Abbas Helmi II

Abbas Helmi II

Abbas Helmy II, son of Muhammad Tawfik Pasha, son of Ismail, son of Ibrahim, son of Muhammad Ali.

He was born on July 14, 1874 in the Qubba Palace, his mother, Princess Amina Hanim, the daughter of Ibrahim Ilham Pasha, the eldest son of Khedive Tawfik.

He was educated by private teacher at the Princes’ School in Cairo, which his father established in the palace until the age of ten, and then was sent to study in Switzerland, where he is educated at Al-Thoud Yakum in Geneva (1883-1887), and the Alters Janum Academy in Vienna (1888). , a school established to educate the sons of the Austrian and Hungarian nobility, Tawfik feared to educate him in England and France due to their colonial ambitions in Egypt.

His father died suddenly, while he was still a student in Vienna, so he returned back to Egypt, and his reign began when he reached the age of eighteen years in the Islamic calendar, and he assumed power the day after his father’s death on January 8, 1892, and the Khedive arrived in Alexandria, then to Cairo on January 16 1892, and he took on the governance tasks, and Lord Cromer, the British commissioner in Egypt (1883-1907) judged him in their first meeting as: “purely Egyptian”.

Khedive Abbas Helmy II consolidated his connection with the army, ordered the promotion of many Egyptian officers, and was witnessing military maneuvers himself, and inspecting the barracks.

During his reign, a large number of newspapers and periodicals shown up, including: Al-Hilal (1892), Al-Liwaa (1900), and Al-Jarida (1907).

 

The Islamic Charitable Society was established in 1892, to care about the poor and spread education.

 

The cities in Egypt were linked to the railways, and it began to expand and extend. In 1893, the railway between Assiut and Girga was opened, as well as from Ismailia and Port Said and other lines.

 

The Khedive issued Al-Azhar Reforming Law, containing (62) articles.

 

During his reign, the Sudan was retaken, where Cromer informed the Khedive on March 13, 1869 of the news of preparations to form a campaign to advance on Sudan, and the Agreement on Dual Rule of Sudan was concluded between the Egyptian and British governments in 1899.

 

The National Bank of Egypt was established in 1898, the Agricultural Society was established in the same year, and the Egyptian Land Bank was established in 1902.

 

Al Kanater Al Khairia was repaired during his reign, and other Kanater were established next to it called “Muhammad Ali”. The work on the Aswan Dam began in 1898, and was completed in 1902 with the Asyut Kanater, and the Esna Kanater was established in 1908, and the Aswan Dam was raised for the first time in 1912

 

In 1908, the Abbas Bridge (currently Giza Bridge), the King Saleh Bridge, and the Muhammad Ali Bridge, then the Bulaq - Abu El-Ela Bridge, and the Zamalek Bridge in 1912, then the Galaa Bridge in 1914, and other bridges.

 

Education progressed during his reign, and a committee headed by one of the princes was formed to collect donations to send scientific missions abroad, consisting of (10) students. Khedive Abbas Helmy sent the first scientific missions abroad.

 

He established the agricultural road that linked Cairo to Alexandria in 1912, and another linking Helwan to Cairo, and then to Qanatir al-Khairia.

 

Petroleum was discovered during his reign in 1912.

 

The Legislative Assembly was established during his rule in 1914.

 

The Khedive adhered to the rights of Egypt, and opposed British policy, as he wanted to be a real ruler and not a puppet in the hands of the British.

 

He tried to pursue a reform policy, approach the Egyptians, and resist the British occupation, but it did not last long.

 

The British took advantage of the signs of the outbreak of the First World War, and removed him from power on December 19, 1914, at that time he was outside Egypt. They asked him not to get back, then they appointed his uncle Hussein Kamel as Sultan of Egypt.

 

He passed away on December 19, 1944.