HISTORY

Arab Conquest

Between AD 639 and 642 the Arabs took control over Egypt from the Byzantine Empire and introduced both the Arabic language and Islam. The Arab CALIPHATE had its capital at Damascus under the Umayyads and at Baghdad under the Abbasids. In 969, however, the FATIMIDS, a Shiite dynasty, conquered Egypt and founded Cairo as its capital. Fatimid rule ended in 1171 when SALADIN conquered Egypt and united it with Syria. He founded the AYYUBID dynasty (1171-1250) and restored Egypt to Sunni Islam. The Ayyubids were weakened by the Fifth Crusade (1218-21) and the Sixth Crusade (1249). The dynasty was brought to an end when the MAMELUKES, originally brought to Egypt by the Ayyubids as war captives, revolted against their masters and seized power in 1250. Under their rule Egypt became an important cultural, military, and economic center. In 1517, Cairo was conquered by the Ottoman sultan SELIM I, who reduced the role of Egypt to that of an exploited province of the OTTOMAN EMPIRE.

European Influence

Ottoman rule of Egypt remained uninterrupted until the end of the 18th century. In 1798 a French army under Napoleon Bonaparte (NAPOLEON I) arrived in Egypt. Although the French were expelled in 1801, their short occupation had a great impact on Egypt's future because it brought the country into close contact with the West.

During a power struggle that followed the expulsion of the French, MUHAMMAD ALI PASHA, an Albanian officer in the Ottoman forces, established himself in a position of power and was recognized (1805) as viceroy of Egypt by the Ottoman sultan. In 1811 he rid Egypt of the Mamelukes. He undertook (1811-18) successful military campaigns in Arabia and conquered (1820-22) the Northern Sudan. In 1824 he sent an Egyptian force, led by his son Ibrahim, to help the Ottoman sultan suppress the Greek independence revolt, but the Egyptian and Turkish fleets were destroyed at the Battle of NAVARINO. When the sultan rejected Muhammad Ali's demand for Syria in recompense, Ibrahim conquered (1831) Syria and ruled it for seven years. War with the Ottomans broke out, and in 1841, Muhammad Ali defeated the Ottoman sultan and became hereditary ruler of Egypt. During his rule, Muhammad Ali embarked upon programs of reform and modernization that laid the foundations of modern Egypt.

The modern era

Under Muhammad Ali's hereditary successors, Egypt's prosperity declined, despite the construction of the SUEZ CANAL (opened 1869) with the help of a French firm. To offset Egypt's declining economy, Khedive ISMAIL PASHA borrowed increasingly large sums of money from Europeans. He sold (1875) most of Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal to Great Britain and in 1876 was forced to accept the establishment of a joint Anglo-French debt commission. In 1879, Ismail was deposed in favor of his son TAWFIQ PASHA. A nationalist revolt in 1881-82 was suppressed by the British, who then became the controlling power in Egypt . From 1883 to 1907 the effective ruler of the country was the British administrator Lord Cromer . When World War I began in 1914, Britain made Egypt a protectorate and used it as a base for Allied operations against the Ottoman Empire. In 1922 the protectorate was ended, and Egypt became a monarchy with FUAD I as king. In 1937 he was succeeded by King FAROUK, and British troops withdrew from Egypt, except in the Suez Canal Zone.

During World War II, Egypt helped Britain to defeat German forces at El ALAMEIN. After the war, national feelings grew stronger, and discontent increased after Arab armies were defeated in the 1948 war with Israel. In 1952 the Egyptian army seized power, and King Farouk abdicated. The monarchy was abolished in 1953, and Egypt became a republic with Gen. Muhammad Naguib as the first president. In 1954, Col. Gamal Abdel Nasser forced Naguib out of office and became president. Following the withdrawal of a Western offer to finance the Aswan High Dam, Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956. In retaliation, Britain, France, and Israel invaded Egypt. The troops were forced to withdraw under pressure from the United States, the USSR, and the United Nations . Nasser's successful resistance to the triple aggression increased his popularity in the Arab World and led to Egypt's forming a short-lived union (1958-61) with Syria, known as the UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC.

In 1967 increased tension between Israel and the Arab states and the closure of the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping brought about war with Israel. During the so-called Six-Day War the Israeli air force attacked and destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground, and the Egyptian army was defeated in the Sinai, which came under Israeli occupation.

Nasser died in September 1970 and was succeeded by his vice-president, Anwar al SADAT. In July 1972, Sadat ordered the 20,000 Soviet military advisors and experts in Egypt to leave because he believed that the Soviets were not willing to supply Egypt with sophisticated weapons needed to liberate territory lost to Israel. The uneasy state of neither war nor peace led to violent clashes between police and students in 1972 and 1973. The unrest continued until Sadat made assurances that military action against Israel was intended. In a surprise attack on Oct. 6, 1973, Egyptian forces crossed the Suez Canal into the Sinai, and Syrian forces entered the Golan Heights. Egyptian forces regained a strip of the Sinai during the three-week war. The war, along with the reopening of the Suez Canal in June 1975, enhanced Sadat's reputation.

The Peace Initiative

In 1974 the United States and Egypt resumed diplomatic relations, previously severed by Egypt in 1967. By September 1975, through U. S. mediating efforts, Egypt and Israel had reached several agreements on the disengagement of their forces. In March 1976, Sadat abrogated a friendship treaty with the USSR signed in 1971.

Sadat took a dramatic and significant step toward peace with Israel by visiting Jerusalem in November 1977. President Jimmy CARTER sponsored a peace summit in September 1978 between Sadat and Israeli prime minister Menachem BEGIN. Egypt and Israel signed preliminary documents for a peace treaty. The actual treaty, signed on Mar. 26, 1979, in Washington, D.C., called for the gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Sinai over a period of 3 years. The withdrawal proceeded smoothly, and in January 1980, Egypt and Israel established diplomatic relations. Little progress was made, however, in the difficult negotiations on Palestinian autonomy, and the rest of the Arab world rejected the rapprochement with Israel.

From 1974, Sadat had followed a policy entirely different from that of Nasser, who advocated war with Israel, Arab socialism, and Arab unity. Sadat promoted peace with Israel, economic liberalism, and Egyptian nationalism. Although Sadat increased political freedoms, he also periodically cracked down on dissidents. In 1981 he was killed by Muslim fundamentalists.

His successor, Hosni MUBARAK, honored the peace treaty with Israel but criticized the lack of progress on the Palestinian issue. Israel withdrew from the Sinai by 1982 except for Taba, a resort returned to Egypt in 1989. Mubarak improved Egypt's ties with other Arab nations, gaining readmission to the Islamic Conference Organization in 1984 and to the Arab League in 1989; in 1990 the League voted to return its headquarters to Cairo. Mubarak's popularity at home declined as the economy deteriorated and Muslim fundamentalism increased, but he won a second term as president in 1987, and his party remained in firm control of the legislature.

Mubarak's activist foreign policy improved his domestic standing and won him the gratitude of the United States. Egypt had aided Iraq during the IRAN-IRAQ WAR (1980-88). After Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, however, Mubarak convened the Arab summit that voted to deploy Arab soldiers to supplement U.S. forces invited to Saudi Arabia, arguing that no Arab state should attack and occupy another. Egyptian troops (the last of which returned home in August 1991) formed the third-largest allied contingent in the PERSIAN GULF WAR in 1991. The Egyptian government continued to support the U.S. effort to persuade Israel to implement the plan for autonomy for the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. In the process, Egypt resumed its historical role as the leader of Middle Eastern diplomacy. In late 1992 and early 1993, the government faced the challenge of violence from Muslim extremists who wish to overthrow secular rule and establish a religious state. Terrorists allegedly attached to these groups attacked foreign tourists in Egypt and were possibly connected with the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City late in February 1993.