For the few past months, I have been
pondering over a new adventure novel set against the backdrop of a major
historical event—an all-time favorite writing gimmick. Though I am a voracious
reader of history, be it a book, article, or just a worn out paper clipping, it
has been a while since the last book capable of triggering my creative muse. So
eager to find a respectable history book, carrying the promise of intrigue and
rich dramatic premise I began the hunt for my next great read.
Though I’m a digger for all history,
I’m particularly fond of Post-bellum U.S., Post-1848 Europe, and 19th
century Egypt. As an Egyptian, now particularly writhing uneasily by what’s
going on in my country, I started looking up books talking about things all the
way back, hoping to find the roots of the dilemma we are living nowadays and
discerning out what had messed things up in the first place. Of course, I
couldn’t go 7,000 years back, so with the formation of modern Egypt in the
early 19th century, I started my journey in history.
Book after book, I slowly digested
the dynamics that enabled an Albanian officer, Mohammed Ali, of the Ottoman
army, and later Wali (governor) of Egypt, to transform the almost 300-years
stagnant country, into the world’s sixth strongest power, and one of the leading
economies (imagine a 1999 South-Korea strong economy); conquering land three
times its size (invading Arabian Peninsula, Sudan, Syria, even plunging deep
into Anatolia, and threatening Constantinople itself, twice)—all that in the
matter of thirty years. However, that meteoric rise came to a sudden standstill
upon breaching the balance of world powers set at the time by mighty Britain. Fearful
of a sudden collapse of the Ottoman Empire and a compensatory expansion of the
Russian Empire, Britain curbed the ambitions of the greedy Albanian and quickly
disciplined him back to his boundaries. After another thirty years, his
grandson, Khedive Ismail, exhibits similar grandiose scheme; however, this
time, he takes permission from the current world powers, Britain, and France,
and this time expands southwards, into Sudan, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Somalia,
all the way down to the Equatorial lakes.
 |
| Muhammed Ali, Wali of Egypt |
 |
| Coats of Arms of Egyptian Khedivial state |
 |
| Khedive Ismail |
