A unified European note in 1839 blocked Mehmed Ali’s demands and saved Husrev
Evidence
It was, rather, the unified position that Europe took for the first time in the rivalry between the Sultan and the Egyptian vali: at five in the morning of the very same day that Husrev was to reply to Mehmed Ali’s demands (27 July 1839) the representatives of the five European powers (Great Britain, France, Prussia, Austria and Russia) handed the Grand Vizier a collective note asking the Porte “to suspend any final determination [of the Eastern Question] without their concurrence.” This gave Husrev the breathing space he needed, and with a unified Europe behind him, which denied Mehmed Ali the French assistance he was counting on, he not only rejected the vali’s demands for his own resignation, but repeated his demands that the vali hand back areas he had occupied and return the Ottoman fleet that had defected to Alexandria. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1561
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- XREF: Connects to other chapters on the Eastern Question and the 1839 Crisis where Egypt’s European alignments shifted.
Related
- Europe’s first unified stance in 1839 halted Mehmed Ali’s gains (similarity 0.95)
- Unified European pressure forced Mehmed Ali to abandon his expansion (similarity 0.92)
- Husrev refused to step down and demanded Mehmed Ali keep only Egypt (similarity 0.83)
- By 1827 united European powers threatened to confront Mehmed Ali over Greece (similarity 0.79)
- Personal animosity between Husrev and Mehmed Ali crippled Ottoman-Egyptian naval cooperation (similarity 0.78)