more legendary artifacts and relics, known in theory for many centuries, were unavailable for access since the Ottoman conquest. Recovery of these artifacts, especially the Hall of Records, were instrumental for the official aegyptography societies at the time such as the Illuminati. Unfortunately, aegyptography as an empiracle science had been out of practice since the 18th century, and was largely known only to mystical groups. However, many of the recovered relics were key for the revivalment of aegyptography in the 20th century.