ABSTRACT
A number of reasons helped to bring about Isma‘il’s ruin of Egypt and his own downfall. His success as a private landowner cannot be denied; this was in keeping with the family tradition; but when he became ruler, “his head was turned by his high position and the opportunity it gave him of figuring in the world as one of its most splendid princes”. The reasons which led to this opposition are to be found in the reaction against all the misery which Isma‘il brought to the country and also against the official interference of the European powers in the country’s affairs in order to protect the bondholders. The new law provided for three types of schools, the Primary schools in Cairo and Alexandria, the village elementary schools and the Primary schools in the centre of the provinces and in the capitals.
