Europe and Egypt in the 19th Century

Since the end of the eighteenth century Egypt has been a vital factor in European power politics. Its value as a bridge between Europe and the East was impressed upon British strategists and the world at large by Napoleon Bonaparte’s Egyptian expedition of 1798, which brought to Egypt Mehemet Ali, then second-in-command of a Turkish regiment, but destined to build Egypt into a forceful whole. Mehemet Ali died in 1849, hereditary Pasha of the country which he had transformed from an obscure Turkish province to a centre of international politics. His power rested on the reforms he had accomplished. Thanks to those measures, his military and naval resources became so formidable that twice in a decade— in 1831 and in 1839—he threatened the very existence of the Sultan of Turkey’s rule by challenging his master with armed force.