Conscription pressure drove Egypt’s first national census by 1845

Evidence

Ultimately, Egyptians, seeing that life had become so unbearable under the new “enlightened” regime of Mehmed Ali because of corvée, taxation, monopolies, imprisonment and, above all, conscription, decided that even if they could bear these atrocities themselves, there was no reason why they should see their own children subjected to the same fate. Thus a new method of resistance developed which reflected the Egyptians’ utter despair: they simply refused to marry and have children. In 1828 Mehmed Ali wrote to the Director of his War Department, Mahmud Bey, telling him that a lot of fellahin were abstaining from marriage in order to avoid seeing their children being subjected to these various government demands, e.g. taxation and imprisonment. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1355 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Egyptian peasant conscription began as a three-year substitute for Turkish troops; Conscription transformed the relation between Egyptian government and governed; Egyptian peasants experienced conscription as oppressive taxation rather than patriotic service (+4 more)

Related

• Conscription transformed the relation between Egyptian government and governed (similarity 0.91)
• Conscription drove Egyptian peasants to refuse marriage and childbearing (similarity 0.90)
• Egyptian peasant conscription began as a three-year substitute for Turkish troops (similarity 0.87)
• Egyptian peasants experienced conscription as oppressive taxation rather than patriotic service (similarity 0.87)
• Peasant resistance to conscription catalyzed a new regime of state control (similarity 0.86)
• Over 30,000 Egyptians rebelled against Mehmed Ali’s conscription in 1824 (similarity 0.84)
• Egyptian peasants refused marriage and children to protest conscription. (similarity 0.84)
• Mehmed Ali founded a conscription-based army in Egypt in 1820 (similarity 0.84)
• Egyptian peasants strongly resisted conscription into the modern army (similarity 0.83)
• Egyptian peasants strongly resisted conscription into Mehmed Ali’s army. (similarity 0.83)
• Egyptian peasants overwhelmingly resisted conscription despite ideological appeals, via open rebellion (similarity 0.83)
• Syria’s two million people attracted Mehmed Ali’s conscription plans (similarity 0.81)
• Peasant resistance to conscription drove Egypt’s shift toward administrative power (similarity 0.81)
• Egyptian conscripts served Mehmed Ali’s army entirely against their will (similarity 0.81)
• Egyptian conscription began as a way to spare Turkish troops Sudan service (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Egyptian peasants experienced conscription as oppressive taxation rather than patriotic service #corroborates (0.70)
• Egyptian peasants strongly resisted conscription into the modern army #corroborates (0.70)
• Conscription drove Egyptian peasants to refuse marriage and childbearing #expands (0.60) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1355
• Mehmed Ali founded a conscription-based army in Egypt in 1820 #corroborates (0.55) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 70
• The army’s reliance on central supply and conscription created Egypt’s modern state #expands (0.50)