The political state of Egypt before the Campaign

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.