The History of Modern Egypt: From Muhammad Ali to Mubarak

by P.J. Vatikiotis

"Certainly the best general history available in English."--Times Literary Supplement.

Genres: History, Egypt, Middle East, Africa, Nonfiction, Politics

560 pages, Hardcover

First published March 1, 1969

About the author

Panayiotis Jerasimof Vatikiotis was an American political scientist and historian of Levantine Greek origin. He was an internationally respected scholar who specialized in the modern history of the Middle East. Professor Vatikiotis was a graduate of The American University in Cairo, and earned his doctoral degree at Johns Hopkins University. He taught at several universities, among them UCLA, Princeton, Indiana University and his alma mater AUC; he was a prolific writer and editor throughout his career. At his death, he was Emeritus Professor of Politics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, where he had also taught for many years.

Reviews

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

P.J. Vatikiotis’ The Modern History of Egypt is an attempt to provide a comprehensive account of its eponymous topic in the traditional style of high political analysis. As such, although the author touches upon social developments on occasion, the majority of his work focuses on the machinations of major figures and, despite several genuine attempts to move away from this direction, often repeats the sorts of historical tropes that Edward Said would later classify as Orientalist, particularly (at least in the original 1969 edition that I read) in the conclusion. Thus, while few accounts match the breadth of this work, its approach to Egyptian history is, on the whole, outdated.

The book’s first three chapters focus on pre-1800 Egypt and are long enough to provide adequate context without overstaying their welcome. The body of the work, as has been traditional, begins with the reign of Muhammad Ali and argues that, despite his “modernizing” achievements, he was neither nationalist nor concerned with moralizing modernity, but simply using the latter concept to his advantage and towards his objective of hereditary rule in Egypt. Vatikiotis’ next chapters chronicle the reigns of Ismail, Abbas I, and Said through the lens of their relationships to Europeanization and argue that, despite the fact that his efforts bankrupted the nation, it was Ismail that laid the foundations for “modern” Egypt. Most importantly, his educational reforms, though limited and religiously-based, engendered new and dynamic thinkers that would eventually help transform the allegedly intellectually and cultural stagnant pre-modern state. The author concludes this section by examining how Ismail, by establishing the rudiments of representative democracy to appease European interests, ended up creating opposition movements that established the sorts of political tension that allowed British interests to take over the nation.

Vatikiotis’ next section examines the responses to European intrusion up to World War I. The first chapter in this part, which discusses journalism and the press, provides a rare emphasis on a (relatively) broader-based medium of societal development. It is, however, brief and brushes aside, as it segues to the following chapters, even this level of popular influence, despite containing the rudiments of the national movement. In its place emerges a focus on the contributions of the British and, to a limited extent, the Khedives who fail in their attempts to assert their sovereignty over the European occupation. This chapter touches briefly upon the Islamic modernist movement, but the following one emphasizes what the author argues to be of much more significance: the secular political and nationalist movements. Thus begins the major leitmotiv of the work, one where an intense focus on the details of the negotiations and machinations of political factions within Egypt leads ultimately to the conclusion that factionalism engendered political stagnation and allowed the British to retain control of the nation. This theme rises to the fore in the following section, where the struggles to establish documents in support of independence in the postwar period lead to the promulgation of decrees and treaties that are effectively symbolic. The majority of the next three chapters, therefore, detail the lives and contributions of important political figures and the gradual empowerment of elite secular ideologies.

Vatikiotis’ penultimate section continues the focus on high politics, but emphasizes the ways in which the liberal secular movements stumbled and opened space for reactionary Islamic ideologies to step into public space. The political vacuum and martial law engendered by World War II exacerbated this problem to this point where, by the end of the conflict, control of the nation was up for grabs. The Free Officers, catalyzed into action by the failure of the 1948 war against Israel, seized the opportunity, which led to the ultimate triumph of secular (albeit socialist) ideology. The fifth and final part contains an examination of post-1952 educational developments as well as a brief conclusion. In the former, the author argues that the ultimate failure of Egyptian politics prior to the 1952 Revolution was its inability to reform the education system and establish a solid foundation for secular education. Writing from 1969, he admits that progress has been made but is skeptical that genuine advances can be achieved in the realms of modernity and national culture in the near future. He concludes with the claim that Egyptians were and continue to be obsequious, isolated, ignorant, naïve, and unimportant, which is particularly problematic given Egypt’s status as a contemporary cultural and political leader among the Arabs.

Without having read the later iterations, I cannot say whether or not the book’s issues have been fixed in any of the numerous editions that have been published since 1969, but the original edition falls in the unfortunate realm of not possessing any particularly fatal flaws (if one disregards the conclusion), yet still being of limited use for contemporary scholars. While the account is thorough and well-written, the tedious focus on the minutiae of high politics, the lack of serious attention paid to broader societal movements and developments, and the Orientalist perspective that asserts itself vigorously in the conclusion all mean that this edition has little to offer to the modern academic, while the content is too involved for the casual reader interested in the topic. Added to this are the instances of personal opinion, as inappropriate as they are distracting, that are inserted awkwardly at points in the texts and the tendency of the text to be repetitive without being recapitulative. While it may difficult to find a single work that improves upon The Modern History of Egypt yet remains as comprehensive, a wide breadth of scholarship has emerged in the last half-century that, when drawn together, ultimately, is a far more efficient and enlightening way to familiarize oneself with the subject matter at hand.

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent, if inevitably dated (the most recent edition dates from 1991) look at Egyptian history. The book's prose and structure are often dry as a textbook, but it provides a useful introduction to Egypt's ongoing conflicts between nationalism and Islam, Westernization and tradition which have riven the country since Muhammad Ali's day and, as manifested more recently by the Arab Spring and subsequent unrest in the country. Vatikiotis is sympathetic to the aspirations of Egyptian leaders like Ali, Arabi Pasha and Nasser, viewing their struggles to overcome national divisions against foreign enemies and internal strife. The book's main demerits are a wooden, academic writing style, an obsession with high politics and economic abstractions over the experiences of ordinary Egyptians, a tendency to dismiss opponents of nationalists as fanatics or foreign dupes (true in some cases, but hardly in others - especially when Sadat and Mubarak's closeness to the US and detente with Israel spelled their downfall). Fair introduction but I'll keep an eye out for a better volume.

[Toby Treves]

A well-written history of modern Egypt, as understood by 1969 when the book was published.
Three-dimensional in its analysis of the many challenges and dilemmas Egypt had to negotiate as it modernised in the nineteenth century and as it navigated its long journey to independence.
An excellent primer for anyone wanting to know about the social, economic and political history of Egypt from Muhammad Ali to Sadat.