Egypt

Link to syllabus

Link to WDI

Link to UM-D Library

Link to http://canvas.umd.umich.edu/

MERIP on Egypt in Year ThreeInterview with Springborg

Egypt map

Egypt Topographical map

Link to Egypt Chronology

Muhammad Ali

Born ~1770 in Albania into a military family. Came to power about 1803. Died in Egypt in 1849. Spoke Turkish initially.

Participated in military expedition inEgypt against French; stayed andparlayed that into control. Was instrumental in pushing fordevelopment of Egypt; he lessenedOttoman power, but faced increasingBritish influence. Encouraged cottonand sugar cultivation, and new manufacturing industries. Also,v educational reforms.

Picture from Hassan, In the House of Muhammad Ali

A painting of

Muhammad Ali

Muhammad Said

1822-1863 (son of Muhammad Ali)

Ruled 1854-1863

Friendship with DeLessepsled to French constructionof Suez Canal.

Ismail 1830-1895 Ruled 1863-1879

Grandson of Muhammad Ali,(and son of Ibrahim pasha). Made a mess out of the Suez Canal. Was essentially thrown out of office, after which the British ran Egypt.

"My country is no longer in Africa; we are now part of Europe. It is therefore natural for us to abandon our former ways and to adopt a new system adapted to our social conditions". [Wiki]

Commissioned Aida from Verdi.

Why the Suez Canal is Important

Satellite view of Suez

Inauguration of the Suez Canal

Painting byMahmoud Said (1897-1964)French Empress Eugenie

Early Nationalism in Egypt, 1920s

King Fuad

1868-1936

King 1922-1936

Negotiated with Britain the conditions of Egypt’s “independence” in 1922. Fought with the Wafd Party; this period is considered to have been quite unstable politically.

Sa’ad Zaghul 1857-1927

Born into middle class peasant family.Studied at al-Azhar and Egyptian School of Law. Married daughter of the Prime Minister; went on to be Minister of Education, and of Justice. Dynamic orator.

Founder of the Wafd Party, which asked to represent Egypt at Versailles. Wafd instigated disorders in 1918; Zaghul was exiled, returned to become Prime Minister.

The Wafd is generally considered to have been a failed middle class reformistParty.

Talaat Harb 1867-1941

Leading Egyptian economist/businessman who established the Bank of Egypt (BanqueMisr) in 1920.

The Bank of Egypt became the center ofan extensive group of companies, owned and managed by Egyptians, in areas suchas textiles, shipping, publishing, movies,and Egypt Air.

The Bank established branches in severalother Middle Eastern countries.

Hassan Al-Banna

1905-1949Father was a watch repairman; hestudied to be a teacher at Cairo’s TeacherCollege, and at Al-Azhar.

Established Muslim Brotherhood in 1928 as a youth club, aimed at moral and social reform.

Traveled widely to set up branchesof the Brotherhood in other countries.

Was assassinated by King Farouk’s secret service agents.

King Tutankhamon

Discovered 1920

Egypt Awakening

Sculpture by MahmoudMukhtar, 1928.

Example of nationalism, basedon Pharaonic images, mixedwith modernism symbolized bypeasant woman lifting her veil.

Now positioned at the entranceof Cairo University

Tears of Isis

Painting by Mohamed Naghi 1937

Resurrection of the goddess Isis, mourning her murdered husband Osiris, whom she was eventually able to bring backto life through her divine powers.

This painter was important in establishingstrands of the new (post WWI) Egyptian nationalism. Modern Egyptian woman,Eternal peasants, Valley of the Kings, Pharaonic images.

King Farouk

1920-1965 (died in exile)King 1936-1952

Tried to keep Egypt neutral during WWII. Was not able to work with Wafd and other opposition groups. Became infamous for decadent life style

Overthrown by coup of the Free Officers, from which Nasseremerged.

King Farouk

Princess Fawzia

Sister of King Farouk

About the time she marriedthe Shah of Iran.

A similar picture appeared onthe cover of Life magazine.

Prince Hussein’s Palace, near Cairo

From Hassan, In the House of Muhammad Ali

Part of the palace of Mohamad Ali in the Citadel, Cairo

Egypt: Rice Vendor, Cairo 1870s

Source: Perez Focus East Early Photographs in the Near East p. 174

Egypt: Water Carriers, Cairo

1880s

Source: Perez, Focus East Early Photographs in the Near East, p. 133

Egypt: al-Azhar University, 1880s

Photo taken by G. Lekegian. Photograph title given in source book.Source: Perez Focus East Early Photographs in the Near East p.69

Spread of irrigation in Egyptian Delta. Source: Richards: Egypt’s Agricultural Development…

Egypt: Ag GDPEgypt: Agricultural GDP

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Egyptian GDP/Capita, on a semi-log graph

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Gamel Abdel Nasser1918-1970President: 1954-1970

Son of a postman. Studied at a military academy; participated in 1948 war. Nationalist. Leader of coup. SecularistPromulgated “Arab Socialism,”and had short union with Syria. Land reform-directed at political enemies. After Britain and US denied funds for Aswan Dam, he nationalized Suez Canal in 1956. Led country into defeat in 1967 War. Died of a heart attack.

Why the Military Coup against Farouk?External and internal crises had de-legitimized the established order. Wafd was too identified with the urban elites, and had alienated Egyptian nationalists by working with British during WWI.Palace had been inept during the 1948 war with Israel.Palace had not successfully repressed the MB nor the Marxist left.… Mutual exhaustion between the Palace and the Wafd.

Note the threat to other MENA regimes represented by this coup: Successful: Iraq, Libya, eventually Yemen, then Iran. Attempted, but not successful: Jordan, Morocco. One could also talk about insecurity in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and other Gulf countries.

Nasser is important, because:

Egyptian, born of humble origins. Was a nationalist. Military man.Came to power by a coup against the monarchy.Secularist (actually fought with the Muslim Brotherhood).Economic Policy: Nationalizations, of foreign firms, Egyptian firms, Suez Canal Land Reform (not particularly successful – not enough land) Protectionist, pushed industrialization Aswan dam (eventually financed by USSR)Pan-Arabist: Union with Syria (short-lived). Third World leader.War with Israel in 1967.

His successor, Anwar Sadat, reversed Nasser’s policies in important ways. Sadat pushed for economic liberalization, and eventually signed the peace treaty with Israel.

Gamel Abdel Nasser 1918-1970

Nasser and Nehru

Nasser as a leader of the “Third World “

Anwar Sadat

1918-1981

President 1970-1981Had military education, participated inYoung Officers’ Coup. Is judged to have re-directed Egypt’sDestiny towards “the west”-US&UK.After losing 1973 June War, he visited Jerusalem in 1977 to discuss peace, whichled to Camp David Accords and NobelPrize, but isolation in Arab world, and hisassassination by army soldiers during amilitary parade.

Handshake: Sadat-Begin-Carter. Camp David September, 1978

Sadat’s Assassination, October 6, 1981

Hosni Mubarak

Born 1928President 1981-

Born to an upper middle classfamily, he studied military school andbriefly in USSR. Has maintained Sadat’s western orien-tation, with some economic liberalizationand political openings to MuslimBrotherhood and Islamists, althoughhe has run un-opposed in his ownelections. Supported sanctions againstIraq, & Gulf Wars. Important link to Palestinians. Escaped assassination in 1995? in Ethiopia.

Mubarak and Bush

Cairo’s Tahrir Square during the Feb. 2011 Uprising

Diagram of the Battle for Tahrir Square – NYT Feb 3, 2010

Egypt: Election photos

Mohamed MorsiBorn in a small town in 1951Degrees at Cairo University,Ph.D. Univ. Southern California

Served in the Egyptian Parliament 2000-05.A leading member of the MuslimBrotherhood, became its presidentialcandidate after M. Khairat el-Shaterwas declared ineligible

Egypt’s first democratically elected president, in June, 2012; overthrown in July, 2013. Now in jail, awaiting trial. Initially, Morsi had promised an inclusive government, but he didn’t, and alienated liberals and the armed forces. The current gov’t/military backlash is attempting to isolate or even eliminate the Muslim Brotherhood.

Current Leaders of Egypt

Adly Mansour,Interim President,Previous head of theSupreme Court

Hazem el-BeblawiInterim Prime MinisterEconomist; Ph.D. ParisTaught in US, workedat UN-ESCWA

Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,Minister of Defense.Positioning himself to run for president.

Egypt’s current Cabinet

http://www.cabinet.gov.eg/Cabinet/Cabinet.aspx

Backup link through Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabinet_of_Egypt#Present_Egyptian_Cabinet

Gamal Mubarak

1963-

Second son of current president, Hosni Mubarak.

MBA from AUC.Head of NDP (ruling party).

Widely suspected of beinggroomed to succeed his father,although this is denied by both of them.

Candidates to Succeed Pres. Hosni Mubarak

Gamal Mubarak 1963- General Omar SuleimanMBA from AUC. (Head of Intelligence)Head of NDP (ruling party).

Anwar Sadat 1918-1981

Field Marshall Mohamed Hussein Tantawi

Born 1935, in Cairo.

Minister of Defense since 1991, and since February 2011 is the Headof the Supreme Council of the ArmedForces, essentially the head of thegovernment

He participated in the Suez War of 1956, the wars of 1967 and 1973,and the Gulf War.

It was unclear if he and the military would give up power.

Said Pasha’s Palace