Background
Abbas was born on July 1, 1813 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was the eldest son of Prince Tusun-pasha and the grandson of the Egyptian Pasha Mohammed Ali.
Abbas was born on July 1, 1813 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. He was the eldest son of Prince Tusun-pasha and the grandson of the Egyptian Pasha Mohammed Ali.
Thanks to the favor of his grandfather, who is trained him in Cairo, already in his youth, he has achieved good results in the military and civil service.
As a young man he fought in Syria under Ibrahim Pasha, his real or supposed uncle. The death of Ibrahim in November 1848 made Abbas regent of Egypt, and in August following, on the death of Mehemet Ali-who had been deposed in July 1848 on account of mental weakness, Abbas succeeded to the pashalik.
He was inaccessible to adventurers bent on plundering Egypt and Sudan of riches, and kicked out all foreign business; however at the insistence of the British government, he allowed the construction of a railway from Alexandria to Cairo, in return the British assisted him in a dispute with the Ottoman Empire. due to his policies to Europeans and their influence, he was not liked by them and in time his reputation was exaggerated and demonized to portray him as worse than he actually was. After he died the number of Europeans in Egypt rose drastically from 3, 000, in 1850, to 90, 000, in 1882, and 200, 000 by 1900.
During the Crimean War he gave the Sultan of Turkey use of his naval fleet and 15, 000 soldiers.
On 13 July 1854, Abbas was murdered in Benha Palace by two of his slaves, It was said that his cruelty to his servants was a motive.
He was seen as reactionary, morose, and taciturn, and spent nearly all his time in his palace. [
Quotes from others about the person
Nubar Pasha spoke of him as a true Turkish gentleman of the old school.
Abbas had five wifes and five children.