Conscription collected even the mutilated into whole regiments in Egypt

Evidence

A clear message was being delivered to the Pasha and his military authorities: the fellahin resented his army and were going to extreme lengths to resist serving in it. In response, the Pasha was sending back an equally clear message to anyone who might be thinking of mutilating himself to evade conscription: he would still be taken for the service – if not for the army, then for any of the Pasha’s projects. In short, it proved extremely difficult to evade the army for it seems that there was a stubborn determination on the part of the Pasha that the mutilated would not escape conscription. When all methods failed in preventing the fellahin from stopping the terrible practice of mutilation, the authorities went ahead with drafting the maimed all the same. On visiting Asyout in 1834 St. John described a scene where “there was a whole regiment which had been composed of mutilated conscripts, every one of whom had either lost an eye, a finger, or the front teeth.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1354

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• DEEPTHINKING: The logistics and moral logic of raising an entire regiment composed solely of self-maimed conscripts is a stunning demonstration of state coercion outlasting individual resistance — worth sitting with.

Related

• Egyptian peasants mutilated themselves to dodge conscription yet were drafted anyway. (similarity 0.91)
• Egyptian peasants mutilated themselves to escape conscription despite brutal punishment (similarity 0.84)
• Egyptian peasants deliberately self-maimed to evade conscription until penalized harshly (similarity 0.82)
• Conscripted Egyptian soldiers saw the army as hated brutal coercion (similarity 0.82)
• Egyptian conscripts pulled out teeth to evade musket-loading duty. (similarity 0.80)
• Egyptian peasants blinded and mutilated themselves to evade conscription. (similarity 0.80)
• Peasants and conscripts mutilated themselves or broke laws to evade military service. (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian peasant conscripts hated the army so much they deserted and maimed themselves. (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian peasants maimed themselves to escape conscription into Mehmed Ali’s army (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian conscripts resisted the Pasha’s army through desertion and self-mutilation (similarity 0.79)
• Peasants deliberately maimed themselves to escape conscription (similarity 0.78)
• Fellahin resistance to Mehmed Ali’s conscription was pervasive. (similarity 0.78)