Mohammed Ali Pasha three campaigns on Arabia, Greece and Syria to Essay

Mohammed Ali Pasha three campaigns on Arabia, Greece and Syria to Anatolia and how it affects him in the International Arena - Essay Example Many of the policies enacted were of benefit to the common person, while others were not. This paper will take a broad look at Egypt, before and after Mohammed Ali Pasha, and attempt to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of his reign throughout the region. Egypt before Muhammad Ali Egypt is rich with over 5,000 years of history. In retrospect, the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha is a small blip in time, as Egypt has seen many rulers come and go through the years. Beginning in the 1500’s, the Ottoman Empire stretched into Egypt. Prior to this, Cairo was the center of Egyptian civilization and the country was quite a powerful independent state. It yielded a great deal of influence in the region. This all changed, however, with the conquering of the city by the Ottoman army (Moshe 337). Prior to Muhammad Ali Pasha, Istanbul was, in essence, calling all of the shots for Egypt. Because of this, Arabic was not even the dominant language of the era. While the Ottoman Empire allowed Egypt to function as a sort of autonomous state with the Empire, the reality was that Egypt was not in firm control of its own destiny. This reality continued, largely unchecked, until the arrival of Ali Pasha in the early 19th century. It was during that time that Muhammad Ali Pasha immediately began to turn the army into a force that could keep the Ottoman Empire from dictating Egyptian affairs, while reinstituting many parts of Egyptian culture that had been lost. He actually became fixated on attempting to take over the entire Ottoman Empire himself. At this time, Ali Pasha began to shift the language back to Arabic from Turkish, and he began to institute a number of military and administrative reforms designed to create a technological Egypt moving forward (Colvin 258). Muhammad Ali as Ruler of Egypt As described, Egypt has a fascinating history. Perhaps, however, modern day Egypt can be said to have started with the rule of Mohammed Ali Pasha. Even though he was of Albanian d escent, he came to rule Egypt from 1805-1848. In fact, even after his reign, the family maintained a tight grip on the country until the Egyptian Revolution in 1952. This period of time in Egypt’s history was quite groundbreaking. Thanks to Ali Pasha, there were a great many reforms made to the military and economic structure of Egypt. In addition, his control over the country saw many cultural advances to take place as Egypt began to become a major player throughout the region, and, indeed, the world (Moshe 338). Prior to becoming the ruler of Egypt, Muhammad Ali Pasha was a soldier. Apparently, however, he was not just an average soldier, but was so good that he got noticed throughout Turkey and began to rise through the ranks. Upon settling in Egypt, he increased the technology used by the army in the country, and used that labor to also create new schools and to improve the infrastructure throughout the country. His most notable contribution in this area was to implement a network of irrigation projects that had previously been neglected (Moshe 339). He did all of this with minimal interference from the current Sultan. In fact, he rarely even consulted with the Sultan; rather he was so respected among the people that he set out on his own to accomplish these great feats. Upon reflection, it can be said that Muhammad Ali