Mehmed Ali’s armies defeated two Ottoman forces and threatened Anatolia by the mid-1830s.

Evidence

Less than ten years later these words would prove to be most prophetic. In 1833, indeed, Mehmed Ali appeared as the most important vali in the Ottoman Empire, his strength and resources favorably competing with those of the Sultan himself. By the mid-1830s the Pasha had carved a small empire for himself at the expense of the Sultan’s own dominions. After firmly entrenching himself in Egypt he extended his control to Syria, the Hijaz, the Sudan, Crete and most of Yemen and Eastern Arabia, that is, most of the Sultan’s Arabic-speaking lands and some of his wealthiest provinces. Having wiped out two huge armies that the Sultan had mustered to confront him with, his forces then penetrated the heartland of the Ottoman Empire, Anatolia, and threatened the capital itself. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 187