Battalion banners bearing Mehmed Ali’s name suggest a personal rather than national army

Evidence

It appears from the behavior of the soldiers in this particular incident and specifically from the courage and valor with which they were following and defending the banner that they were implementing the Pasha’s orders to defend the flag, “the symbol of victory [and] … pride,” at whatever cost. It is not known what was inscribed on the banners at this particular battle; in other battles, however, the flags and banners carried during the actual fighting as well as the medals cast to commemorate the subsequent victories were decorated with Mehmed Ali’s name and nothing else. It has often been argued that it was during the first half of the nineteenth century and mostly by being allowed to carry weapons and to defend their own country that the fellahin of Egypt came to think of themselves as Egyptians first and foremost. Given the fact that most banners of Mehmed Ali’s battalions had his name on them, would it be more accurate to argue that this was the Pasha’s personal army fighting what were in essence his own wars and not those of “Egypt,” and that the men who fought in them conceived of it as such, i.e. as a personal not a national army? — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1312

Categorization

• QUESTION: Whether pre-national Egyptian soldiers conceived of their army as the Pasha’s personal instrument rather than as Egypt’s national force.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s question of how the modern Egyptian army was born and what ideological glue (personal vs national) held it together.