Conscription triggered two major open rebellions in Egypt

Evidence

Soon after the new conscription policy had become known in the countryside the fellahin employed different methods to escape the Pasha’s men who were sent to press them into service. One such method was open rebellion and at least two such rebellions are known to have occurred and to have been directly connected to the Pasha’s conscription policy. Mention has already been made of the big revolt in Upper Egypt in 1824 in which 30,000 people rebelled against Mehmed Ali’s authorities, attacked the officials sent from Cairo, and refused to pay taxes. Earlier, in May 1823, immediately after conscription had been introduced in Lower Egypt, a smaller yet significant uprising erupted in the province of Minūfiyya and to quell it Mehmed Ali had to go there in person armed with his palace guards and six field cannons. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 471