Ibrahim Pasha (
1789-
1848) was a brilliant
Egyptian general. The eldest son of
Muhammad Ali, the
Ottoman governor of
Egypt, Ibrahim was born in
Kavála, in eastern
Macedonia, and may have been adopted by his father. Ibrahim earned his successes on the battlefield by studying modern warfare tactics and maintaining a staff of European advisors, but was also a brilliant tactician in his own right.
Ibrahim saw his first action commanding Egyptian forces in a successful campaign against the rebelious Wahhabi tribesman in Arabia from 1816-1819. When the Greeks rebelled against the Ottoman Empire in 1824, the Turks called on Ibrahim, who led a 17,000-strong Egyptian army in a devastating campaign of destruction, winning battle after battle whenever he was challenged in the field, until he was finally forced to withdraw in 1828 because of intervention by the British, Austrians, and French.
When Muhammad Ali revoked his allegiance to the Ottomans in 1831, Ibrahim conquered the Turkish province of Syria (1833-33) and installed himself as governor, ruling it with an iron hand until 1841 when further intervention by Great Britain and Austria forced him to withdraw back to Egypt.
Ibrahim's battlefield exploits had made him a celebrity throughout Europe. In 1846 he visited London where he was received by Queen Victoria as one of the world's great military leaders.
By now Ibrahim's father had made peace with the Turks, but the onset of Muhammad Ali's mental illness caused the Ottomans to name Ibrahim viceroy in his father's place in April, 1847. Ibrahim ruled Egypt in this capacity until his sudden death on November 10, 1848.