Egyptian Monarchs
A history of Egyptian monarchs.
Contents
Ancient Egypt
Ptolemaic Kingdom
Alexander the Great conquered Egypt in 332 BCE. He died the next year and his empire divided between heirs and generals, with Ptolemy seizing Egypt. He and his successors titled themselves as both pharaoh and basileus.
Cleopatra VII allied with Mark Antony (Marcus Antonius) in the Roman civil wars. Octavian won the decisive Battle of Actium in 31 BCE and seized Egypt the next year. Antony killed himself and, after negotiations fell threw, so did Cleopatra. Octavian, now taking the name Augustus, claimed the title of pharaoh for himself. The kingdom now effectively became an imperial province.
Ayyubid Sultanate
In the 10th century, the Fatimid Caliphate conquered Egypt from the Abbasid Empire. Fatamid Egypt was administered by governors or viziers, but control waned amid the crusades. Tala'i ibn Ruzzik was assassinated in 1161 and was briefly succeeded by his son, Ruzzik ibn Tala'i. Shawar overthrew him in 1163; he too was overthrown later that year. Shawar however pled to Nur al-Din, emir of Aleppo and vassal of the Abbasids, for aid. (At this time, with Al-Mustadi as caliph, the Abbasid Empire was highly decentralized and viziers ruled as only nominal vassals.) They came to an agreement and an invasion was launched. The forces were led by Shirkuh and his nephew, Saladin.
After regaining power, Shawar shifted diplomatically towards the crusaders and established an alliance with Amalric I, king of Jerusalem. In 1168 however, Amalric himself invaded Egypt. Shirkuh led another invasion to aid the Fatimids, but upon reaching Cairo he overthrew Shawar. He died shortly after, leaving Saladin as vizier. Saladin held al-Adid, caliph the Fatimid Empire, under house arrest while he purged the army of loyalists. With Nur al-Din's support he declared the sultanate of Egypt as a nominal vassal of the Abbasids.
The Fatamid Empire completely collapsed when al-Adid died shortly after that.
Mamluk Empire
Ottoman Eyalet and Khedivate
British Occupation
In 1876, Isma'il Pasha defaulted on the public debt. Britain and France then imposed the Public Debt Commission (Caisse de la Dette Publique) on the khedivate. This foreign influence was deeply unpopular, leading to a nationalist uprising led by Ahmed Urabi. The European powers pressured Abdülhamid II to depose Isma'il in favor of Muhammad Tawfiq, who was anticipated to be more pliable. Urabi's uprising continued however, and Tawfiq was forced to dismiss the government of Mustafa Riyad in 1881. Urabi was now appointed Minister of War.
Riots broke out in Alexandria, where British and French fleets had been stationed as a show of force. While the French took no action, Beauchamp Seymour ordered the city bombarded. Gladstone then authorized a large-scale intervention; the Anglo-Egyptian War lasted until September and the British occupation of Egypt began.
The Alawiyya dynasty was retained as khedives and then sultans of a 'veiled protectorate'. When WWI broke out, Abbas II was perceived by the British government as supportive of the Ottoman war effort, so he was deposed and the khedivate dissolved. Abbas' uncle Hussein Kamel was now installed as the head of a new sultanate of Egypt.
Kingdom of Egypt
Saad Zaghloul, leader of the Wafd Party, led a delegation to the Paris Peace Conference and demanded that the British occupation end. He was punished with exile and house arrest, and the 1919 Egyptian revolution broke out in his absence. In early 1922, George unilaterally declared Egypt independent. This is considered the establishment of the kingdom of Egypt. British influence remained however; Sudan was administered jointly as a condominium.
In July 1952, Farouk was overthrown by the Free Officers Movement led by Mohamed Naguib and Gamal Abdel Nasser.