The Men of Marj Dabiq: The Story of the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt and the Levant

Was it a "conquest" or an occupation?

Salah Issa’s interesting book

“The Men of Marj Dabiq: The Story of the Ottoman Conquest of Egypt and the Levant”

New Edition, Revised and Extended with Illustrations “Not one of the men who filled the space of Marj Dabiq on that hot summer night knew exactly how things would end. All they knew was that war had become a given, that it might break out at any moment, and that their stay in this vast meadow would not be long. As for how the fortunes will be divided among them: which of them will be taken prisoner? And who will fall a martyr in battle? Will the army led by their sultan, the noble King Abu Al-Nasr Qansuh Al-Ghouri, win, or will the army of their enemy, Sultan Al-Muzaffar Selim Khan bin Bayezid the Ottoman Empire? Because none of them knew anything about it.”

This is how the great writer Salah Issa begins his interesting book about the entry of the Ottomans into Egypt and the Levant. As we are accustomed to in his historical books: “The Men of Raya and Sakina,” “Tales from the Notebook of the Homeland,” and “Margins of Al-Maqrizi: Tales from Egypt,” the history here is not the history of the rulers, but the history of peoples in their dealings with their lives and in facing the dangers that threaten them.

Salah Issa is a journalist, writer and historian. He was born in 1939 in the village of Bechla, Dakahlia Governorate. He was arrested for the first time because of his political views in 1966, and was repeatedly arrested, arrested, interrogated or tried in 1968, 1972, 1975, 1977, 1979 and 1981. He founded and co-founded and managed the editing of a number of newspapers and magazines, including: writers, national culture, parents, leftists and journalists, and chaired the board of directors of the Cairo newspaper. He has published 20 books on history, political and social thought and literature, most notably: “The Men of Raya and Sakina,” “The Orabi Revolution,” “Tales from the Notebook of the Nation,” “Margins of Al-Maqrizi: Tales from Egypt,” and “Men of Marj Dabiq: The Story of the Ottoman Conquest.” to Egypt and the Levant.