SOME ASPECTS OF INDUCED DEVELOPMENT IN EGYPT UNDER MUHAMMAD ALI PASHA AND KHEDIVE ISNAIL by Derek. Jarncs Overtnn B,A,, Unit~ersityof British Columbia, 1967 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF hRTS in the Department of History @ DEREK JAMES UVERTON 1971 S IMUN FRASER UNIVEES ITY April 1971 APPROVAL Name: Dogrce: litlo of Ihesis: Some Aspects of Induced Cevsloprnrnt in Egypt under Muhammad Ali Pasha and Khcdivo Ismail Examining Cornmitt ee: Chairman: Robert Lt Koepke - JOFP,S~~CJKTI~X--- -"- Senior Suocrvisor I - .. ---- Hanna Kassis 7----- External Examiner Associate Professor University of British Columbiap Vancouver, B.C. Date Approved: .2 $?, * 1 q -71 (ii) ABSTRACT Dramatic socio-economj.~ reforms were induced in Egypt during the administrations of Muhammad Ali Pasha, 1805-1848, and Khedive Ismail, 1863-1879. This thesis is primarily concerned with many of the problems that impeded the fruition of these reforms. nF4- n- ,,~,,mntnn + hn nnttnvnnrchi n .,, Ub, U,u,,l,,,,,,, y,,,,,,,,,u,,,, cf Eqyp'c in ? 805; Mnhpmmarl Ali strove for more than a decade to consolidate his position of leadership. Soon after he had eliminated or neutralized most elements of active or potential opposition, he underto~k military reforms. The establishment of a large army - for defensive and offensive purposes - modelled on European military forces, became the Pasha's primary preoccupation. The problems of attempting to form a modern army in nineteenth century Egypt, a profoundly traditional society, were formidable, The Pasha also undertook an essentially more difficult task, that of forming a modern navy, Egypt at this time had no experienced naval personnel, other than a few European naval instructors, The army, uhich by the early lf33D1s exceeded 100,000 men, acted as the major nucleus of reform. Various "modern" industries were founded - ossentially to supply the army - and numerous "modern" primary, secondary and special schools were established, largely to prepare personnel for military service. All of these institutions ehcountered great difficulties, as (iii) the administrators, the factory ~uorkersand the studer~ts originated from a profoundly traditional ethos. Muhammcd iili's reforms suffered a grave setback in 'i~!?140, when the Egyptian army in Syria was defeated by Ottoman and European fgrces, The Pasha tijas forced to reduce the size of his army to a small percentage of what it had been. In poor health, disillusioned and resentful, the Pasha for the remainder of his administration showed little interest in furthering or mainteiniR; his r-fcr~s. Dzri~n+hie nnrinri Y ""'"I------ the navy, schools and industries he had founded were largely dissipated, Ismail acceded to leadership in Egypt fifteen years after the abdication of his grandfather, Muharnrr~ad Ali. Though he had previously appeared to be somewhat cautious and parsimonious, he rapidly instigated reforms involving relatively large expenditures, which necessitated costly (in interest and service charges) foreign loans. By the end of his administra- tion, he had accumulated a debt of E. 91,U009000. At the time of his accession, Egypt enjoyed a period of unprecedented prosperity due to the boom in 1861-1865 of world prices fv cotton.' This undoubtedly inflated his expectations of the cquntry's economic potential, which in turn influenced him to spend imprudently in various areas. Notable among his expenditures were those on public u~orks. Soon after the decline of cotton prices, Ismail initiated a large scale sugar refining industry, hoping in part to diversify Egypt's income from agriculture, which was 'largely reliant on cotton. Such factors as a lack of management personnel and skilled workers, as we11 as poor sugar prices on the world market, undermined the project. It was unprofitable and evuntuall-y collapsed, Ismail undertook relatively large scale military reforms, yet the army did not become the raison d%tre of his policies as it had been with Muhammad Ali. Among his more noteworthy achievements were those concerned igith education. Neu~ educational. institutions were opened, others wero revived and \major reforms were promulgated. ismaii was abie to utiiize Egyptian and Ottoman teaching personnel educated in schools founded by his grandfather. The precipitate changes and reforms induced by Muhammad Ali were fraught with shortcomings, and had largely dissipated before his abdication. Considering that Egypt was a profoundly tradition81 socicty, howevero it is remarkable that they developed to the extent that they did. Soma of Ismail's modernization projects on the other hand, proved to be relatively durable and provided a more concrete basis for future sacio-economic development. The large National Debt accumulatad during his adn~inistration, however, offset the benefits from these projects, It was an important factor in a chain of events that culminated in the British occupation of Egypt * A wide variety of books, journals, correspondence, consular reports, and edicts were studied for this thesis - in both English and French, Much of this material was obtained through Inter-Library Loan. (v > TABLE OF CONTENTS- I..-.Paae ABSTRACT INTRODUCT ION PART I Chaptar I Egypt, Muhammad Ali and tile Cansolidat ion of Pov~cr Military Conscriptian in a Traditional Society Chapter IV The Navy: Develaprnant and Effectiveness *haptcr V Priorities in Education Chapter V I Problems of Industrializaticn PliRT II Chapter VII Ismail's Ambition Chapter VI lI Problems OF Praductivity in Agriculture Chapter I); Public Works and the Public Debt 122 Chapter X The Organization and AdnfnistraLion of Education , 140 Chapter XI The Expansion and Organization of the Military 151 CONCLUSIOPJ BIBL IOGRAPi-lY INTRODUCTION Muhammad Ali Pasha and Khedive Ismail were the most dynamic rulors of Egypt in the nineteenth century, During their administrations this autonomous province of the Ottoman Empire underwent dramatic socio-economic changes. The results of the reforms were in many instances markedly defective, and tzspaelally tiluse ilid~~cedby Muhaiiiiiiau" &:is large:j: ephsmera?. Considering the many elements within traditional society i antithetical to such reforms, it is remarkable %hat they developed to the degree they did. The overt differences between Egypt of the time of Muhamniad Ali's accession to power in 1805, and Egypt at the time of Ismail's abdi.cation in 1879, are no less striking, This thesis is primarily concerned u~itha study of the tensions and problems that emerged as a result of the changes the two administrators undertook to implement. These changes are interesting examples of attempts to induce the development, in the non-Western world, of characteristics that evolved in the European cultural environment, The Muhammad Ali era provides an early and classic pattern of induced change with the following historical stages of development: 1. The French invasion and occupation of Egypt broke the Mamlukqs control of that country. Soon after the French force had wiihdrawn, Muhammad Ali usurped control of Egypt. 2. During the next decade or so, he consolidated his position as ruler of Egypt by9 among other measures, neutralizing or destroying active or potential opponents to his regime, 3. In the same period, he greatly increased government income, most notably by confiscating all land, and monopolizing all farm produce. 4. During the second decade of his reign the Pasha instituted military reforms. These, coupled with rapid military expansion, triggered large scale devcloprnents in ancillary areas. The initiatives undertaken by the two autonomous rulers of Egypt have been discussed from a variety of perspectives in a variety of accounts, but a balanced examination of their reforms, in the light of tho problems of induced development, has been largely neglected, A number of European contemporaries of Muhanimad Ali wrote apologias for his reforms, Their works, which have had considerable influence upon subsequent studies on the subject, gave scant attention to the difficulties of transition from tradition to modernity. One could conclude from them that such difficulties were virtually non-existent. In fact, however, the reforms were inundated with problems. It is probablc that at lczst some of the =pologists Eerz bribzd by the Pasha to glorify his achievements. This of course would account for their failure to discuss the difficulties encountered. Ismail acceded to the throne in 1863, fourteen years after the death sf his grandrather, Muhammad Ali, by which time the overt effects of the Pasha's reforms had been largely dissipated. He instigated large scale modernization projects, some of which proved to be relatively durable. Unlike his grandfather, however, his contemporary critics outnumbered his apologists. The large national debt that he accumulated was of course to a considerable extent responsible for this, Apart from the debt, such influential British figures as the Earl of Cromer, Lord Milner, and Edward Dicey unjust1.y characterized Ismail in their writings as an utter wastrel, Such character assassination helped to justify Britain's role in Ismail's al~dication,and the subsequent British occupation of Egypt. His efforts at modernization, and the nature of the problems encountered, have largely been ignored by historians, u~hilehis debt has becomz his epitaph. This thesis concentrates on those aspects of induced developrn~nt,ori~iriat in? 111; t.h t he inif.iaf.i\te~nf khf? refnrmnrs or their governments, These are the specific