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Napoleon to Nasser: The Story of Modern Egypt
Designed for undergraduates with little or no background in world music, Music in Bulgaria is one of several volumes that can be used along with Thinking Musically, the main book in the Global Music Series, in any introductory world music or ethnomusicology course. It provides an overview of the cultural, historical and political meaning of traditional Bulgarian music and begins by exploring how Bulgaria's rural traditions affect the expression and interpretation of its music. It goes on to examine how the country's social, political and economic histories have influenced its music over many decades. The book also shows how the musical traditions of Bulgaria have been preserved despite the social changes brought about by the post-World War II era of industrialization and urbanization. It analyses how Bulgarian music has spread throughout other cultures and how it has made its mark on new forms of popular music.
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260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
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August 20, 2016
March 17, 2016
Raymond Flower’s Napoleon to Nasser is an unremarkable and stereotypical Orientalist account of its eponymous topic. Although designed to present a narrative rather than an academic argument, his introduction states his objective as discovering why Gamal Abdul Nasser was so popular despite his many missteps and suggests that the solution lies in the fact that he was able to do things for the average Egyptian. By framing Egypt as a nation suffering from the stagnation of millennia of foreign domination and oppression, his chronicle positions Gamal Abdul Nasser as the first indigenous political leader since the Pharaohs, and one who instilled genuine national pride into the hearts and minds of the masses.
Given that this is a high political tale, however, the introduction and title of this work disguises the fact that this often devolves into a history of the British in Egypt rather than Egypt itself. This becomes evident immediately in the prologue, which examines how Napoleon’s invasion engendered the British Empire’s involvement in the region. His first body chapter, however, steps back in time to flesh out the classic narrative how the Egyptian people became passive, fatalistic, and apolitical due to millennia of foreign domination that distanced the people from the rulers. The second and third chapters return to Napoleon’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign, whose most crucial legacy was drawing imperialism to the region. Nonetheless, with the departure of both the French and the British, a new leader by the name of Muhammad Ali stepped in to fulfill the role of the classic, Oriental dictator. In the author’s opinion, however, Muhammad Ali might have been more exploitative than his predecessors, but he was also more progressive. It is implied, however, that his positive, modernizing developments were only an incidental result of his desire to found a new empire, an objective that he nearly succeeded in achieving. Yet his ambitions were frustrated ultimately by the collusion of western powers, who restricted him to a national dynasty.
This dynasty, however, would not remain powerful for long. Flower characterizes all of Muhammad Ali’s successors as making critical mistakes, primarily in the realm of the economy, that weakened their international position. The most fatal misstep was the palace’s support for the Suez Canal, which left Egypt massively indebted to western powers. Increasing foreign intervention into the economy led to a rise of nationalism, fostered ideologically by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abdu, which culminated in the Urabi Revolt of 1882. By this point, however, Britain’s interests in Egypt were ingrained too deeply, and thus they occupied the nation under the pretense of quashing the rebellion.
With the aid of Lord Cromer, the Consul-General, Britain was able to improve Egypt’s financial position drastically, but most of the benefits of this process flowed to foreigners rather than the indigenous population. This, combined with Cromer’s unwillingness to foster a relationship with the people, led to increasing hostility and a revival of nationalist sentiments. These were repressed during World War I, which ended all pretenses that the British presence was anything other than an occupation, but also placed a massive economic burden on the population that allowed nationalism to fester. The British refusal to allow the nationalist Saad Zaghul to send a delegation to the peace process at the end of the conflict was the spark that led to a revolution in 1919 and the subsequent unilateral declaration of independence in 1922.
Following a brief detour into the history of Sudan up to 1922, which is not picked up again later in the narrative, the author continues with an overview of the traditional key moments in Egyptian high political history: the assassination of Lee Stack, the subsequent British crackdown, the three-way struggle for power between the palace, the Wafd, and the British, and the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. For Flower, however, the historical turning point was the 1942 Abdin Palace incident, where the British forced King Faruk at gunpoint to form a Wafd government that would be amenable to British interests during World War II. For the King, this was the event that sent him into a downward spiral where he stopped caring about his nation and devolved into hedonism instead, which lowered his prestige among the people. For the time being, however, the people, regardless of their personal feelings towards the King, saw him as a symbol of Egypt and thus the British action was an insult towards the nation. This stirred nationalist passions and also turned them against the Wafd for the first time, since it had collaborated with the British against the will of the people and solely to secure its own power.
Most importantly, however, the Abdin Palace incident had a deep impact on a young military officer by the name of Gamal Abdul Nasser, who began forming a nationalist revolutionary movement known as the Free Officers. The passions of the military were further inflamed by Egypt’s failures in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which were blamed on the British. Their resentment, coupled with expanding frustrations of the Egyptians, culminated in the 1952 Revolution that ousted the King and the Wafd. Upon seizing power from the movement’s figurehead, Muhammad Naguib, Gamal Abdul Nasser found himself in a position where he knew what he wanted to destroy (the British occupation) but not what he wanted to build. He focused, therefore, on stamping out all opposition and ousting the British from the Suez Canal Zone. His success in nationalizing the Canal, and stopping the subsequent Israeli-British-French invasion with the support of the United States and the Soviet Union, led him to gain immense prestige as an anti-imperialist both at home and abroad. Perceiving an opportunity for a path forward, he began emphasizing his credentials as a Pan-Arab nationalist and regional leader, efforts that reached their climax with the 1959 formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria. The collapse of this union two years later, however, signalled a decline in his reputation, which was furthered by his failed involvement in the Yemeni Civil War and his disastrous defeat in the 1967 War with Israel.
Flower concludes his work by arguing that, even though his policies became unpopular in the last years of his life, and his rule over Egypt was authoritarian, Egyptians mourned his death because he was a symbol of anti-imperialism and indigenous rule who instilled pride in the people for the first time in millennia. Overall, as I have suggested above, Napoleon to Nasser adds little, if anything, to traditional narratives of Egyptian history from the standpoint of either an academic or a casual reader. It contains nothing that would privilege pursuing it over more well-known accounts of the topic.
Given that this is a high political tale, however, the introduction and title of this work disguises the fact that this often devolves into a history of the British in Egypt rather than Egypt itself. This becomes evident immediately in the prologue, which examines how Napoleon’s invasion engendered the British Empire’s involvement in the region. His first body chapter, however, steps back in time to flesh out the classic narrative how the Egyptian people became passive, fatalistic, and apolitical due to millennia of foreign domination that distanced the people from the rulers. The second and third chapters return to Napoleon’s ultimately unsuccessful campaign, whose most crucial legacy was drawing imperialism to the region. Nonetheless, with the departure of both the French and the British, a new leader by the name of Muhammad Ali stepped in to fulfill the role of the classic, Oriental dictator. In the author’s opinion, however, Muhammad Ali might have been more exploitative than his predecessors, but he was also more progressive. It is implied, however, that his positive, modernizing developments were only an incidental result of his desire to found a new empire, an objective that he nearly succeeded in achieving. Yet his ambitions were frustrated ultimately by the collusion of western powers, who restricted him to a national dynasty.
This dynasty, however, would not remain powerful for long. Flower characterizes all of Muhammad Ali’s successors as making critical mistakes, primarily in the realm of the economy, that weakened their international position. The most fatal misstep was the palace’s support for the Suez Canal, which left Egypt massively indebted to western powers. Increasing foreign intervention into the economy led to a rise of nationalism, fostered ideologically by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and Muhammad Abdu, which culminated in the Urabi Revolt of 1882. By this point, however, Britain’s interests in Egypt were ingrained too deeply, and thus they occupied the nation under the pretense of quashing the rebellion.
With the aid of Lord Cromer, the Consul-General, Britain was able to improve Egypt’s financial position drastically, but most of the benefits of this process flowed to foreigners rather than the indigenous population. This, combined with Cromer’s unwillingness to foster a relationship with the people, led to increasing hostility and a revival of nationalist sentiments. These were repressed during World War I, which ended all pretenses that the British presence was anything other than an occupation, but also placed a massive economic burden on the population that allowed nationalism to fester. The British refusal to allow the nationalist Saad Zaghul to send a delegation to the peace process at the end of the conflict was the spark that led to a revolution in 1919 and the subsequent unilateral declaration of independence in 1922.
Following a brief detour into the history of Sudan up to 1922, which is not picked up again later in the narrative, the author continues with an overview of the traditional key moments in Egyptian high political history: the assassination of Lee Stack, the subsequent British crackdown, the three-way struggle for power between the palace, the Wafd, and the British, and the 1936 Anglo-Egyptian Treaty. For Flower, however, the historical turning point was the 1942 Abdin Palace incident, where the British forced King Faruk at gunpoint to form a Wafd government that would be amenable to British interests during World War II. For the King, this was the event that sent him into a downward spiral where he stopped caring about his nation and devolved into hedonism instead, which lowered his prestige among the people. For the time being, however, the people, regardless of their personal feelings towards the King, saw him as a symbol of Egypt and thus the British action was an insult towards the nation. This stirred nationalist passions and also turned them against the Wafd for the first time, since it had collaborated with the British against the will of the people and solely to secure its own power.
Most importantly, however, the Abdin Palace incident had a deep impact on a young military officer by the name of Gamal Abdul Nasser, who began forming a nationalist revolutionary movement known as the Free Officers. The passions of the military were further inflamed by Egypt’s failures in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, which were blamed on the British. Their resentment, coupled with expanding frustrations of the Egyptians, culminated in the 1952 Revolution that ousted the King and the Wafd. Upon seizing power from the movement’s figurehead, Muhammad Naguib, Gamal Abdul Nasser found himself in a position where he knew what he wanted to destroy (the British occupation) but not what he wanted to build. He focused, therefore, on stamping out all opposition and ousting the British from the Suez Canal Zone. His success in nationalizing the Canal, and stopping the subsequent Israeli-British-French invasion with the support of the United States and the Soviet Union, led him to gain immense prestige as an anti-imperialist both at home and abroad. Perceiving an opportunity for a path forward, he began emphasizing his credentials as a Pan-Arab nationalist and regional leader, efforts that reached their climax with the 1959 formation of the United Arab Republic with Syria. The collapse of this union two years later, however, signalled a decline in his reputation, which was furthered by his failed involvement in the Yemeni Civil War and his disastrous defeat in the 1967 War with Israel.
Flower concludes his work by arguing that, even though his policies became unpopular in the last years of his life, and his rule over Egypt was authoritarian, Egyptians mourned his death because he was a symbol of anti-imperialism and indigenous rule who instilled pride in the people for the first time in millennia. Overall, as I have suggested above, Napoleon to Nasser adds little, if anything, to traditional narratives of Egyptian history from the standpoint of either an academic or a casual reader. It contains nothing that would privilege pursuing it over more well-known accounts of the topic.
January 14, 2025
كتاب "لسرد" تاريخ مصر منذ قدوم نابليون قائدًا للحملة الفرنسية على مصر وحتى رحيل عبد الناصر، وهو كتاب لسرد الأحداث وليس لتأريخها، فهي تأتي من وجهة نظر مؤلفها الأجنبي حتى وإن ولد ونشأ وعاش بمصر، فكما ذكرت مقدمة الكتاب أن المؤلف لديه انحيازات مسبقة، ودللت على هذا بتسميته بعض الفصول، مثل (نهاية حلم) للفصل الذي تناول الخيبة التي لحقت بالحملة الفرنسية على مصر، وعنوان (الثمن الباهظ لمظاهر الترف) لفصل الخديوي إسماعيل، وعنوان (إخضاع عرابي) للفصل الذي تناول الحركة العرابية.
وقد تم إثبات هذا أثناء تصفح صفحات الكتاب، فهو يصف أن نابليون وحملته لم (تستطع) فهم المصريين، كأنه يصف ما فعلته الحملة بالغباء وليس بالجريمة، وهذا مثال من أمثلة، ولكني لا أنكر أنه أحيانًا ينتقد قسوة الاحتلال البريطاني، ويمدح الزعماء الوطنيين المصريين، كما أنه رغم معاناة المصريين من حكام الأسرة العلوية إلا أنه يذكر إنجازاتهم بمختصر شديد، كما أهمل تفاصيل ذكرتها كتب أخرى مثل كتاب (تاريخ مصر من محمد علي إلى العصر الحديث).
لكن برغم هذا فأسلوب السرد ليس مملاً، وأحيانًا يأخذ الأسلوب الروائي في وصف بعض الأحداث، مثل مقدمة فصل نابليون، وقد أعود لزيارة الكتاب في الفصول الخاصة بالقرن العشرين للإطلاع أكثر على تفاصيلها من وجهة نظره.
وقد تم إثبات هذا أثناء تصفح صفحات الكتاب، فهو يصف أن نابليون وحملته لم (تستطع) فهم المصريين، كأنه يصف ما فعلته الحملة بالغباء وليس بالجريمة، وهذا مثال من أمثلة، ولكني لا أنكر أنه أحيانًا ينتقد قسوة الاحتلال البريطاني، ويمدح الزعماء الوطنيين المصريين، كما أنه رغم معاناة المصريين من حكام الأسرة العلوية إلا أنه يذكر إنجازاتهم بمختصر شديد، كما أهمل تفاصيل ذكرتها كتب أخرى مثل كتاب (تاريخ مصر من محمد علي إلى العصر الحديث).
لكن برغم هذا فأسلوب السرد ليس مملاً، وأحيانًا يأخذ الأسلوب الروائي في وصف بعض الأحداث، مثل مقدمة فصل نابليون، وقد أعود لزيارة الكتاب في الفصول الخاصة بالقرن العشرين للإطلاع أكثر على تفاصيلها من وجهة نظره.
October 9, 2022
هو ابداء رأي شخصي أكثر من كونه تأريخ لهذه الفتره
قرأت النسخه المترجمه منه وهي نسخه للاسف محتاجه مراجعه لكثرة الأخطاء الاملائيه والtypos اللي كانت مستفزه وضيعت كتير من متعة الرحله خلال ال ما يقارب ال١٥٠ سنه دول
قرأت النسخه المترجمه منه وهي نسخه للاسف محتاجه مراجعه لكثرة الأخطاء الاملائيه والtypos اللي كانت مستفزه وضيعت كتير من متعة الرحله خلال ال ما يقارب ال١٥٠ سنه دول
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