Lesson 9: The French Campaign on Egypt and the Levant — Causes and the State of Egypt before the Campaign

01France's attempts to seize Egypt

The four attempts

• First: in the reign of Louis XIV, aimed at striking the Dutch trade with India that passed through Egypt.
• Second: in the reign of Louis XV, by requesting that the Ottoman State cede Egypt to France without a military campaign.
• Third: in the reign of Louis XVI, to ease France's trade with East Asia through Egypt instead of circling around Africa.
• Fourth: the French Campaign led by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1798 — the only attempt actually carried out.

02Causes of the Campaign

The colonial rivalry between England and France

• The rivalry began in the seventeenth century and continued throughout the eighteenth century.
• The superiority of the English fleet prevented France from striking England on its own soil.

The French Revolution and the European alliance

• The French Revolution broke out in 1789; it was the first social revolution led by the sons of the middle class in alliance with the common people.
• It ended the feudal monarchy, established the republic and executed King Louis XVI.
• The kings of Europe realised the danger to their thrones, so they allied to restore monarchy and prevent the spread of its principles — and England was an important element in that alliance.
• European states launched several wars against France which ended in French victory over those alliances.

Napoleon's idea: strike England outside its territory

• Napoleon Bonaparte thought of delivering a military blow to England outside its own territory by invading Egypt.

The French objectives in occupying Egypt

• Facilitating the passage of French trade to the East instead of the Cape of Good Hope route controlled by the English fleet.
• Undermining the British Empire in the East.
• France's desire to establish a French colony in the East.

03The economic state of Egypt before the Campaign

Agriculture

• Land belonged to the state, represented by the Ottoman sultan; peasants cultivated it with a right of use after paying taxes.
• Taxes were collected by multazims (tax farmers): each received an iltizam — a privilege to collect the taxes of a certain area in return for a fixed sum paid to the treasury, keeping any surplus for himself.
• The multazim took a piece of land exempt from tax, known as the wasiyya.
• The multazims did not care to develop agriculture, and the state neglected irrigation and strengthening the dykes, so agriculture deteriorated.

Industry

• Industry deteriorated because it remained simple manual work; machinery did not enter it as it had in Europe.
• Craftsmen were organised into guilds (tawa'if) that were the link with the government in collecting taxes and supervising production.
• Each guild grouped the members of one trade, and every man had his standing under the leadership of the sheikh of the guild.

Trade

• Egypt lost greatly when the East–West trade route shifted to the Cape of Good Hope.
• Its trade links were limited to the Mediterranean basin, Sudan, Abyssinia, the Arab lands and Yemen.
• Internal trade suffered from insecurity and the fierce conflict between the military factions and the Mamluks.
• Foreign merchants had influence over trade because of their organisation and because of the commercial privileges they enjoyed — facilities granted by the Ottoman State to foreign subjects in Egypt.
• Sending the tribute and gifts to the Ottoman sultan caused further economic deterioration.

04The social state of Egypt before the Campaign

The rulers and the ruled

• Ignorance spread, and superstition and sorcery prevailed.
• The only glimmer of the light of learning left was at al-Azhar al-Sharif.

05The political state of Egypt before the Campaign

The Ottoman system of rule

• The Ottomans created instruments of dependence on the sultan, and three administrations stood in Egypt, each watching the other.
• The Wali (governor): the deputy of the sultan.
• The Diwan: watched the wali and could even dismiss him.
• The Mamluk beys: administered the provinces.

The weakness of the Ottoman system

• The system carried the seeds of its own weakness: the short term of the wali's rule, the growing power of the Diwan and the military garrison, and the weakness of the Ottoman State at the end of the eighteenth century.
• Therefore the Mamluk beys looked forward to monopolising rule by themselves.

Ali Bey al-Kabir

• This appeared clearly in the days of Ali Bey al-Kabir, chief of the Mamluks, in 1769, exploiting the Ottoman State's wars with Russia.
• He deposed the Ottoman wali and prevented others from coming, refused to pay the tribute and struck coins in his own name.
• He brought the Hejaz under his influence and sent his deputy Muhammad Bey Abu Dhahab to invade the Levant — he entered Damascus.
• Abu Dhahab sided with the Ottoman sultan and agreed with him against Ali Bey, so Egypt returned to being an Ottoman province under the rule of the shaykh al-balad Muhammad Bey Abu Dhahab.
• After Abu Dhahab the conflict between the Mamluks intensified, so the economy deteriorated and foreign trade shrank.
• When the French Campaign arrived, Egypt was under a dual Mamluk rule: Ibrahim Bey and Murad Bey.

06Exam traps and key takeaways

• The second attempt sought Egypt by diplomacy, not by campaign — do not say it was military.
• The fourth attempt is the only one that was executed.
• France could not strike England at home because of the English fleet, which is exactly why Egypt was chosen.
• The tax-free plot taken by a multazim is the wasiyya, not the iltizam itself.
• Al-Azhar was the only remaining centre of learning — a favourite "which institution" question.
• The Ottoman system had three mutually-watchful administrations; the one able to dismiss the wali is the Diwan.
• Abu Dhahab defected to the sultan — that, not a battle, ended Ali Bey al-Kabir's experiment.
• At the arrival of the Campaign Egypt was ruled by two beys: Ibrahim Bey and Murad Bey.