Mamluks and Muhammad Ali – 1250 – 1811

Rise of Mamluks

The Mamluks were slaves bought for their horsemanship and fighting skills
- They came from various places, but many came from Turkic tribes
- Many were pushed westwards as a result of Mongol expansions into central Asia
- They were trained as warriors from young age
After Saladin died, the Ayyubid Dynasty was weakened from within
The last Ayyubid sultan to rule both Cairo and Damascus was As-Salih Ayyub
- In 1249, French armies invaded Egypt starting the Seventh Crusade by Louis IX
- As-Salih Ayyub was wounded in combat and later died
- His wife Shajar adDurr, kept the news secret, specially from the Sultan’s son (Turanshah’s)
- When Turnshah returned from Asia Minor and learned the news, he became Sultan
- 3 months later, Turnshah was assassinated by Mamluk commander, Baibars, who helped defeat the French
May 2, 1250, Shajar adDurr was made Sultana of Egypt as Baibars was loyal to her
Later Shajar adDurr agreed to marry Mamluk commander Aybak and made him Sultan to appease the Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad
As division grew between different Mamluk factions, Shajar adDurr and Aybak supported opposing factions
Shajar adDurr planned to murder Aybak, but he struck first
- It is said that Aybak son’s maids cornered Shajar adDurr and have beaten her to death

In 1258, Baghdad fell to the Mongols
The two main Mamluk factions (one in Cairo, one in Damascus) decided to unify
- Qutuz was the Sultan in Cairo and Baibars was the Emir of Damascus
- Both fought the French armies, but Qutuz was loyal to Aybak while Baibars was loyal to Shajar adDurr
Qutuz and Baibars united forces to fight Hulagu’s Mongol army who just sieged Aleppo
In September 1260, the two armies clashed at Ain Jalut
- The troops were 10,000-20,000 on each side
- However, Hulagu had to return to his homeland to attend the election of the next Khan
- Mamluks have also perfected horse archery which was an advantage for Mongols
- The Mamluks set a trap for the Mongol army and it succeeded
This was the first devastating defeat of a Mongol Army

In the way back to Cairo, Baibers murdered Qutz and became Sultan of Egypt
Baibers ruled for 17 years
- He eliminated remnants of the Ayyubid dynasty and added Syria to his rule
- He secured his territories against Mongols and the crusaders
A Mamluk Sultan rule averaged 7 years, which lead to periods of instability and inner conflicts
Eventually conquered by Ottomans in 1517, but Mamluks reasserted some power still until the French invasion in 1798

Ethnic Albanian born in modern-day Greece in 1769.
His family had a background in trade
Ottomans sent a force to bring order after the power vacuum that resulted from French invasion of Egypt
- Muhammad Ali lead one of the units in that Army
- Ali, now in his 30s, played different factions against each other
- Ali worked on winning the support of the Egyptian people
In 1805, people demand that Ali becomes the Wali of Egypt
On March 1, 1811, Muhammad Ali threw a party in Cairo at the Citadel, inviting many in Cairo’s ruling class, the Mamluks.
- After years of armed clashes, it seemed that peace with Mamluks could be possible
- In a decisive blow, Ali eliminated most if not all internal opposition by massacring Mamluks in attendance
From 1811 to 1840, Ali got engaged in many military campaigns
- Some of the campaigns were on behalf of the Ottoman’s Sultan, others were for his own gains
- Two of Ali’s sons lead two campaigns on behalf of the Sultan against rise of Al-Saud in central Arabia
- Later, Ali conquered Sudan to get gold and slaves to help build and support his growing Army.
- Ali also undertook campaigns in the Mediterranean on behalf of the Sultan to stop rebellions in Crete, Cyprus, and Greece.
- In return, he negotiated with the Ottoman’s Sultan to take the governorship of Syria
- These activities in the Mediterranean attracted him the attention of some European powers

Ali started with transforming and modernizing the military early to secure his power
He started by recruiting indigenous Egyptians mainly from the peasant class
- This was similar to what Napoleon did in France
- This was the first sign of fostering Egyptian-ness and national pride in modern era
He also created a military industrial complex to allow for more domestic production of arms
In October 1827, and as a result of his rising power, an Anglo-Franco force destroyed his naval fleet near the coast of Greece
- This was a big blow to Ali, but he maintained power in Egypt due to his other reforms
Based on popular economic theory of the time – mercantilist economics – he was keen to increase Egypt’s exports
- This lead to focus on cash crops and industrial manufactures
- With land being owned by the state, he can dictate what farmers produce
- Cotton had the biggest impact as a cash crops specially as American production was disrupted due to the Civil War
Young Egyptians were initially sent to Europe to study before local universities were available

Muhammad Ali’s success came about due to:
- He was able to beat his rivals through diplomacy and battlefield victories
- He won over the Egyptian people to his side
- He ruled for a long period lasting 43 years
In a way he “Egyptianized” Egypt possibly as a side effect of his modernization efforts
- Returning Egyptians from Europe also brought new political ideas that played a rule later
A big legacy of Muhammad Ali’s 43 years rule was securing from the Ottomans a dynastic rule in Egypt for his children.
- This lasted until 1952, when his dynastic line was thrown out of power by his own military

Sources: “Turning Points in Middle Eastern History” by professor Eamonn Gearon of Johns Hopkins University (TheGreatCourses.com) Lecture 17 and 30