 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Battle of Konya" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(May 2008) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| Battle of Konya | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofEgyptian–Ottoman War (1831–1833) | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Egypt Eyalet |  Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Ibrahim Pasha[1][2] | Reşid Mehmed Pasha (POW)[3] | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 15,000 men[a] 48 guns[2] | 53,000 men in total[5] 142 guns[2] | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 262 dead, 530 wounded[1] | 3,000 dead, 5,000 taken prisoner,[1] 44 guns[2] | ||||||
TheBattle of Konya (Koniah) was fought on December 21, 1832, betweenEgypt and theOttoman Empire, just outside the city ofKonya in modern-dayTurkey. By the time of the battle,Muhammad Ali of Egypt modernized the Egyptian army and economy, while the Ottoman Empire continued to lag behind. TheEgyptians were led byIbrahim Pasha, while the Ottomans were led byReşid Mehmed Pasha. The Egyptians were victorious.[5][1]
The Egyptian campaign to occupySyria began on October 29, 1831, starting theFirst Turko-Egyptian War. Twoarmies set out from Egypt, one by land under General Ibrahim Yakan, and the other by sea, landing atJaffa, underIbrahim Pasha. The Egyptians rapidly occupiedJerusalem and the coastal regions ofPalestine andLebanon, except forAcre, which had impregnable walls and a stronggarrison of about 3,000 hardened fighters with much artillery. Acre, under the OttomanPasha Abdullah Elgazar, held out against a long and bloodysiege before finally falling to the Egyptians on May 27, 1832.
Later on, the Egyptian forces managed to successfully defeat the Ottoman forces throughout the Levant, in Damascus, Homs, Aleppo, Tripoli and the bellan pass. Due to their quick success, many cities towns in northern Syria and southern Turkey didn't risk fighting them but smoothly surrendered to the Egyptian forces.
The final battle of the campaign of 1831/1832, came atKonya on December 18–21, 1832. Several minor clashes between advanced elements and scouting parties of the two armies took place on December 18 and 19, and the main battle described below was on December 21.
Egyptian Forces: Ibrahim Pasha commanded a total of about 50,000 men in all ofGreater Syria, including recent Syrian recruits and about 7,000 Arabauxiliaries andirregulars. The regular forces were organised into teninfantry regiments, twelvecavalry regiments and theartillery andengineers. Much of this force was spread out on his supply lines, and only 27,000 regular troops were available at the battle of Konya. However, these were the most experienced and disciplined of his army. At the battle, Ibrahim had 20 infantrybattalions, 28 cavalrysquadrons, and 48guns.
Ottoman forces: Reshid Pasha commanded an army of 80,000 from various Ottoman provinces, including manyAlbanians andnizami troops (30,000) that came from theShkodër region[6] andBosnians. At the battle Reshid had a total of about 54,000 men, of which about 20,000 were irregulars: 54 infantry battalions, 28 cavalry squadrons, and 100 guns.
The main battle took place on December 21, 1832, astride the Konya-Constantinople road, just north of the ancientwalled town of Konya, which, in 1832, had a population of about 20,000. The battlefield is bounded on the west by hills and on the east bymarshes andswamps, with aplateau about two miles (3 km) wide in between. The Egyptian army had its back to the town and faced North, and the Ottoman army approached from the North astride the road, facing South. December 21 was an intenselyfoggy day.
Ibrahim's army was organised into three rows astride the road. The first row consisted of the 13th and 18th Infantry Regiments with threeartillery batteries underSelim Elmansterly. The second row, five hundred paces behind the first, consisted of the 12th and 14th Infantry Regiments with two artillery batteries underSoliman al-Faransawy (Elfaransawy = "the Frenchman" the formerColonel Sèves). The third row, consisted of the Guards Regiment and one artillery battery in reserve and the 1st and 2nd Cavalry Regiment, under Selim bey. Ibrahim posted two battalions insquare formation at the flanks to guard againstencirclement.
Reshid's army was organised into four rows advancing astride the road. Leading the advance were two regular cavalry brigades and the Guards Infantry brigade in open formation. These were followed by a second row of two infantry and two cavalry brigades, then a third and fourth row each consisting of an infantry brigade. Large numbers of irregulars made up the rear. Artillery was distributed amongst the army.
At about noon the advancing Ottomans' artillery opened fire when the front lines were about 600 yards (550 m) apart. With the heavy fog, therange was spotty, and the Egyptian artillery held their fire until they could guess the Ottomans' positions from the sound of their cannonade, and so could find their range more precisely. As the artillery exchange thundered on, Ibrahim advanced with hisscouts to awell east of the road to survey the Ottoman positions. During a momentary lifting of the fog, he noticed a gap in the Ottoman formation between their cavalry and infantry on their left flank, to the East. He rapidly called hisreserves (the Guards Brigade and the two cavalry Brigades) and personally led them into this gap between the road and the marshes, causing confusion in the Ottoman left flank by this sudden onslaught, as some of their cavalry was trapped and scattered in the foggy marshes. As the Ottoman left flank collapsed, the grand vizier Reshid Pasha personally moved to their midst to rally them, but in the foggy confusion found himself surrounded by Egyptians and captured. The capture of their supreme commander deepened the confusion amongst the Ottomans, and some units lost cohesion and broke ranks as the Egyptian artillery and cavalry advanced around their left flank to their rear, enveloping the now disorganised units and continuing a relentless slaughter from three directions, South, East and North. As night fell, the new Ottoman commander managed to rally some units and organised a desperate counter-attack from the West against the Egyptian left flank, but this failed as the Egyptian centre wheeled to face them with an organisedbarrage of artillery and as this attack broke, the remaining Ottomans scattered.
Konya was Ibrahim's greatest victory. He lost 262 dead and 530 wounded, whereas the Ottomans lost 3,000 dead and over 5,000 taken prisoner, including many seniorofficers, includingReşid Mehmed Pasha.[7] The Egyptians remained in possession of the field and took 46 guns, and the Ottoman army was scattered. Nothing remained between Ibrahim's army andConstantinople[8] after the battle. However, it was time forpolitics, and Ibrahim's father,Muhammad Ali parleyed withSultan Mahmoud and with theEuropean Powers, and ended up signing thePeace Agreement of Kutahya at theConvention of Kutahya, whereby the Sultan ceded greater Syria to Muhammad Ali for his lifetime, and ceded Egypt's rule to Muhammad Ali's dynasty in perpetuity, with nominal vassalhood to the Ottoman Sultan, butde facto independence.
As a postscript to Konya, it should be added[according to whom?] that seven years later, the OttomanSultan Mahmoud abrogated the peace of Kotahiya and attacked the Egyptian forces again, but was again routed by the Egyptians at theBattle of Nezib, on the frontier between the Ottoman Empire and Syria, on June 24, 1839.