Abbas I
ABBAS I. (1813-1854), pasha of Egypt, was a son of Tusun Pasha and grandson of Mehemet Ali, founder of the reigning dynasty. As a young man he fought in Syria under Ibrahim Pasha (q.v.), 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 Alh-who had been deposed in July 1848 on account of mental weakness,-Abbas succeeded to the pashalik. He has been generally described as a mere voluptuary, but Nubar Pasha spoke of him as a true Turkish gentleman of the old school. He was without question a reactionary, morose and taciturn, and spent nearly all his time shut up in his palace. He undid, as far as lay in his power, the works of his grandfather, good and bad. Among other things he abolished trade monopolies, closed factories and schools, and reduced the strength of the army to 9000 men. He was inaccessible to adventurers bent on plundering Egypt, but at the instance of the British government allowed the construction of a railway from Alexandria to Cairo. In July 1854 he was murdered in Benha Palace by two of his slaves, and was succeeded by his uncle, Said Pasha.
ABBAS I. (e. 1557-1628 or 1629), shah of Persia, called the Great, was the son of shah Mahommed (d. 1586) . In the midst of general anarchy in Persia, he was proclaimed ruler of Khorasan, and obtained possession of the Persian throne in 1586. Determined to raise the fallen fortunes of his country, he first directed his efforts against the predatory Uzbegs, who occupied and harassed Khorasan. After a long and severe struggle, he regained Meshed, defeated them in a great battle near Herat in 1597, and drove them out of his dominions. In the wars he carried on with the Turks during nearly the whole of his reign, his successes were numerous, and he acquired, or regained, a large extent of territory. By the victory he gained at Bassora in 1605 he extended his empire beyond the Euphrates; sultan Ahmed I. was forced to cede Shirvan and Kurdistan in 1611; the united armies of the Turks and Tatars were completely defeated near Sultanieh in 1618, and Abbas made peace on very favourable terms; and on the Turks renewing the war, Bagdad fell into his hands after a year's siege in 1623. In 1622 he took the island of Ormuz from the Portuguese, by the assistance of the British, and much of its trade was diverted to the town of Bander-Abbasi, which was named after the shah. When he died, his dominions reached from the Tigris to the Indus. Abbas distinguished himself, not only by his successes in arms, and by the magnificence of his court and of the buildings which he erected, but also by his reforms in the administration of his kingdom. He encouraged commerce, and, by constructing highways and building bridges, did much to facilitate it. To foreigners, especially Christians, he showed a spirit of tolerance; two Englishmen, Sir Anthony and Sir Robert Shirley, or Sherley, were admitted to his confidence. His fame is tarnished, however, by numerous deeds of tyranny and cruelty. His own family, especially, suffered from his fits of jealousy; his eldest son was slain, and the eyes of his other children were put out, by his orders.
See The Three Brothers, or Travels of Sir Anthony, Sir
Robert Sherley, etc. (London, 1823); Sir C. R. Markham,
General Sketch of the History of Persia (London, 1874).
Note - this article incorporates content from Encyclopaedia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, (1910-1911)
