Egypt's foreign policy

01Egypt's foreign policy

• Egypt's foreign policy and its relations with the various powers are defined by its location and vital space at each stage.
• Before Muhammad Ali one could not speak of an Egyptian foreign policy: Egypt was a dependent province of the sultan in war and peace.
• The real attempts at independence from the Ottoman State began in his reign:
  • they began when his forces went to Arabia to quench the Wahhabi call at the sultan's request;
  • and took clearer shape when he clashed with the sultan in the Levant.
• There began the realisation that an Arab bond joined the lands of the Nile valley, the Levant and Arabia — against the Ottoman bond.
• Muhammad Ali's expansions in the Sudan, Arabia and the Mediterranean basin were a backing (hinterland) for the central government he built.