Muhammad Ali Dynasty

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Muhammad Ali Dynasty of Egypt and Sudan
Country:	Egypt and Sudan
Titles:	King, Sultan, Khedive, Wali
Founder:	Muhammad Ali Pasha
Final ruler:	Fuad II
Current head:	Fuad II
Founding year:	1805
Dissolution:	1953
Ethnicity:	Egyptian of Albanian-Macedonian descent

The greatest extent of Muhammed Ali's empire

The Muhammad Ali Dynasty was the ruling dynasty of Egypt and Sudan from the 19th to the mid-20th Century. It is named after its progenitor, Muhammad Ali Pasha, regarded as the founder of modern Egypt.

1 Introduction
2 Khedivate and British Occupation
3 Sultanate and Kingdom
4 Dissolution
5 Reigning members of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty (1805-1953)
6 Non ruling members
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Introduction

Muhammad Ali was an Albanian commander of the Ottoman army that was sent to drive Napoleon's forces out of Egypt, but upon the French withdrawal, he seized power himself and forced the Ottoman Sultan Mahmud II to recognize him as Wali, or Governor (Arabic: والي) of Egypt in 1805.

Muhammad Ali transformed Egypt into a regional power which he saw as the natural successor to the decaying Ottoman Empire. He summed up his vision for Egypt thusly:

"I am well aware that the (Ottoman) Empire is heading by the day toward destruction...On her ruins I will build a vast kingdom...up to the Euphrates and the Tigris."

Portrait of Muhammad Ali Pasha in the Cairo Citadel museum

At the height of his power, Muhammad Ali and his son Ibrahim Pasha's military strength did indeed threaten the very existence of the Ottoman Empire as he sought to supplant the Osman Dynasty with his own. Ultimately, the intervention of the Great Powers prevented Egyptian forces from marching on Constantinople, and henceforth, his dynasty's rule would be limited to Africa. Muhammad Ali had conquered Sudan in the first half of his reign and Egyptian control would be consolidated and expanded under his successors, most notably Ibrahim Pasha's son Ismai'l I.

[edit] Khedivate and British Occupation

Though Muhammad Ali and his descendants used the title of Khedive in preference to the lesser Wali, this was not recognized by the Ottoman Porte until 1867 when Sultan Abdul-Aziz officially sanctioned its use by Isma'il Pasha and his successors. In contrast to his grandfather's policy of war against the Porte, Ismai'l sought to strengthen the position of Egypt and his dynasty using less confrontational means, and through a mixture of flattery and bribery, Ismai'l secured official Ottoman recognition of Egypt's virtual independence. This freedom was severely undermined in 1879 when the Sultan colluded with the Great Powers to depose Ismai'l in favor of his son Tewfik. Three years later, Egypt's freedom became little more than symbolic when Great Britain invaded and occupied the country, ostensibly to support Khedive Tewfik against his opponents in Ahmed Orabi's nationalist government. While the Khedive would continue to rule over Egypt and Sudan in name, in reality, ultimate power resided with the British High Commissioner.

Khedive Ismai'l I

In defiance of the Egyptians, the British proclaimed Sudan to be an Anglo-Egyptian Condominium, a territory under joint British and Egyptian rule rather than an integral part of Egypt. This was continually rejected by Egyptians, both in government and in the public at large, who insisted on the "unity of the Nile Valley", and would remain an issue of controversy and enmity between Egypt and Britain until Sudan's independence in 1956.

[edit] Sultanate and Kingdom

In 1914, Khedive Abbas II sided with the Ottoman Empire which had joined the Central Powers in the First World War, and was promptly deposed by the British in favor of his uncle Husayn Kamil. The legal fiction of Ottoman sovereignty over Egypt, which had for all intents and purposes ended in 1805, was officially terminated, Husayn was declared Sultan of Egypt and Sudan, and the country became a British Protectorate. With nationalist sentiment rising, Britain formally recognized Egyptian independence in 1922, and Husayn's successor, Sultan Fuad I, substituted the title of King for Sultan. However, British occupation and interference in Egyptian affairs persisted. Of particular concern to Egypt was Britain's continual efforts to divest Egypt of all control in Sudan. To both the King and the nationalist movement, this was intolerable, and the Egyptian Government made a point of stressing that Fuad and his son King Farouk I were "King of Egypt and Sudan".

King Farouk I

[edit] Dissolution

The reign of Farouk was characterized by ever increasing nationalist discontent over the British occupation, royal corruption and incompetence, and the disastrous 1948 Arab-Israeli War. All these factors served to terminally undermine Farouk's position and paved the way for the Revolution of 1952. Farouk was forced to abdicate in favor of his infant son Ahmed-Fuad who became King Fuad II, while administration of the country passed to the Free Officers Movement under Muhammad Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser. The infant king's reign lasted less than a year and on June 18 1953, the revolutionaries abolished the monarchy and declared Egypt a republic, ending a century and a half of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty's rule.