The annexation of the Levant and Anatolia (1831–1840)

06The annexation of the Levant and Anatolia (1831–1840)

Muhammad Ali's motives

• He had thought of annexing the Levant early, asking the sultan to cede it for money, then asking again during the Arabian wars — the sultan refused.
• He asked for it as compensation for his losses in the war of Greece and as a reward after Crete.
• The idea became more pressing after the Sudan and his presence in Arabia: annexing the Levant would strengthen the Arab front against the Ottoman State and secure Egypt's north-eastern borders.

The declared cause

• The official cause was the return of Egyptian peasants who had fled to the Levant to escape taxes and military service.
• The wali of Acre refused, arguing they were Ottoman subjects free to settle anywhere.
• Muhammad Ali decided to expand into the Levant in October 1831.

The course of the war

• The Egyptian forces won success after success: they took Acre (May 1832), then Damascus (June 1832) and Homs (July 1832).
• They crossed the northern frontier of Syria into Anatolia, based at Adana, and continued advancing along the road to Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman State.

Muhammad Ali's measures in the Levant

• Subduing the feudal princes and disarming them.
• Consolidating security and imposing order.
• Establishing the authority of the central government of Egypt.
• Reviving trade and agriculture and imposing the conscription system.