KÜTAHYA, PEACE OF

An 1833 pact granting Ottoman Empire territories, including Egypt, to Muhammad Ali Pasha and his son, Ibrahim Pasha.

In 1831, Muhammad Ali Pasha, the Ottoman governor of Egypt, attacked Syria, also part of the Ottoman Empire. Commanded by his son Ibrahim Pasha, Muhammad Ali's forces were successful. The empire's sultan, Mahmud II, responded to this rebellion, only to be soundly defeated by Ibrahim near Konya on 21 December 1832. Ibrahim continued his advance through Anatolia and occupied Kütahya in early February 1833. With Ibrahim so near Constantinople (now Istanbul), seat of the empire, Mahmud turned in desperation to Russia. Czar Nicholas I sent Russian ships to the Bosporus in late February, and Russian troops encamped at Hunkâr–Iskelesi soon after. At this point, the other European powers intervened. Egypt's ally France pressured Ibrahim to settle with the sultan, and Britain wished to defuse the crisis before Russian troops became involved in hostilities. On orders from his father, Ibrahim demanded the provinces of Syria and Cilicia, as well as Crete and Egypt for his father. At the end of March 1833, an agreement was concluded between Ibrahim and the sultan's representative, Mustafa Raşit Paşa. Ibrahim and Muhammad Ali were granted the aforementioned territories, and the Egyptian army then withdrew from Kütahya. The Peace of Kütahya was not an official treaty, but rather a pact between the sultan and his vassal. It concluded the First Egyptian Crisis and left Muhammad Ali in an extremely strong position, so strong that Britain's foreign minister, Lord Palmerston, was determined that he would not be allowed to maintain that position permanently. Eight years later, in the Second Egyptian Crisis, Muhammad Ali lost much of what was gained at Kütahya. After the First Crisis, Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed a mutual-defense agreement, the Treaty of Hunkâr–Iskelesi.

see also hunkÂr–iskelesi, treaty of (1833); ibrahim ibn muhammad ali; konya, battle of; mahmud ii; muhammad ali; palmerston, lord henry john temple.

Bibliography

Anderson, M. S. The Eastern Question, 1774–1923: A Study in International Relations. London: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's, 1966.

Shaw, Stanford, and Shaw, Ezel Kural. History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey. 2 vols. Cambridge, U.K., and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1976–1977.

zachary karabell