Barracks internment was the essential first step toward a professional standing army

Evidence

The soldiers were therefore isolated from outside influences by being interned in clearly segregated training camps. Like most internment policies applied in European countries, housing the soldiers in barracks, training the new recruits in clearly demarcated training camps, and teaching the young cadets in the new military schools were all examples of a general policy of the state to demarcate as clearly as possible the military and isolate it from the larger society. The new “army was no longer to be thought of as an occasional body, brought together for seasonal campaigns. It was to be an organized force, created out of men compelled to live permanently together as a distinct community, continuously under training even when not at war.” In other words, isolating the recruits in barracks, training camps and military schools was the first essential step towards the creation of the professional, disciplined soldier. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 658

Categorization

• XREF: The shift from seasonal campaign army to permanent standing force mirrors what was happening in Europe, and connects to the reader’s question about the birth of the modern Egyptian army.