TRENDEAtlas of the Sultans · Wars, battles and treaties
Revolt · 1831
Mehmed Ali Pasha, governor of Egypt, used a quarrel with the governor of Acre as a pretext to send an army under his son İbrahim Pasha into Syria (2 November 1831). Having taken Jerusalem, Beirut, Tripoli and Acre, the Egyptian forces defeated the Ottomans at Belen and then at Konya on 21 December 1832, threatening the capital. With Russian forces arriving in Istanbul and under European pressure, Mahmud II had to leave Syria and Adana to the Egyptian side at Kütahya in May 1833. In the second round the Ottoman army was beaten at Nizip (24 June 1839) and the fleet went over to Egypt. The Treaty of London of 15 July 1840 granted Egypt to Mehmed Ali as a hereditary governorship; when he rejected it, British, Austrian and Ottoman ships took Sidon, Beirut and Acre, and Syria returned to the Ottomans.
| Date | 2 November 1831 – 1840 |
|---|---|
| Location | Syria, Anatolia (Belen, Konya, Kütahya), Nizip |
| Result | The Egyptian army defeated the Ottoman army at Konya (21 December 1832); the settlement of May 1833 left Syria and Adana to Mehmed Ali. After the defeat at Nizip (1839) the Treaty of London (1840) gave Egypt to Mehmed Ali as a hereditary governorship and Syria was recovered |
| Belligerents | Ottoman Empire (Mahmud II, Abdülmecid) Britain, Russia, Austria, Prussia (1840) | Egypt (Mehmed Ali Pasha) |
|---|---|---|
| Commanders | Reşid Mehmed Pasha Hafız Pasha | Mehmed Ali Pasha İbrahim Pasha |
Took place during the reign of Mahmud II (1808–1839). Mahmud II
Open the reign of Mahmud II on the mapBy the atlas's calculation the Ottoman lands covered about 3,806,000 km² in 1831; at the start of Mahmud II's reign they measured 4,551,000 km², at its end 3,803,000 km².
During Mahmud II (1808–1839) the atlas records 0 regions gained and 6 regions lost.
Regions lost: Cyclades (Naxos) (1821), Morea (Peloponnese) (1828), Akhaltsikhe (Childir) (1828), Athens–Central Greece (1829), Algiers (1830), Euboea (Negroponte) (1833).
He recentralised the state: he abolished the Janissaries and founded modern ministries, schools and the census. The territorial losses were heavy (Greece, Algiers, Bessarabia), but the administrative structure he built made the Tanzimat possible.
Areas are land area computed from the atlas's region data; see Method and sources.
Source: TDV Encyclopedia of Islam, “Kavalalı Mehmed Ali Paşa” (Turkish); text written for the atlas.