Egypt and the Fertile Crescent, 1516 - 1922: A Political History

Description

The contemporary importance of Egypt and the countries of the Fertile Crescent is reflected in a large and constantly increasing body of publications, dealing with their history, their politics and ideologies, their social and economic development. Much of what has been written has naturally concentrated on the most recent times, or has viewed these lands from the outside, as pawns in the diplomatic and strategic designs of the great powers.This book seeks to fill a gap in the available writing on the region. It lays emphasis on internal developments, rather than on external relations.By treating in more detail than has been done previously (except in specialist monographs) the important but neglected period which lies between the Ottoman conquests in the sixteenth century and the impact of Europe, three hundred years later, it aims at setting the recent history of these Arab lands in a wider perspective. Thus, my hope is that it will be of use to the reader who needs to know the outlines of the political history of the region as a framework for the understanding of the present day, or as an introduction to more intensive studies. [From the Author's Preface] Contents Preface vii Abbreviations ix List of Maps xi Introduction: The geographical, social and historical background 1 Part I The Ottoman Heyday 1 The rise and zenith of the Ottoman Empire 23 2 The overthrow of the Mamluk Sultanate 33 3 Suleyman the Magnificent and the Arab lands 46 Part II The Ottoman Decline 4 The Ottoman Empire in decline 61 5 Egypt in the seventeenth century 71 6 The ascendancy of the beylicate in eighteenth-century Egypt 85 7 Ottoman decline and the Syrian provinces 102 8 The amirate of the Ma'nids and Shihabs in Lebanon 112 9 The ascendancy of Zahir alf Umar and al-Jazzar in Syria 124 10 The Iraqi provinces in the period of Ottoman decline 134 11 Two challenges: the Wahhabis and Bonaparte 149 Part III The Last Phase of Ottoman Rule 12 The revival of the Ottoman Empire 167 13 Muhammad r Ali Pasha 176 14 Egypt at the crossroads 193 15 Egyptian nationalism and the British Occupation 21 16 Syria and Lebanon during the Ottoman revival 231 17 The Iraqi provinces during the Ottoman revival 247 18 The emergence of Arab nationalism 255 19 The First World War 262 20 The post-War settlement in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt 278