New tides
With the death of the sultan, his son Abd-ul-Mejid was now the new Sultan of the Ottoman Empire. His realm had been slightly enlarged with the addition of some Persian lands under his rule. However a rising Egyptian threat was under way. The new sultan was reminded of his father’s last words once again; "Keep this young Özgun Dormick close to you! He is the future of our Ottoman Empire. Keep him close and the Ottoman Empire shall live another century. Dismiss him and it will fall!"
Picture of Abd-ul-Mejid:
With this in his mind Abd-ul-Mejid was ready to receive this Özgun Dormick.
Özgun was pleasantly surprised by the new sultan. After the meeting which largely consisted of cordially given well wishes and such, the real point was that the new Sultan wanted to keep Özgun as Grand Vizier and thought well of his work so far. Özgun was instructed to deal with England who was regarded as an ally against Russian and French hostility in the Egyptian matter. Özgun had to react with great speed in this case. He immediately took to the British consultate in the central quarters of Constantinople. Having bought plenty of gifts for the consul and his lovely wife, Özgun pressed forth for a deal between England and the Ottoman Empire. England wanted free trade for British merchants in Turkey in order to support the Ottomans. Özgun was no opponent against free trade and he saw that in the length this would both strengthen British-Ottoman relations, but also strengthen Ottoman economy. After some discussion a deal was brokered. The Ottomans had to be willing to let the European great powers hold a conference about this Egypt case, but the Ottomans would get the full diplomatic support of the British in this case. De facto it meant that Egypt would have to let go of Syria, Lebanon and Palestine.
English diplomatic offer:
Egyptian insolence:
Özgun knew what the Egyptian and Mehmet Ali’s answer to such a treaty would be. So he told the military staff to prepare for a campaign in West.
In the mean time a revolutionizing change would happen in the Ottoman mindset of conducting war.
This was ridiculous as the Ottoman cavalry would now break much sooner. This was a severe blow in how the wars the Ottoman empire would now be led.
True enough to his predictions, the Egyptians could not tolerate this and therefore a state of war was now between Turkey and Egypt the 20th April 1839.
This is war:
Özgun praised himself lucky that France had decided not to intervene in this war. The European powers did not want to commit any troops to save any Egyptian sovereignty. Özgun had all the time in the world to deal with the Egyptian threat.
However Ottoman manpower was depleted and new had to be recruited. With this in mind Ottoman forces was on the defense till reinforcements could come.
Status of the war:
The first objective of the campaign was to secure Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Most Egyptian troops were in this area, so the goal was to envelop the Egyptian troops in Syria and Lebanon. The capture of Palestine would make it impossible for the Egyptian troops to receive reinforcements and to break out from this pocket.
We are winning now:
Aside from some minor mistakes the war was going as planned. Egyptian troops had been able to capture an Arabian province, but it had proven a liability rather than an advantage. Ottoman troops progressed on the campaign with steady hand and all over the line, Egyptian troops were fleeing the battlefields.
Surrounded:
After a few months, the Egyptian presence in Minor Asia was gone. Now was for the second phase of the campaign. The elite of the Egyptian troops had been destroyed and the rest would be a sweep.