The Egyptian-Ottoman War

Compiled By: Syed Ali Shahbaz

The Battle of Ridhaniya near Cairo
On 21st of the Islamic month of Safar in 1517 AD, the Battle of Ridhaniya near Cairo, led to the total victory of the Ottoman Turks of Sultan Salim I over the Turkic Mamluk dynasty of Egypt and the killing of Sultan Bay. In this battle, the Ottoman commander, Grand Vizier Sinan Pasha, who over two months earlier had resoundingly defeated the Mamluks in the decisive Battle of Khan Yunus in Gaza on October 28, lost his life.
This last phase of the Ottoman-Mamluk wars started in August 1516, when Sultan Salim, two years after his narrow victory at Chaldiran in Azarbaijan over the Shah of Persia, Ismail I, suddenly invaded Syria, since he greatly feared the Iranians might reorganize and counterattack in view of the widespread influence of the Safavids in Syria and Anatolia (modern day Turkey).
The collapse of the 267-year rule of the Mamluks over Egypt-Syria meant the transformation of the Ottoman dominion from a realm at the margin of Islamic lands located in Asia Minor and southwestern Europe, into a huge empire encompassing the historical cities of Cairo, Damascus, Bayt al-Moqaddas and Aleppo, as well as the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, since the Sharif of Hejaz, pledged allegiance to Sultan Salim, who despite being a Turk, now started calling himself the Caliph of Muslims.

The Egyptian-Ottoman War
On December 21, 1832 AD during the Egyptian-Ottoman War, Turkish forces were decisively defeated in the Battle of Konya, just outside the city of the same name in modern-day Turkey. The Egyptians were led by Ibrahim Pasha, the son of Mohammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman appointed Albanian Khedive of Egypt. The Egyptians after rapidly taking Bayt al-Moqaddas and the coastal regions of Palestine and Lebanon, took over Syria and advanced into Anatolia. Konya was Ibrahim's greatest victory. He lost 262 dead and 530 wounded, whereas the Ottomans lost 3,000 dead and over 5,000 taken prisoner, including many senior officers.
Nothing remained between Ibrahim's army and the Turkish capital, Istanbul, after the battle. Political parleys, however, led to the signing of the Peace Treaty of Kutahiya, whereby the Ottoman Sultan ceded greater Syria to Mohammad Ali for his lifetime, and ceded Egypt's rule to Mohammad Ali's dynasty in perpetuity, with nominal allegiance to the self-styled Turkish caliph.
As a postscript to Konya, it should be added that seven years later, the Ottoman Sultan Mahmoud abrogated the Treaty of Kutahiya and attacked the Egyptian forces, but was again routed by the Egyptians at the Battle of Nizib, on the Anatolian-Syrian frontier, on June 24, 1839. Ibrahim Pasha had earlier distinguished himself in Arabia, where he penetrated into the Najd to nab the Wahhabi desert brigand, Abdullah ibn Saud, and sent him to Istanbul for public execution, for having desecrating the holy shrine of Prophet Mohammad’s (SAWA) grandson, Imam Husain (AS) in Karbala.

Britain took control of Egypt and declared it as its protectorate
On December 18, 1914 AD, during World War 1, Britain took control of Egypt and declared it as its protectorate, by severing the centuries-old connection between Cairo and Istanbul, on the pretext that the Ottoman Empire had aligned with Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire against the Allied Powers. The Egyptian people’s struggles against colonial rule forced Britain to recognize Egypt's independence in 1922.

The 50-day occupation of the city of Port Sa’eed in Egypt
On December 21, 1956 AD, Britain and France ended the 50-day occupation of the city of Port Sa’eed in Egypt, and withdrew their forces that had entered the Suez War along with the illegal Zionist entity on the invasion of the Sinai Peninsula. The joint air raids destroyed a large number of Egyptian installations in and around the Suez Canal. The cause of the war was nationalization of the Canal by President Jamal Abdun-Naser of Egypt that ended the illegal control of the British and the French on this vital waterway.