Egypt will likely be seen as a colonial power in the vein of Russia or Japan even as it suffers from capitulations
I think the relationship between Egypt and its clients is perceived as legitimate enough on both sides to not engender the kind of (internal national, and also external historical) narrative European colonialism did. This, of course, could change rapidly if Egypt's administration becomes more exploitative and controlling (which very well may happen if the world enters some kind of... War), causing their various subjects to speed up the process of acquiring independence.
Not committing to anything at this point, but I suspect there will be a lot of variation from place to place, depending on what kind of control Egypt exercises in each territory and how hard they try to maintain that control. In southern Sudan and in the eastern and western peripheries, Egyptian rule very likely will be viewed as colonial; the same may or may not also be true in the Nejd and Yemen depending on how Egypt and its Hejazi client relate to the local rulers. Hejaz itself and the Levant, where the Egyptian alliance has thus far been a net benefit, are another story. But as
@SpaceRome says, that could change if the 19th-century world order dies a violent death.
They'll show up from time to time now that they're in the neighborhood. At least one of the 1905 or 1927 stories will involve Amman.
Fully agree. I came across a history book not too long ago which was specifically about one century (14th, iirc) and I found it a little strange to read, as the author had obviously struggled with trying to tell the story of that century without dropping back into the previous or looking at effects on the next; inevitably, I suppose, it ended up focussing on events in the latter half of the century which were relatively self-contained. So yes, a 'century' (or any other artificial grouping of years) can be anything we want it to be...
That would be Tuchman's
A Distant Mirror, which is still one of my favorite works of popular history. She portrays the century through the life of one person who was born in 1340 - a device I've occasionally used myself since encountering it in her work - so it does start in the middle, but the 1340-1397 time frame does capture most of the high and low points. The format is only somewhat linear so it's not always easy to follow, but (IMO at least) it's a thorough and vivid picture of the place and time.
1. OTL, in 1881, narodniks (among whom there were Jews) killed Alexander II of Russia, and a wave of pogroms swept across the Pale of Settlement. Pogroms triggered a wave of the Jewish migration to USA - around 10k Jews from Russia come to America every year. Would TTL at least part of this wave go to Palestine, not USA?
I second this question, but would also like to add that a part of them did go to Palestine OTL - it was the first Aliyah. What comes of it ITTL? I imagine
@Jonathan Edelstein has an answer in store for us...
Again, I'm not committing to anything right now - much will be revealed in the 1905 stories, which will begin soon. But the Russian Empire is still mostly under the butterfly net, so yes, the 1881 pogroms, the May Laws, and the second wave of pogroms in 1903-05 will happen ITTL, and so will the massive Jewish emigration from the Pale. They'll go all over the place, including some destinations that didn't draw many of them IOTL (Cairo, Alexandria, and Damascus, for instance, as well as possible refuges within the empire), and yes, including Palestine. Obviously they won't be the First Aliyah ITTL - they'll be joining the existing Yishuv, political Zionism is going to be much less of a factor, and their final destinations will be dictated as much by economics and logistics as anything else.
We'll meet some of them - at least one of the 1905 stories will take place in the Russian Empire, and some of those taking place in the Levant will involve the emigres.
2. Would the Dreyfus Affair (1894) still happen TTL?
I think it would go differently. Firstly dreyfuss if still accused gets the full non guilty verdict in the pretrial and esterhazy is not acquitted because the French millitary Old boys club that had it out for Dreyfuss and saw esterhazy who couldn't be more suspicious if he held up a sign saying I am the spy is more truly secular not merely anticlerical but heavily catholic as IOTL and thus less partial between Dreyfuss whose grandparents are Alsatian Jews but extremely loyal and esterhazy who is a gambler and rake who frequently discusses how much he hates France and is related to HRE nobles.
Western Europe is also still mostly under the butterfly net, so there will be some version of the affair, which will at least peripherally involve the French Jews of Staten Island. I wouldn't necessarily count on it going better for Dreyfus, at least at first - the French army might be more secular, but this was also a period when antisemitism was increasing throughout Europe, and as we've seen, the French Jews ITTL are closely tied to the state and any perceived disloyalty is likely to be punished. The real test might be what happens when the truth comes out - will Dreyfus be acquitted at his second trial, or will he suffer a limbo like OTL in which he is released but not restored to honor? That could affect not only French politics (which as IOTL will be catalyzed by the affair) but what Dreyfus himself does after his release. We'll find out.
3. What about Leon Trotsky? OTL, he was born in 1879 in Yanovka - a Jewish agricultural colony in Kherson Governorate and began his revolutionary activities in1890s from the creation of a revolutionary circle among workers at the Nikolaev shipyards . But TTL, as I understand, Russian politics was to create Jewish colonies in Astrakhan, not Kherson. So, Trotsky TTL can be butterfled away, or his destiny could be completly different from OTL. And, without Trotsky, Lenin might have lost the struggle for power in the RSDLP.
Astrakhan is where the Tsars have been "encouraging" Caucasian Jews to go (and there's also a self-created Bukharan community there) but the Jewish agricultural colonies in Ukraine, which draw from the Pale rather than the Caucasus, still exist. How that will affect Trotsky, and whatever version of the Russian Revolution happens ITTL, is to be determined (as is Emma Goldman - I haven't thought much yet about how she will fit into TTL, which I'll obviously need to do now).