Abbas I of Egypt

Abbas was born on 1 July 1812 in Jeddah and was brought up in Cairo.[5] Being the grandson of Muhammad Ali, he succeeded his uncle Ibrahim Pasha in ruling Egypt and Sudan in 1848.[6][7]

According to al-Jabarti, the leading historian of this time period, Abbas I was born in Cairo while his father, Tosun Pasha, was in the Hejaz fighting against the Wahabist movement. As a young man, he fought in the Levant under his uncle Ibrahim Pasha in the Syrian War.[8] Muhammad Ali Pasha was removed from office on 1 September 1848, on account of mental weakness. He was replaced by his son Ibrahim Pasha, who reigned briefly as Regent of Egypt and Sudan from 1 September 1848 until his death on 10 November 1848. The death of Ibrahim made Abbas I, in turn, Regent of Egypt and Sudan from 10 November 1848 until 2 August 1849 (the date of Muhammad Ali Pasha's death), at which time Abbas became the reigning Wali of Egypt and Sudan until 13 July 1854.[6]

Abbas has been often described as a mere voluptuary, but Nubar Pasha spoke of him as a true gentleman of the "old school".[6] He was seen as reactionary, morose, and taciturn, and spent nearly all his time in his palace.[3] He undid, as far as lay in his power, the works of his grandfather, both good and bad. Among other things he abolished trade monopolies, closed factories and schools, and reduced the strength of the region's army to 9,000 men.[6] He also shut down construction of the Delta Dam and opposed the construction of the Suez Canal.[3][8]

In 1851 and after three years of Abbas' tyrannical rule, Egyptians were at the top of their madness. the governor of Alexandria 'Shereko' led large numbers of Alexandrian locals towards the army's guns and ammunitions factory in Alexandria and robbed all the guns and equipment there, a day later Shereko declared rebellion against the ruler (Abbas I) and the locals took their positions all over the city to defend it. When Abbas I heard about the rebellion, he sent 30,000 troops and 72 field guns and sieged the city bombing it with artillery for a full month, leading to the death of 300 Alexandrians. When Shereko the governor of Alexandria, knew that things aren't getting any better with Alexandria's infrastructure annihilated due to artillery bombardment, he decided to surrender. Abbas I then ordered to behead Shereko and drag his head all over the destroyed streets of Alexandria. After the rebellion, Abbas' anxiety increased even more that he exiled his uncle Sa'id (later Sa'id of Egypt) to Alexandria and all his family escaped to Europe after that.

He was inaccessible to adventurers bent on plundering Egypt and Sudan of riches, and kicked out all foreign business; however at the insistence of the British government, he allowed the construction of a railway from Alexandria to Cairo, in return the British assisted him in a dispute with the Ottoman Empire.[3][9] due to his policies to Europeans and their influence, he was not liked by them and in time his reputation was exaggerated and demonized to portray him as worse than he actually was.[10] After he died the number of Europeans in Egypt rose drastically from 3,000, in 1850, to 90,000, in 1882, and 200,000 by 1900.[10]

During the Crimean War he gave the Sultan of Turkey use of his naval fleet and 19,000 troops and 72 guns, and 12 warships. which was later increased to 40,000 soldiers.[9]

Among his personal interests was the breeding of Arabian horses, said to be the overriding passion of Abbas' life, and his development and acquisition of quality bloodlines was of immense influence upon the modern horse breed.[11] He continued a breeding program begun by Muhammad Ali.[12] Muhammad Ali and Abbas I both recognized the unique characteristics and paid careful attention to bloodlines of the horses bred by the Bedouin. At age 23, Abbas had been put in charge of the horse breeding program of his grandfather.[11] Upon becoming Wali, Abbas I accumulated additional horses and carefully documented the histories of the animals and their bloodlines in writing, records which have been preserved into the present day.[12] Through a connection with Faisal Ibn Saud, for whom Abbas was said to have engineered an escape from a prison where he had been held, Abbas obtained a number of horses from the Nejd. He also paid very high prices for mares of the best bloodlines from the Anazeh people. He built extensive stables for these horses in three different locations, including a stud farm said to have cost £1,000,000 to build, and hired native Bedouin caretakers to oversee the care of the horses and to maintain information on their bloodlines. He also spared no expense in the care of horses, at one farm keeping 300 camels available to provide extra milk for the young foals.[11]

On 13 July 1854,[9] Abbas was murdered in Benha Palace by two of his slaves.[3] It was said that his cruelty to his servants was a motive. As an example, a story conveyed to Arabian breeder Lady Anne Blunt, told that Abbas I had once ordered a hot horseshoe to be nailed to the foot of a horse groom who had neglected the farrier care of a horse.[11] He was later succeeded by his uncle (who was actually younger than him), Said Pasha.[6][13]

Following his assassination, his Arabian horses were inherited by his eighteen-year-old son Damad Prince Ibrahim Ilhamy Pasha (aka El Hami Pasha), who had little interest in them, giving away several and putting the rest up for auction. In 1861, a distant relative, Ali Pasha Sherif purchased approximately 40 horses of the original Abbas Pasha stock and rebuilt the horse breeding program.[12]

• Anon (20 July 2009). "14-Mohamed Ali's Dynasty". Egypt: State Information Service. Archived from the original on 10 September 2014. Retrieved 10 September 2014.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Abbas I" . Encyclopædia Britannica. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 9.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Goldschmidt, Jr., Arthur (2000). Biographical Dictionary of Modern Egypt. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Pub. ISBN 1-5558-7229-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)  – via Questia (subscription required)
• Hoiberg, Dale H., ed. (2010). "Abbas I (Egypt)". Encyclopædia Britannica. I: A–Ak - Bayes (15th ed.). Chicago, IL: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. ISBN 978-1-59339-837-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Magnusson, Magnus; Goring, Rosemary, eds. (1990). "Abbas Pasha". Cambridge Biographical Dictionary. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-39518-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Stearns, Peter N., ed. (2001). "The Middle East and Egypty, 1796-1914: e. Egypt". The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern Chronologically Arranged (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company. ISBN 0-395-65237-5. LCCN 2001024479.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Thorne, John, ed. (1984). Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh, UK: Chambers Ltd. ISBN 0-550-18022-2. Missing or empty |title= (help)CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Vucinich, Wayne S. (1997). "Abbas I". In Johnston, Bernard (ed.). Collier's Encyclopedia. I: A to Ameland (1st ed.). New York, NY: P. F. Collier. LCCN 96084127.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Williams, Neville, ed. (1999). The Hutchison Chronology of World History. III: The Changing World: 1776–1900. Oxford, UK: Helicom Publishing Limited. ISBN 1-85986-283-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)