Cotton profits and a conscript army were the twin pillars of Mehmed Ali’s regime

Evidence

Yet instead of being the beginning of the end of government oppression or a marker of the apogee of the Pasha’s rule, the years 1820–1 constitute a watershed, dividing the Pasha’s rule into two periods of nearly equal length. For the Pasha had the good fortune to live for nearly another thirty years, during which time he introduced institutions and ushered in policies that make the already impressive policies of 1805–20 and the suffering they caused the Egyptians to fade by comparison. Two developments in particular assume gigantic proportions and mark 1821 as a crucial year in the Pasha’s career, namely the successful experimentation with the cultivation of long-staple cotton and the founding of a modern conscription-based army. While both these developments took place in the same year, there was no causal link between them. Nonetheless, from that time onwards very strong links existed between these two developments of the Pasha’s policies which proved to be the cornerstones of his entire regime: through cotton cultivation, which grew exponentially in the 1820s, the Pasha managed to reap unprecedented profits from its sale, which he then monopolized and used to construct his army, build his navy, establish his factories and construct numerous schools, hospitals and palaces. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 74

Categorization

• XREF: The cotton-army nexus connects to why modern armies need cash-crop economies, echoing the reader’s question about military expansion funding.