Egyptian fellahs were barred from promotion beyond captain in Muhammad Ali’s army

Evidence

As a rule Egyptians, referred to as evlad-ɩ Arab, were not allowed to be promoted beyond the rank of yüzabşi (captain) and very few of them were even promoted to that rank in the first place. As for the ranks of mülazim evvel and mülazim sani (lieutenant and second-lieutenant, respectively), half of them had to be “Turks” and the other half “Arabs.” Before signing the orders promoting men to these ranks, Ibrahim Pasha had to inquire if the nominees were from “those who can be promoted to these ranks, since it is against the rules to have more than four Arab lieutenants per battalion.” Nominations for promotions to upper ranks, on the other hand, usually stated the place of birth of the candidate, to make it clear that he was a “Turk.” Otherwise, it would be stated clearly that the candidate was a mamluk. These guidelines were strictly followed and Mehmed Ali insisted that his son not promote “Arabs” to senior ranks even if he was in short supply of “Turkish” officers. During the Morean campaign Ibrahim was urging his father to send him Turkish officers (evlad-ɩ Türk) since he was forbidden from replacing dead or wounded officers by “Egyptian” ones that he had with him in Morea. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1328

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s question about the composition and performance of the modern Egyptian army; also parallels the racial glass ceilings seen in British colonial armies.

Related

• Egyptian conscripts were barred from promotion above captain’s rank (similarity 0.91)
• Mehmed Ali imposed a ceiling on native Egyptian officer advancement (similarity 0.85)
• Mehmed Ali barred Arabic-speaking officers from high army and bureaucratic ranks (similarity 0.84)
• Arabic-speaking officers were barred from senior army ranks spoken in Turkish (similarity 0.83)
• Mehmed Ali’s army split officers and soldiers along Turkish-Arabic linguistic lines (similarity 0.81)
• Captured Ottoman officers were promoted over their own captors solely for Turkish identity (similarity 0.80)
• Egyptian soldiers served under Turkish officers in the reformed army (similarity 0.80)
• Mehmed Ali deliberately kept Turkish-speaking officers above Arab fellah conscripts to preserve his regime (similarity 0.79)
• Egyptian soldiers were Arab recruits while officers were Turks. (similarity 0.78)
• Ethno-linguistic officer appointments were deliberate to prevent fellah revolt (similarity 0.78)
• Mehmed Ali’s officers were foreign newcomers with no roots in Egypt (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Mehmed Ali barred Arabic-speaking officers from high army and bureaucratic ranks #corroborates (0.85) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1306