Franҁois Guizot and Adolphe Thiers – Conflict of Interest, Foreign Policy Strategy and Ottoman Approach – The Egyptian Crisis (1839 – 1841)

French diplomacy during the July Monarchy (1830 – 1848) was put to the test, as a result of the approach and strategy used in regulating the second escalation of the Ottoman-Egyptian conflict (1839 – 1841). French strategic interests in the Mediterranean basin were decisive in favour of the claims made by the Egyptian governor Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769 – 1849) for hereditary investiture, in addition to Egypt and the Ottoman province of Syria, which he occupied in 1831. The policy of Paris was carried out by the two main political players, François Guizot (1787 – 1874) and Adolphe Thiers (1797 – 1877), who applied two different approaches to regulating the crisis in the Orient. The model of behaviour, defending the categorical pro-Egyptian position, was implemented by François Guizot, charged with a diplomatic mission in London (from 23 February 1840 to 29 October 1840) according to the instructions of the Foreign Minister Adolphe Thiers (from 1 March 1840 to 29 October 1840). The differences between the two approaches were evident in the conclusion of the secret treaty of 15 July 1840 between Great Britain, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, which excluded France and dealt a blow to its dignity. Thiers’ belligerent approach was replaced by the more peaceful one, implemented by Guizot and promoting Franco-English partnership. The article examines the differences in the opinions of the two statesmen in the 1840s, which gave rise to a conflict of interests and a lack of a shared political goal, but in the 1850s a compromise between Thiers’ pro-Napoleonic worldview and the Franco-English alliance supported by Guizot was achieved.