One month collapsed the Ottoman sultan, army, and navy into Mehmed Ali’s hands
Evidence
The rivalry between the two old men had its final showdown immediately after the battle of Nezib (24 June 1839). As we have seen, the battle resulted in an astounding victory for Ibrahim. A week later and before news of the disaster reached him, Sultan Mahmud died and was succeeded to the throne by his sixteen-year old son, Abdul-Mecid. In the panic that followed in Istanbul the Grand Admiral, Ahmed Fevzi Pasha, instead of co-ordinating his efforts with those of the Serasker, as had been planned, and effecting a popular uprising among the Syrian population against Mehmed Ali’s rule there, decided to head for Alexandria not to bombard it but to hand the entire Ottoman fleet to Mehmed Ali. Thus in little less than a month the Ottoman Empire lost its Sultan, its army, and its navy and Mehmed Ali was left as the single most powerful man in the Empire. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1558
Categorization
Category: Causal Relationships
- SHARE: The Ottoman Grand Admiral voluntarily surrendering the entire fleet to Egypt is a dramatic enough anecdote for anyone interested in naval history or Ottoman decline.
Related
- Within a month of Nezib the Ottoman Empire lost its ruler, army, and navy (similarity 0.94)
- The Ottoman Grand Admiral defected with the fleet to Mehmed Ali in 1839 (similarity 0.82)
- The Ottoman Grand Admiral defected, handing the entire fleet to Mehmed Ali (similarity 0.81)