Bearing arms may not have produced Egyptian national consciousness

Evidence

Chapter 6 raises the central question of the role the army played in the creation of Egyptian nationalism during the first half of the nineteenth century. By analyzing how the Pasha, his officers, and his soldiers viewed the army and the battles they were fighting in, the chapter re-examines the common allegation that by being allowed to bear arms for the first time in centuries the population of Egypt came to think of itself as forming a distinct people with a different identity and group personality. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 126

Categorization

• QUESTION: Worth chasing: did conscription actually build national identity among Egyptian soldiers, or is that a later nationalist retrojection?