Muhammad Ali's forces entered his castle in the city of Adna
The First Ottoman-Egyptian War, the First Turkish-Egyptian War, or the First Syrian War (1831-1833) was a military conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Egypt because of Muhammad Ali Pasha's request from the seat of the High Gate granted him the Levant, as a reward for his assistance to the Sultan during the Greek War of Independence. As a result of the war, Muhammad Ali's forces took control of Syria, advancing north to Kutahya.
The Background
Muhammad Ali Pasha had been planning to extend his rule to the Syrian territories of the Ottoman Empire since 1812, when he secretly informed the British consul of his plans that year. However, this desire remained pending, as he strengthened his rule over Egypt, worked to modernize its government administration, public services, and its armed forces, and to suppress various rebellions, including the Mamluk and Wahhabi uprisings (on behalf of Sultan Mahmoud II).
In 1825, Sultan Mehmed Ali again called for the suppression of a local uprising, and this time it was a national revolution by Greek Christians. The Sultan promised to grant him Crete, Cyprus and Al-Mora (Modern Peloponnese) in exchange for his services. His son Ibrahim Pasha achieved quick victories at the head of an army of conscripts and controlled the entire Peloponnese peninsula within 10 months of his arrival in February 1825. The Greeks continued guerrilla operations, and by September 1827 public opinion in Russia, Britain, and France had forced the great powers to intervene in favor of The Greeks. The British-Russian-French fleet destroyed the Mohammed Ali fleet in October at the Battle of Navarino, and Ibrahim's forces were expelled from the Moura, a year after the arrival of a French expeditionary force and a settlement negotiated by European powers. Once Ibrahim and his forces returned from Greece, preparations to take over Syria began in earnest.
The invasion of Syria
"Ibrahim Attacks Misolongi," a painting by Giuseppe Mazola, depicting a battle between Ibrahim Pasha's forces and Greek rebels
The governor of Acre, Abdullah Pasha bin Ali, was harboring deserters from Egyptian recruitment, and was said to have refused to contribute to Muhammad Ali's war efforts. These insults were taken as a pretext for war, and the ground and naval forces led by Ibrahim Pasha were sent north to besiege Acre in October of 1831. The city fell in front of Ibrahim's army after six months in May 1832. After Acre, it continued and succeeded in controlling Aleppo, Homs, Beirut, Saida, and Tripoli And Damascus. The armies sent by the Sultan and the local rulers were unable to confront Abraham's forces.
The Ottoman organizations that existed at the time faced great difficulties in adopting the innovative military methods of recruitment and mass training applied to the European armies, but Muhammad Ali was able to adopt the two. Ibrahim's overwhelming success cannot be attributed solely to modern organization. His officers had much more experience than their Ottoman counterparts, after bearing the brunt of the fighting in the last two major wars of the empire against the Wahhabi and Greek rebels, and Ibrahim attracted great domestic support for his cause by describing his campaign as "for the liberation from the yoke of the Turks." After controlling the Levant, the Egyptian army continued its campaign in Anatolia in late 1832.
Konya Battle
On November 21, 1832, Egyptian forces occupied the city of Konya in central Anatolia, close to the capital, Constantinople. The Sultan organized a new army of 80,000 men under the command of Rashid Muhammad Pasha, the Grand Vizier, in a last attempt to prevent Ibrahim's advance toward the capital. While Ibrahim commanded a force of 50,000 men, most of them were deployed along the supply lines from Cairo, and he had only 15,000 in Konya. However, when the battle began on December 21, Ibrahim's forces achieved a great victory, capturing the Grand Chest after he got lost in the fog as he tried to rally the collapsed left wing. Of the Egyptians, only 792 were killed, compared to 3,000 killed in the Ottoman army, and they captured 46 of the 100 rifles that the army brought from Istanbul. That great victory in Konya was the last and most impressive victory in the Egyptian campaign against the headquarters of the High Gate, and it marked the height of Muhammad Ali's strength in the region.
Results
The lands that Muhammad Ali seized after the settlement with Mahmoud II in 1833
Although no military forces remain between Ibrahim's army and Istanbul, the harsh winter weather forced him to operate a camp in Konya, giving the Ottoman state enough time to forge an alliance with Russia, and for the Russian forces to reach Anatolia, which obstructed his way to the capital. The arrival of a European power was a major challenge that Abraham's army could not overcome. Concerned about Moscow's growing influence in the Ottoman Empire and its ability to destabilize the balance of power, French and British pressure forced Muhammad Ali and Ibrahim to agree to the Kutahya Treaty. Under the agreement, the Syrian governorates were ceded to Egypt, and Ibrahim Pasha became the governor-general of the region.
The treaty made Muhammad Ali a nominal follower of the Sultan. Six years later, when Muhammad Ali declared legal independence, the Sultan announced that he was a traitor and sent an army to confront Ibrahim Pasha, and launched the second Egyptian-Ottoman war.
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