Muhammad Ali Pasha

Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha  (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was an Albanian commander

 in the Ottoman army, who became Wāli, and self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan. Though not a modern nationalist, he is regarded as the founder of modern Egypt because of the dramatic reforms in the military, economic and cultural spheres that he instituted. He also ruled Levantine territories outside Egypt. The dynasty he established would rule Egypt and Sudan until the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

Muhammed Ali was born in the Ottoman Empire, in the area which is now the Greek province of Macedonia. His parents were Albanian, and their language was the only one he spoke well. He also spoke some Turkish, but not Arabic. He led a group of Albanian troops sent to Egypt. They were part of an Ottoman force that reoccupied Egypt after Napoleon's French troops left. The Ottomans had ruled Egypt by a Wali (Governor) with Mamluk troops. The Mamluks were former slaves.

The French withdrawal left a power vacuum in the Ottoman province. Mamluk power had been weakened, but not destroyed, and Ottoman forces clashed with the Mamluks for power. During this period of anarchy Muhammad Ali used his loyal Albanian troops to play both sides, gaining power and prestige for himself. As the conflict drew on, the local populace grew weary of the power struggle. A group of prominent Egyptians demanded that the Wāli, Ahmad Khurshid Pasha, step down and Muhammad Ali be installed as the new Wāli in 1805.