The Convention of London of 1840 was a

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between sovereign states and/or international organizations that is governed by international law. A treaty may also be known as an international agreement, protocol, covenant, convention ...

with the title of ''Convention for the Pacification of the

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

'', signed on 15 July 1840 between the Great Powers of

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

on one hand and the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

on the other. The Convention lent some support to the Ottoman Empire, which was having difficulties with the rebellious

Wali The term ''wali'' is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God".John Renard, ''Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and Servanthood'' (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2008); John ...

of Egypt. Because

Muhammad Ali of Egypt Muhammad Ali (4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849) was the Ottoman Empire, Ottoman Albanians, Albanian viceroy and governor who became the ''de facto'' ruler of History of Egypt under the Muhammad Ali dynasty, Egypt from 1805 to 1848, widely consi ...

did not accept the terms of the convention, the

Oriental Crisis of 1840 The Oriental Crisis of 1840 was an episode in the Egyptian–Ottoman War in the eastern Mediterranean, triggered by the self-declared Khedive of Egypt and Sudan Muhammad Ali Pasha's aims to establish a personal empire in Ottoman Egypt. Backgr ...

resulted. Thus, Muhammad Ali finally had to accept the convention on 27 November 1840.

Negotiations

The treaty summarized recent agreements concerning the Ottoman Empire under Abdulmecid I, and its second war with Muhammad Ali's

Egypt Eyalet Ottoman Egypt was an administrative division of the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), conquest of Mamluk Egypt by the Ottomans in 1517. The Ottomans administered Egypt as a Eyalet, province (''eyalet'') of their empir ...

. It was brought about by the Great Powers' fear of the destabilizing effect an Ottoman collapse would have on Europe. The Ottomans agreed to declare the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

closed to all non-Ottoman warships in peacetime. Muhammad Ali was to withdraw immediately his forces from Arabia, the holy cities of

Mecca Mecca, officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, is the capital of Mecca Province in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia; it is the Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow valley above ...

and

Medina Medina, officially al-Madinah al-Munawwarah (, ), also known as Taybah () and known in pre-Islamic times as Yathrib (), is the capital of Medina Province (Saudi Arabia), Medina Province in the Hejaz region of western Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ...

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, and the district of

Adana Adana is a large city in southern Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, inland from the northeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province, Adana province, and has a population of 1 81 ...

, all within the Ottoman Empire. In return, the signatories offered to Muhammad Ali and his heirs permanent control over Egypt, Sudan and the southern part of the

Damascus Eyalet Damascus Eyalet (; ) was an eyalet of the Ottoman Empire. Its reported area in the 19th century was . It became an eyalet after the Ottomans took it from the Mamluks following the 1516–1517 Ottoman–Mamluk War. By Gábor Ágoston, Bruce Alan ...

if those territories would remain part of the Ottoman Empire. If he did not agree to withdrawal of his forces within ten days, he should lose the offer in

Southern Syria Southern Syria () is a geographical term referring to the southern portion of either the Ottoman-period Vilayet of Syria, or the modern-day Arab Republic of Syria. The term was used in the Arabic language primarily from 1919 until the end of ...

; if he delayed acceptance more than 20 days, he should forfeit everything offered.Geoffrey G. Butler, Simon Maccoby
''The Development of International Law''
p. 440 He also had to return the

Ottoman fleet The Ottoman Navy () or the Imperial Navy (), also known as the Ottoman Fleet, was the naval warfare arm of the Ottoman Empire. It was established after the Ottomans first reached the sea in 1323 by capturing Praenetos (later called Karamürsel ...

that had defected to Egypt and was in

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Oriental Crisis of 1840

The European powers agreed to use all possible means of persuasion to effect this agreement, but Muhammad Ali, backed by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, refused to accept its terms in the time given. That led to the Oriental Crisis of 1840, and British and Austrian forces attacked Acre, defeating his troops late in 1840. Muhammad Ali's forces faced increasing military pressure from Europe and the Ottoman Empire, fought a losing battle against insurgents in its captured territories, and saw the general deterioration of its military from the strain of the recent wars. Muhammad Ali finally accepted the terms of the Convention and the '' firmans'' subsequently issued by the sultan, confirming his rule over Egypt and the

Sudan Sudan, officially the Republic of the Sudan, is a country in Northeast Africa. It borders the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west, Libya to the northwest, Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the east, Eritrea and Ethiopi ...

. He withdrew from

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

and sent back the Ottoman fleet. The London Convention and the ''firmans'' were the legal basis for Egypt's status as an autonomous Ottoman province. Later Egyptian nationalists cited them to discredit claims for the British occupation.

Notes

References

* Goldschmidt, A.; Johnston, R. (2004) ''Historical Dictionary of Egypt'' (3rd ed.) American University in Cairo Press, p. 243 * Berger, M. (1960) ''Military Elite and Social Change: Egypt Since Napoleon''. Princeton: Center for International Studies, p. 11 * Rich, N. (1992) ''Great Power Diplomacy, 1814–1914''. Boston: McGraw-Hill.

External links

*
Convention between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, Russia and Turkey for the pacification of the Levant
' (text of the treaty, published in William Cargill: ''The Foreign Affairs of Great Britain'';

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

) {{DEFAULTSORT:Convention of London 1840 Ottoman Egypt London 1840 London 1840 London 1840 1840 in London London 1840

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

London 1840 London 1840 1840 in the United Kingdom 1840 in the Austrian Empire 1840 in Prussia 1840 in the German Confederation 1840 in the Russian Empire 1840 in the Ottoman Empire July 1840

Negotiations

Oriental Crisis of 1840

See also

Notes

References

External links