Anglo-French rivalry in Ottoman Egypt

England and France, began to settle in India, the center of the east-west trade that had continued for generations as the source of wealth of the east, with the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope after the Geographical Discoveries, and established political dominance over this geography. Therefore, as in all parts of the world, the competition of European powers for superiority in India, the beginning of the spice route, and on the roads leading to India, began in the late 16th century and continued for centuries. This competition spread to many geographies from the American continent to India and from there to the Far East during a period when appetites were whetted by the help of ndustrial Revolution. As a result of the Seven Years' War, in the American continent, France lost many of its colonies to England. The idea of taking revenge for these losses caused France to the goal of destroying British dominance in India, "the most precious diamond in the crown of the English Queen. For this reason France, in order to eliminate the British influence in India, sent troops to Egypt, which was the key to India, and by settling there, it aimed to ultimately destroy the enormous colonial order that Britain had established in India. Although Egypt was an Ottoman territory, Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign on the threshold of the XIXth century was actually an attack on the jugular vein of the British colonies. France, despite the unsuccessful invasion, did not give up on Egypt. The assistance of the French Consulate in Egypt to Mehmed Ali in his rise to the governorship should not be overlooked. Along with this, the French contributed to Egypt's modernization efforts starting from the time of Mehmed Ali with missions they initiated in the fields of education, culture, military and administration, and embarked on a path to increase French impact and influence in Egypt. Except for Abbas Pasha's attempt to follow a pro-British policy, the governors in Egypt were under French influence, during the reign of Mehmed Ali's successors until the British occupation. During this period, Egypt's quest for independence reached its peak, especially during the reign of Mehmed Ali and his grandson Ismail Pasha. The competition between two rival colonial powers in Europe and the world to prevail over each other was carried to the Ottoman geography due to the weakness of the Ottoman Empire's military and political structure. The struggle to dominate the short route to India via Suez and the Red Sea was seen as the key to world leadership in this respect.