Ismail Pasha
Ismail Pasha ( Arabic إسماعيل باشا, DMG Ismāʿīl Paša ; * December 31, 1830 in Cairo ; † March 2, 1895 in Constantinople ) was Wali (governor) from 1863 to 1867 and Khedive ( viceroy ) of the Ottoman province of Egypt from 1867 to 1879 . He is also known by the nickname Ismail the Magnificent . Ismail modernized Egypt , but also plunged the country into serious debt. Under his rule, Egypt reached its greatest expansion, up to the area of what is now South Sudan's Gondokoro .
Life
Ismail was born in Cairo as the second of three sons of Ibrahim Pasha . He was a grandson of the founder of the Muhammad Ali dynasty, which ruled until 1953 . In 1844, Ismail traveled to Paris with his eldest brother Ahmed to train, with the future minister Ali Pascha Mubarak accompanying them. When his father died in 1849, he returned to the Nile. After the death of his older brother, he became the heir of his uncle Muhammad Said , the Wali of Egypt. The latter appointed him to the State Council in 1855 and entrusted him with important official functions. Ismail was sent abroad on a diplomatic mission, for example to the Pope, to the French Emperor Napoléon III. and to the Turkish Sultan . In 1861, Ismail headed the government in his place during a lengthy absence of his uncle. Towards the end of the year he received an order to suppress an uprising that had broken out in Sudan . At the head of a 14,000-strong corps , he successfully completed the assignment.
After the death of his uncle Muhammad Said on January 18, 1863, he was proclaimed his successor without contradiction. In 1867 he was given the hereditary title Khedive by Sultan Abdülaziz in exchange for the doubling of the tribute .
Ismail conducted the affairs of state both skillfully and lavishly. After his forced abdication on June 26, 1879, his son Tawfiq took office and Ismail left Egypt. He was initially denied a stay in Constantinople . He left Cairo on June 30, 1879 on a train full of goods, embarked the next day from Alexandria with his harem for Naples and tried in vain to restore his rule by round trips to the European powers. The Sultan Abdülhamid II finally allowed Ismail Pasha to retire to his palace Emirgan on the Bosporus . He stayed there, more or less a prisoner of the state, until the end of his life. The former khedive died in Constantinople in 1895. His younger son Fuad I became the first king of Egypt in 1922.
Political activity
Ismail continued the free-thinking policy of his predecessor. Its lavish household, investments and armaments expenditure swallowed up enormous resources and increasingly burdened Egypt with debt. Ismail imposed taxes and compulsory labor on the people, especially the fellahs , in order to raise the large sums of money. Regardless of this, he made significant contributions to his country: he
- introduced the cotton culture in Egypt and created a sugar industry .
- enforced the completion of the Suez Canal against Turkish intrigues instigated by England.
- convened an Egyptian notable assembly in 1866 to discuss internal reforms.
- redesigned the tax system and postal system.
- built palaces, lavishly ran an opera and a theater, and built a museum, a library and the observatory in Cairo .
- expanded Cairo to the west and built the new district based on the Parisian model. Alexandria was also improved in terms of urban development.
- initiated a railway construction project.
Ismail's main focus was on consolidating the rule of his dynasty and making himself independent from the Turkish sultan. In May 1866 he received the approval of the Sublime Porte to regulate the succession in direct line. A year later, when the Ottoman Empire needed his help because of an uprising in Crete , the Sultan Abdülaziz made him Khedive (viceroy) and made some concessions for the independence of the administration of Egypt.
Ismail then set about acquiring a strong European-style army and a fleet of ironclad ships . When he set out on a trip to the European courts in 1869, initiated independent negotiations with the powers that be about the neutralization of the Suez Canal and the abolition of consular jurisdiction and thus made known his striving for independence, the gate stepped in. Ismail, who could not hope for outside help for a war, had to submit to the Turkish sultan in December 1869, guarantee that the army would be limited to 30,000 men and deliver his ironclad ships to the gate in March 1870. In July 1870 and the years 1872 and 1873 Ismail visited Constantinople. He tried to improve his position with a baksheesh policy. Through generous gifts of money to Sultan Abdülaziz and his chief officials, he obtained a new Ferman on June 8, 1873, who paid him a tribute of 1 million thalers (= 3 million gold marks ), but gave him a higher rank and the khedivat Egypt a very far guaranteed sufficient independence.
This - earlier replacing - new Ferman confirmed the Khedives the direct succession for male descendants ( birthright ). It was also included in the Sultan's decree
- the complete independence of the Egyptian administration and judiciary,
- the right to conclude contracts with foreign powers (on trade and domestic affairs, non-political and state treaties),
- the right to mint (but with the name of the Turkish sultan) and
- the authority to take out bonds or other debts,
anchored.
Ismail's military ventures led to the conquest of Darfur . The sultanate was annexed on December 9, 1874. A campaign in northern Abyssinia , however, was unsuccessful. In 1877 Egypt and Abyssinia signed a peace treaty.
The entire developments left Egypt deeply indebted to the major European powers and they used this to squeeze out concessions from Ismail. An international court of justice was founded in Alexandria in 1875, which replaced the previous consular jurisdiction of European powers in the country. It ruled on legal disputes between Egyptians and foreigners and legal disputes between foreigners. The panel was made up of European and local judges. This mixed system was one of the most unpopular measures among the locals.
Due to the administrative reforms, strong construction activity and a failed financial policy, the national debt rose sharply. Contributing to the construction costs of the Suez Canal led to the financial ruin of Egypt . Eventually, under Ismail Pashas, the debts grew so much that in 1878 the state was no longer able to pay its creditors the interest. The national debt of £ 3 million when he took office as Khedive had now grown to £ 100 million. As early as 1875 , Egypt was effectively bankrupt. The bondholders became restless. Among other things, Ismail had to sell his holdings of Suez Canal shares to Great Britain . On November 24, 1875, 176,602 shares changed hands for £ 3,976,582. In the following year, France and Great Britain set up a control commission for the shattered Egyptian finances.
In 1878 the state came completely under international financial supervision. The British Charles Rivers Wilson was appointed finance minister and the French Marquis de Blignières as labor minister in the Egyptian government cabinet under Prime Minister Nubar Pascha . Many Egyptians could not accept this and gathered around the dissatisfied Colonel Ahmed Urabi . The Urabi movement consumed Egypt in the following years. Ismail Pasha did little to counter the revolt, because he hoped to get rid of the European powers. He dissolved the government. Britain and France, however, insisted on the reinstatement of their ministers. When the khedive was unwilling to do so in view of the disaffection that prevailed in large parts of the country, he was forced to abdicate by the Turkish sultan on June 26, 1879 at the instigation of the European powers because of waste. His office was taken over by his son Tawfiq (also spelled "Tewfik"), who was more compliant to the wishes of the powers that be.
Other initiatives
- In 1869 Ismail opened the Suez Canal . To this end, he organized a festival of unprecedented proportions and invited dignitaries around the world to attend.
- The city of Ismailia on the Suez Canal was named after him.
- The German Africa explorer Gerhard Rohlfs received an order from the Khedives for an expedition to the Kufra oases .
- Ismail Pascha commissioned the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi for an opera for Cairo's opera house. This is how his work Aida was created .
- Khartoum became the governor's seat and thus the capital of Sudan.
honors and awards
- 1874 - Bavarian Academy of Sciences : election to honorary member
- Holds the British title Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India
- Bearer of the British Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Offspring (selection)
- Tevhide (August 2, 1850 to October 3, 1888)
- Muhammad Tawfik (November 15, 1852 to January 7, 1892)
- Fatima (June 3, 1853 to November 18, 1920)
- Hussein Kamil (November 21, 1853 to October 9, 1917)
- Hasan Ismail (December 30, 1854 to March 23, 1888)
- Zeyneb (1859 - August 19, 1875)
- Ibrahim Hilmi (October 18, 1860 to March 15, 1927)
- Mahmud Hamdi (March 6, 1863 to September 16, 1921)
- Ahmad Fuad (March 26, 1868 to April 28, 1936)
- Jamila Fazila (1869-1896)
- Amina Aziza (September 23, 1875 to September 9, 1931)
- Ali Jamal (1875-1893)
- Nimatullah (September 19, 1876 to June 21, 1945)
Individual evidence
- ^ F. Robert Hunter: Egypt Under the Khedives, 1805–1879: From Household Government to Modern Bureaucracy . American University in Cairo Press, 1999. p. 126 Partial online view
literature
- Crabitès, Pierre: Ismail, the maligned khedive . G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd., London 1933.
- Douin, Georges: Histoire du règne du khed́ive Ismail . Istituto Poligrafico dello Stato and L'Imprimerie de L'Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, for La Société Royale de Géographie d'Égypte, Rome 1933–1938. 3 volumes. (Digital copies: [1] )
- Farman, Elbert Eli: Egypt and its Betrayal. An account of the country during the periods of Ismaîl and Tewfik Pashas, and of how England acquired a new Empire . Grafton Press, New York 1908. (Digitized: [2] )
- Guindi, Georges / Tagher, Jacques: Ismai̇l, d'après les documents officiels . Impr. De l'Institut français d'archéologie orientale, Cairo 1946.
- Jerrold, Blanchard: Egypt under Ismail Pacha. S. Tinsley & Company, Southampton 1879. (Digitized: [3] )
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Muhammad Said |
Wali (until 1867) and Khedive (from 1867) of Egypt 1863–1879 |
Tawfiq |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Ismail Pasha |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Wali (until 1867) or Khedive (from 1867) of Egypt (1863–1879) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 31, 1830 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Cairo |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 2, 1895 |
| Place of death | Constantinople |