French and British Policy and Culture in Egypt 1798-1841: the Reign of Muhammad Ali and the Eastern Crisis
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French and British Policy and Culture in Egypt 1798-1841: The Reign of Muhammad Ali and the Eastern Crisis by Kieran Mortimer-Murphy Thesis Submitted to Flinders University for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences February 2020 Contents THESIS SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................ 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 8 Theoretical Contexts ................................................................................................................................... 10 Imperialism ................................................................................................................................................... 11 Applications of Imperial Theory in Egypt ............................................................................................... 16 Cultural Imperialism and Orientalism ...................................................................................................... 21 Travel Literature........................................................................................................................................... 30 Ottoman Decline and the Eastern Question ........................................................................................... 35 British and French Imperial Policy ........................................................................................................... 41 Methodology................................................................................................................................................. 51 CHAPTER 1: The French and British Encounter With Egypt Before Muhammad Ali ...................... 55 Visions Of Egypt In Europe Before 1798 ............................................................................................... 56 Ottoman Decline And Oriental Despotism ............................................................................................ 64 The French Decision to Invade Egypt ..................................................................................................... 76 The French Invasion ................................................................................................................................... 81 CHAPTER 2: The Rise of Muhammad Ali and French and British Egyptian Policy ........................... 93 The Rise of Muhammad Ali in context .................................................................................................... 94 Muhammad Ali ............................................................................................................................................ 95 British and French Policy towards Egypt – 1801-1807 ......................................................................... 99 Sebastiani’s Report .................................................................................................................................... 100 Elfi Bey’s journey to Britain .................................................................................................................... 104 War Resumed and Invasion Scare .......................................................................................................... 108 Attitudes to Muhammad Ali ................................................................................................................... 110 The British Invasion of Egypt: 1807 ...................................................................................................... 114 After the British Invasion: 1807-1815 ................................................................................................... 120 CHAPTER 3: Egyptomania and Philhellenism – 1815-1828 ................................................................ 125 Muhammad Ali: From Pacha Liberal to tyrant conqueror? ............................................................... 127 European Criticism of Ali ....................................................................................................................... 130 Egyptomania: Travel Writers and Egyptologists.................................................................................. 134 Travellers after the Napoleonic Wars .................................................................................................... 136 2 The Birth of Egyptology .......................................................................................................................... 142 Ali: a Turk? ................................................................................................................................................ 149 The Greek War and Muhammad Ali ..................................................................................................... 157 European Reactions to the Greek War of Independence .................................................................. 161 French and British Reactions to Egyptian Involvement ..................................................................... 164 Ibrahim Ali and the Greek War of Independence ............................................................................... 170 The Path to European Intervention ...................................................................................................... 174 The Resolution Of The Greek Crisis ..................................................................................................... 177 CHAPTER 4: Britain, France, And Reactions To The First Egyptian-Ottoman War ...................... 187 Informal Imperialism, Orientalism, And Perceptions Of Reform .................................................... 190 Character and Policies of Muhammad Ali ............................................................................................ 193 The Franco-Egyptian Scheme to invade Algeria and Ali’s British Overtures ................................. 209 The Invasion of Algiers and the End of The Restoration .................................................................. 212 Ali’s Preparations For War ...................................................................................................................... 217 Ali Launches His Attack .......................................................................................................................... 221 Perceptions of Ali and the Ottoman Empire During the Conflict ................................................... 228 Francophobia and Russophobia ............................................................................................................. 233 CHAPTER 5: The Second Egyptian-Ottoman War ............................................................................... 252 The treaty of Hünkâr İskelesi.................................................................................................................. 254 Ottoman Reform Believers ..................................................................................................................... 258 Anti-Ottomanists in Britain .................................................................................................................... 264 French Opinions ....................................................................................................................................... 268 Ali in the European Mind ........................................................................................................................ 272 Palmerston, Guizot, and Thiers .............................................................................................................. 292 The Second Egyptian-Ottoman War ..................................................................................................... 300 The War in 1840 ....................................................................................................................................... 316 The End of the Crisis ............................................................................................................................... 329 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................ 332 BILBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................................... 338 3 THESIS SUMMARY British and French policy in the Eastern Crisis of 1839-1841 has traditionally been viewed through the lens of diplomatic history, without an attempt to bring Saidian analysis of the cultural contexts in which British and French policies were being made to bear on events. The cultural and diplomatic contexts surrounding the Eastern Crisis require a focus not just on the crisis itself, but on how British and French relationships with Egypt and the Ottoman Empire developed over the preceding decades. This thesis does this by focusing on the period from the French invasion of Egypt and its origins, under the French revolutionary regime, through to the crisis itself, as this whole period is important to the development of the differing cultural relationships of France and Britain to Egypt. This thesis aims to blend diplomatic history,