Muhammad Ali initially entertained the idea of conquering all of Tigray and Amhara, but by the middle of the 19th century Egypt had only limited objectives in Ethiopia, namely to establish its authority over the mineral rich slopes of the Ethiopian peripheral areas.

The country was going through a period known as the Zemene Mesafint which were a series of internal wars between powerful regional noblemen that resulted in the complete fragmentation of the Ethiopian Empire.

Moreover, the de facto ruler of the country was a powerful Oromo warlord known as Ali II of Yejju, as he feared the growing pressure of the Tigrayan and Amhara lords, was ready to invite the Egyptians to enter Ethiopia, if necessary.

A final possible goal was a conquest of Ethiopia as part of a much more ambitious plan by Muhammad Ali to dominate the whole area between the Nile and the Red Sea.

Sabagadis was then defeated and killed by the lord of Semien, Wube Haile Maryam, who conquered Tigray and then imported firearms from European arms dealers.

By 1833 the Egyptians had a force of 5,000 regular infantry and a few thousand irregular cavalry in Sudan, Khurshid Pasha was able to methodically extend Egypt's control over the frontier with this small army.

In light of the First Syrian War, Egypt's resources were exhausted and many European consuls felt that Muhammad Ali was preparing for a conquest of Abyssinia.

He drew the attention of the British consul when he appointed his son, Ibrahim Pasha as pashaluk of al-Habash thus making it clear that he did aspire to conquer Ethiopia.

In early 1836 a large force under Ahmad Kashef consisting of a battalion of regular troops, a thousand irregular calvary and a number of Albanians invaded Welkait.

On their way back however, they were ambushed by the followers of Wube Haile Maryam, according to an eyewitness some hundreds of Egyptians were killed or taken prisoner and many firearms were left by the "Turks" on the battlefield.

Muhammad Ali then told the French consul that he was planning to sign a peace deal with the "northern provinces of Abyssinia" and the hostilities between Ethiopia and Egypt were never that serious.