Ahmed Urabi Pasha (31 March 1841-21 September 1911) was the Prime Minister of Egypt from 1 July to 13 September 1882, succeeding Raghib Pasha and preceding Mohamed Sherif Pasha. Urabi was the first Egyptian peasant to rise to a position of political and military power, and he led the nationalist Urabi revolt against the pro-European Khedive Tewfik Pasha before being defeated by the British in the Anglo-Egyptian War and sent into exile in Ceylon.
Biography[]
Ahmed Urabi was born on the outskirts of Zagazig, Sharqia Governorate, Egypt in 1841, the son of a village leader. He rapidly rose through the ranks of Khedive Isma'il Pasha's modernized Egyptian Army, becoming a lieutenant-colonel by the age of 20. He served in the Ethiopian-Egyptian War before returning from the conflict disillusioned with the mismanagement of the Khedive's pro-European administration, and he became the leader of an Egyptian nationalist faction within the army that opposed the Turco-Circassian and European domination of the military and civil service. He and his followers formed the Egyptian Nationalist Party in 1879 and joined with reformers in February 1882 to demand change, triggering the Urabi revolt. With the support of the peasantry, Urabi crusaded against foreign control over the Khedivate of Egypt, and he was promoted to Bey, Minister of War, and ultimately Prime Minister. The Sultan requested Ottoman and then British support against Urabi's government, resulting in the Anglo-Egyptian War. Urabi was decisively defeated at the Battle of Tell El Kebir in September 1882, after which he surrendered as the British captured Cairo. He was exiled to Ceylon until 1901, working to improve the quality of education amongst the Sri Lankan Moors an d other Muslims. He was allowed to return to Egypt by Khedive Abbas II in 1901, and he died in 1911. He was hailed as a hero by Egyptian nationalists, including Gamal Abdel Nasser.