Mohammad Ali who ruled Egypt from-1805 - 1849 made the foundation for the modem state of Egypt. Before the reign of Mohammed Ali, Egypt had suffered series of succession invasions such as the French and finally the Nationals of Turkish Empire.
During the time of Mohammed Ali, he struggled to make Egypt independent from the Turkish rule but he failed. Despite this, he undertook measures to strengthen Egypt militarily, economically and socially.
He was profoundly influenced by modernised ideas of the French and be admired European ways of life. In his internal policy, he employed many European experts in Agriculture, Education, industry and civil service. His aim was to create a modem state like that of France.
To improve Agriculture, he constructed canals, improved irrigation schemes and promoted cotton growing. In the sector of industry, he started an iron and steel industry set up ship building plants and textile industries. In the field of Education he encouraged the growth of educated class with Western civilisation. He set up schools and employed European teachers. By the time of his death in 1849, he had brought Egypt on the way to modernisation by promoting education, agriculture industry and commerce.
In his foreign policy, Mohammed Ali wanted to promote Egypt's glory abroad and secure her independence from Turkey. In 1820 he invaded and occupied Sudan and formed the Turko-Egyptian government partly because he wanted glory and partly for economic exploitation of Sudan's resources. By 1849, he had cooperated with Britain and France and exported this alien influence to Sudan.
In 1849, the foundation for modern Egypt had been complete under the effort of Mohammed Ali: by using European ideas, he had created a sound economy, developed and
promoted education for growth of western cultures made Egypt strong producer of cotton worldwide and established a national army that was inherited by his successors.
More important was that he had maintained a successful foreign policy and he had avoided "traps" of European moneylenders.
NB
Mohammad Ali achieved all this using Egyptian resources. His successors therefore
inherited a sound economy with no debts. It was the mismanagement of the economy and the borrowing excessively from the European money lenders by his successors that endangered Egyptian independence that was taken over by Britain in 1882 in attempts to recover the borrowed money by Egyptian kings.
REGIME OF ABBAS I 0849-1853).
After the death of Mohammed Ali, Egypt was taken over by people who lacked his qualities. Abbas I who ruled from 1849-53 was almost an exact opposite of Mohammed Ali. He was a deeply conservative Muslim fundamentalist who destroyed modernisation that Mohammed Ali had attempted to develop.
He was totally opposed to Western influence which he considered dangerous to the development of Islam in Egypt. His first step was to expel all European experts employed formally by Mohammed Ali.
The Schools, Factories and agriculture were all abandoned after dismissing the European adviser. His opposition to western influence was the only achievement of his regime. Although it contributed nothing to the real development of Egypt. Such a kind of frustration in Egypt couldn't continue for long. In 1853 he died with his unbecoming nationalism.
REGIME OF MOHAMMED SAID (1853 - 1963)
He had been educated in France and therefore highly Westernised as France was considered the most cultured European society. Although a moslem, he had very many christian European friends whose words he trusted most. He hoped to continue with Mohammed Ali's idea of modernising Egypt but he lacked Ali's shrewd sense of realism and therefore his policies were full of exaggerated ambitions.
For instance to strengthen economic prosperity for commercialists in Egypt. he lifted all restrictions on private enterprises and restored private ownership of land. He abolished monopolies in trade and allowed foreign goods to be imported untaxed. He was so short sighted enougb that he could not see the negative impact such policies would cause to Egyptian economy.
During bis reign, Egypt became a centre for European groups as one historian observed that;
"In his regime, Egypt became a happy hunting ground for promoters of various schemes of improvement that attracted European bankers in Egypt who were only eager to advance loans to Egyptian economy on conditions favourable to themselves".
His regime witnessed an excessive influx of Europeans fully intentioned to exploit Egypt.
One of the schemes of investment attempted by Mohammed Said was the building of the Suez canal to link the Mediterennean sea to the Red sea. The concession to construct the canal was granted to a French engineer called Ferdinard De Lesseps on terms that were not favourable to Egypt at all. For example;
i. That Egypt was to provide labour for the construction of Suez canal and provide
substantial proportion of other costs. Therefore, Egypt was to pay for construction of the canal in their own land and yet Europeans had excessive benefits in the project I
11. That Egypt was tu give the company of De lesseps a stretch of territory from which the water for irrigation could be taken. This would deprive Egypt of a considerable arable territory which she badly needed.
Ill. That the majority of the profits were to remain with the French shareholders. With such tricky laid terms work hard to begin in 1859-. To a large extent, this concession would serve just to exploit Egypt in the whole scheme.
On recomendaton of his European advisors, Said had to borrow loans from European bankers to meet such financial challenges. By the time of his death in 1863. Egypt had borrowed 14 million pounds with high interest rate from European bankers especially Britain and France. It was this weak financial position that Khedive Ismail Pasha inherited that provided a background for loss of Egyptian independence in 1882.
THE REGIEME OF ISMAIL PASHA <KHEDIVE) 1863-1879.
Mohammed Said was succeeded by Ismail Pasha a grand son of Mohammed Ali in 1863. He was also known as Khedive Ismail and he is said to have lacked cleverness and sense of proportion that Egypt needed at the time to continue with reforms as the ones begun by Mohammed Ali. Ismail was a statesman who was held responsible for Egyptian loss of independence in 1882.
He was a moderniser and proud of Good ideas of Western civilisation but he lacked cleverness and sense of proportionality to carry out his plans successfully. He tried to implement everything too quickly and on large scale for his economy. In his internal policy he wanted to build a strong economy by developing agriculture, industralisation and trade.
He also wanted to develop Western education elite class by establishing modem Schools and universities. In addition to tins, he wished to develop a modern transport system and communication network in Egypt using borrowed resources.
1n his foreign policy he wanted to secure the independence of Egypt from the control of Turkey. He also wanted to promote the Egyptian glory by maintaining the foreign occupation of Sudan that was began by his grandfather Mohammed Ali and extended his influence up to the source of River Nile. He also wanted to promote the cause of Islam by wiping out Christianity in the Northeast Africa. His aims were therefore very ambitious and hence he needed enough financial support that was not available in Egypt at the time.
Before he could achieve any of his aims, he had to secure greater Egyptian autonomy (independence) from the Sultan of Turkey. This he couldn't do it militarily and therefore he paid a lot in terms of money and gold to the sultan of Turkey in return for Egyptian independence. In 1867 therefore Egypt became a semi autonomous State and Ismail Pasha secured himself a title of "Khedive". This title made him a sovereign leader in Egypt and gave him almost a complete independence in Egyptian decisions.
With this new status, Khedive Ismail had freedom to undertake all projects of modernisation. His aim was to modernise Egypt on the model of France just like his
grandfather and establish 'a strong Empire. [n his attempts to modernise Egypt overnight, he built over 8000 miles of irrigation canals;' 1000 miles of railway lines, 5000 miles of telegraph lines, 450 bridges, 4500 elementary schools and built a modern port of Alexandria.
To promote higher education, he established three schools to train University graduates in medicine, engineering and Law. In addition he organised the customs system and banking systems were extended to all urban centers after the construction of national bank in Cairo. In his regime, Suez Canal was completed and opened in 1869. Cairo was also rebuilt with many modem streets, hotels, recreational centres and an Opera house.
These schemes brought a lot of growth in social infrastructure and increased the Egyptian Economic output. In a short run, the annual agricultural output greatly improved as Egypt became an important producer of cotton Worldwide, It became known for many European states that began struggling to import cotton raw materials to their textile industries at ..
home hence leading to the development of the Egyptian Economy.
As .soon as he came to the throne. Ismail embarked on the policy of Stamping out slave trade. He did this by forming a police force that he stationed on River Nile to intercept slave traders on boats. He later used European officials like Charles Gordon and Samuel Baker whom he stationed in Sudan to carry out administration as well as stopping slave trade activities. He preferred using these Europeans because they were less corrupt, Christians and naturally anti Slavery.
As far as political developments are concerned, Ismail created a Chamber of notables to act as partners. However this chamber of deputies highly placed was not a fully-Hedged democrative body because its members were from high property qualified people and represented only a wealthier class. The peasants, the commoners and pastoralists didn't matter in his government and their taxes remained high despite the tremendous' improvement of the Egyptian Economy.
The eurocentric and afrocentric scholars viewed his character in a contrasting way for example the British imperialists such as Lord Crommer described him as;
" ... A weak cunning and selfish pleasure seeker who borrowed a lot of money
from Europeans and later turned against them, ungratefully refused to pay them back".
However other people especially Egyptian nationalists and their sympathizers hold a different view about him e.g. an American writer Crobites described him as
" ... A shrewd; progressive and enlightened ruler with basic interests in
heart and unlucky ruler a victim of swindling tricks of European bankers". Each of these views was an extreme but to some measure carried some truth. What's clear is that Ismail Pasha had good intentions for his country but he lacked the means to put them into reality.
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