Khaled Fahmy offers a new interpretation of modern Egyptian history and the rise of Egyptian nationalism in a theoretically informed study. Basing his work on previously neglected archival material, the author demonstrates how Mehmed Ali built up the Egyptian army to further his own ambitions rather than as a means of gaining Egyptian independence. In this way, the book challenges traditionally held views about early nineteenth-century Egypt and the role of Mehmed Ali as the founder of modern Egypt. The book will be essential reading for students of the Middle East, Ottomanists, military...

Kavalali Mehmed Ali Pasha (c. 1770 1849), often dubbed "the founder of modern Egypt," was one of the most important figures in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Born in what is now Greece, and seemingly headed for an everyday existence as a married tobacco trader, he joined the Ottoman army at the age of thirty, and went on to become the ruler of Egypt for nearly half a century. Conqueror of Sudan and Syria, despot, and eventually a threat to the Ottoman Empire itself, he established both mass industrialisation and the mass-farming of cotton, and secured hereditary rule for his descendents....