Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt
Ibrahim Pasha al Wali (Arabic إبراهيم باشا ) (* 1789 in Nusretli, today the village Nikiforos, Macedonia, at that time belonging to the Regional District Drama of the Ottoman Rumelia eyalet, † November 10, 1848 in Cairo ) fought as Ottoman and Egyptian General in the Ottoman -Saudi war in the Greek Revolution, conquered Syria, was then governor of Syria and Palestine. He was viceroy of Egypt in 1848.
Life
Fight against the Mamluks and Wahhabis
Ibrahim Pasha was the eldest son of Muhammad Ali, the Ottoman viceroy of Egypt, and thus his heir. While his father fought with the Mamluks for control of Egypt, the sixteen -year-old Ibrahim was sent with his brother as a hostage to the Ottomans. After Muhammad was recognized as a patriarch and the English expedition was defeated by General Fraser, he was allowed to return to Egypt.
As Muhammad Ali in 1813 for the Ottomans in Ottoman -Saudi war fought against the Wahhabis, Ibrahim was left as Commanding in Upper Egypt. He continued the suppression of the Mamelukes. In 1816 he succeeded his brother after Tousoun as commander of the Egyptian forces in Arabia. Muhammad Ali had already begun to introduce European discipline in the army, and Ibrahim had probably receive training, but his first campaigns he led more in ancient Asian style than his later operations. The campaign in Arabia lasted two years and ended in the destruction of the Wahhabis as a political power.
Ibrahim landed on September 30, 1816 in Yanbu, the port of Medina. In March 1818 reached Ibrahim Diriyya, the nucleus of Wahhabism. He forced after very heavy fighting and six months' duration siege with heavy artillery in September, the surrender of the city. So that he could force the Wahhabi leader Abdallah ibn Saud I. to the task. On 11 December 1819 he moved triumphantly in Cairo.
The Greek Revolution
After his return, he supported the French Colonel Sève ( Suleiman Pasha ), who had been commissioned to drill the army on the European model. Ibrahim set an example by themselves subjugated as a recruit the drill. In 1821 he was asked by his father to take part in the campaign of his brother Ishmael to the conquest of the Sudan. Ibrahim broke up in January 1821 by Cairo and united with his brother on 22 October in Sennar. In 1822 he had to, due to illness, return to Cairo. As Muhammad Ali in 1824 was appointed by the Sultan to the governor of the Morea, to help against the insurgent Greeks, he sent Ibrahim with a fleet squadron and an army of 17,000 men. The expedition stabbed in July 1824 in the lake, but was for months to more than a steady " Come - and - Go " in the situation. The fear of the Greek fire-ships held his trip to the Peloponnese (then Morea ) on. When his Greek sailors mutinied over unpaid wages, he landed on 26 February 1825 Modon. Ibrahim's operations were energetic and cruel. He defeated the Greeks effortlessly in the open field, and although the siege Messolongis brought his own and the Turkish troops heavy losses, he led them on April 24, 1826 to a successful end. The Greek guerrilla however plagued his army, and in retaliation he ravaged the country and sent thousands of residents into slavery in Egypt. These measures of repression aroused great indignation in Europe and led only to the intervention of the British, French and Russian squadrons (see Battle of Navarino ), then to the landing of a French expeditionary force, the Morea expedition. He fought in the Peloponnese until it was forced on 1 October 1828 by the Western powers to surrender and left in accordance with the terms of surrender the land. English officers who saw him at Navarino, described him as a small, thick and disfigured by smallpox, but his obesity had not reduced its activities on the battlefield.
The conquest of Syria
After 1831 the struggle of his father with the Porte had become obvious, Ibrahim was instructed to conquer Syria and Palestine. He led his task through with remarkable energy. He took on 27 May 1832 severe siege of Acre, occupied on June 18, Damascus, defeated on 8 July the Turkish army in Homs and July 29, another at Beilan. After these victories Ibrahim Pasha invaded Anatolia and thrust forward towards Istanbul. On December 21, he hit the grand vizier routed at Konya. No doubt Colonel Sève and the European officers in the army of help, but his docility to their advice, and his personal courage and energy were are advantageous against the inertia, ignorance and vanity of the Turkish generals opposed to him. He can claim for themselves diplomatic judgment and fine sense of ensuring the support of the population and to have benefit from their rivalry drawn. On April 8, 1833 Peace of Kütahya was closed and Muhammad Ali's rule over Syria for the time being recognized. After the campaign of 1832/33 Ibrahim remained as governor in Syria. His government was substantially affected by the taxes that he had to collect for his father, so that rebellions broke out.
Was governor of Syria and Palestine
As governor of Syria and Palestine, he carried out reforms within the meaning of the French Revolution; through the installation of secular courts, he broke the first time in Islam with the unrestricted validity of the Sharia; now also Christians and Jews, for example, in Jerusalem could be elected to the council. As religious institutions calling in Islam to revolt, he sent these are reflected with Egyptian troops. For the first time now allowed in Islam Christians bear arms. In Lebanon, the reform policy of Amir Bashir II al - Shehabi was supported, which was sold in 1840 with the help of the English. It is noteworthy that the first time he sat in Islam by the principle of equality between Muslims and Christians.
In 1838 the Porte felt strong enough to resume the fight. Ibrahim won on June 24, 1839 his last victory for his father at Nizip. But Britain and Austria intervened to preserve the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. Your squadron interrupted his communication by sea with Egypt, a general revolt isolated him in Syria, and he was eventually forced to leave the country in February 1841. Ibrahim spent the rest of his life in peace, but his health was ruined. In 1846 he paid a visit to Western Europe and was received with great respect and curiosity.
When his father in 1848 became mentally weak, Ibrahim traveled in August 1848 to Constantinople, Opel, to be appointed by Sultan Abdülmecid I to the Viceroy. Since, however, he died before his father, followed them, his nephew Abbas.