Muhammad Ali [ a ] 4 March — 2 August was the Ottoman Albanian [ 3 ] viceroy and governor who became the de facto ruler of Egypt from to , widely considered the founder of modern Egypt. Born in Kavala in the Rumelia Eyalet , Ali was a military commander in an Albanian Ottoman force sent to recover Egypt from French occupation following Napoleon 's withdrawal.
He also initiated a violent purge of the Mamluks , consolidating his rule and permanently ending the Mamluk hold over Egypt.
Militarily, Ali recaptured the Arabian territories for the sultan, and conquered Sudan of his own accord. His attempt at suppressing the Greek rebellion failed decisively, however, following an intervention by the European powers at Navarino.
In , Ali waged war against the sultan , capturing Syria, crossing into Anatolia and directly threatening Constantinople , but the European powers forced him to retreat. After a failed Ottoman invasion of Syria in , he launched another invasion of the Ottoman Empire in ; he defeated the Ottomans again and opened the way towards a capture of Constantinople. Faced with another European intervention, he accepted a brokered peace in and withdrew from the Levant; in return, he and his descendants were granted hereditary rule over Egypt and Sudan.
He was the second son of a Bektashi Albanian tobacco and shipping merchant named Ibrahim Agha, who also served as an Ottoman commander of a small unit in their hometown. She was the daughter of Ali Agha and Kadriye Zeynep's sister.
