History of Modern Egypt

According to most scholar the history of modern Egypt spans since the emergence of Muhammad Ali's rule in early 19th century and his launching of Egypt's modernization project that involved building a new army and suggesting a new map for Egypt.

The definition of Egypt's modern history has varied in accordance to different definitions of Modernity. Some scholars date it as far back as 1517 with the Ottomans’ defeat of the Mamlūks in 1516–17.

Muhammad Ali's dynasty became practically independent from the Ottoman rule, following his warfare campaigns against the Empire and his ability to enlist large scale armies, allowing to control Egypt as well as parts of North Africa and Middle East. In 1882, the Khedivate of Egypt becomes part of the British sphere of influence in the region, a situation that conflicted with its position as an autonomous vassal state of the Ottoman Empire. The country became a British protectorate in 1915 and achieved full independence in 1922, becoming a kingdom under the rule of Muhammad Ali's dynasty, lasting until 1952.

Gamal Abdel Nasser established a military dictatorship with a one party state, known as the Republic of Egypt, following the 1952 Egyptian revolution. Egypt was ruled autocratically by three presidents over the following six decades, by Nasser from 1954 until his death in 1970, by Anwar Sadat from 1971 until his assassination 1981, and by Hosni Mubarak from 1981 until his resignation in the face of the 2011 Egyptian revolution.

In 2012, after more than one year under interim government of Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, with Field Marshal Tantawi as its chairman; elections were held and the Islamist Mohamed Morsi became the first democratically elected head of state in the entire history of Egypt.