Basing his work on previously neglected archival material, the author demonstrates how Mehmed Ali sought to develop the Egyptian economy and armies, not as a means of gaining independence, but to further his hereditary rule over Egypt.

Reprinted in 1967, this 1931 book is an historical and administrative study of the reign of Muhammad 'Ali (1769-1849). The author strives 'to escape from the traditional hero of French and villain of English writers, and to ascertain by a study of original materials what Muhammad 'Ali really did'.

Kavalali Mehmed Ali Pasha (c. 1770–1849), often dubbed "the founder of modern Egypt", was one of the most important figures in the history of the Ottoman Empire. Born in what is now Greece, and seemingly headed for an everyday existence as a tobacco trader, he joined the Ottoman army at the age of thirty, and went on to become both the leader of Egypt for nearly fifty years and the founder of a dynasty that ruled for a century after his death. In this insightful and well-constructed biography, Khaled Fahmy assesses the renowned ruler’s life, and his significant contribution to Egyptian, Ottoman, and Islamic history. Examining the unprecedented economic, military, and social policies that he introduced in Egypt, as well as Mehmed Ali’s intricate relationship with his family, Fahmy provides a fresh assessment of this towering nineteenth-century personality.

While previous scholarship has viewed Mehmed Ali Pasha as the founder of modern Egypt, Khaled Fahmy offers a new interpretation of his role in the rise of Egyptian nationalism, locating him in the Ottoman context as an ambitious Ottoman reformer. Basing his work on previously neglected archival material, the author demonstrates how Mehmed Ali sought to develop the Egyptian economy and to build up the army, not as a means of gaining Egyptian independence from the Ottoman Empire, but to further his own ambitions for hereditary rule over the province. In its analysis of nation-building and the construction of state power, the book makes a significant contribution to the larger theoretical debates. It will therefore be essential reading for students in the field, as well as for Ottomanists, military historians and those interested in the development of the modern nation-state.