Ibrahim Pasha saw his campaigns as fought for his father’s dynasty, not Egypt.

Evidence

More important than Ibrahim’s sentiments, though, was the very composition of the officer corps that he was leading which, as this chapter has tried to show, was ethnically, linguistically and culturally different from the soldiery. Like their leader, the officers in the Pasha’s army had no doubt that they were serving the Pasha and his family and had no sympathies in common with the men they were commanding. With their origins in different parts of the Ottoman world and having come to Egypt to seek employment in the Pasha’s army and bureaucracy, they tied their own destinies to that of the household they were fighting for. Like Ibrahim Pasha they, too, thought of the army as a dynastic army fighting the Pasha’s own wars, wars that they stood to benefit from since the army that was successful in those wars could give them a better, more lucrative employment and, arguably, a better and more prestigious social status in the new province they settled in, Egypt. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1393 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

It would be erroneous therefore to argue that when the Pasha decided to officially ask for independence from the Ottoman Empire in May 1838 he was acting on behalf of the Egyptian population and expressing their sentiments, sentiments that made them see themselves as different and distinct from other subjects of the Ottoman Sultan. What prompted the Pasha to make this bold move, rather, was his desire to secure his efforts in Egypt to his family and his sons after him. As John Campbell, the British Consul-General in 1838, said “he cannot… ever permit all [the] establishments [that he founded in Egypt over thirty years] to revert to the Porte and be lost at his death, and that he should have the pang of feeling that all his labours should merely have been for the Porte which would allow them to go to ruin, whilst his own family and children would be exposed to want and perhaps even to be put to death.” These were the reasons he put to the British government for his asking for independence from the Ottoman Empire. There is nothing here or elsewhere in the contemporary documents to show that he had any illusions about the nature of his struggle with the Sultan. That struggle was a dynastic one and it was conceived of as such by him and his contemporaries. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1551 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: The officer corps served the Pasha’s dynasty rather than any Egyptian nation — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1393; Ibrahim saw the Syrian war as a dynastic family struggle, not a national one; Mehmed Ali and his officials thought of themselves as Ottomans, not Egyptians. (+1 more)

Related

• Mehmed Ali and his officials thought of themselves as Ottomans, not Egyptians. (similarity 0.88)
• Mehmed Ali’s wars against the Sultan were dynastic, not national (similarity 0.88)
• Mehmed Ali’s army was a personal, dynastic force rather than a national one. (similarity 0.87)
• Mehmed Ali’s quest for independence was a dynastic struggle, not nationalist. (similarity 0.87)
• Ibrahim saw the Syrian war as a dynastic family struggle, not a national one (similarity 0.87)
• The Syrian wars were inter-Ottoman civil strife rather than wars of independence. (similarity 0.86)
• Mehmed Ali sought a personal empire, not Egyptian independence. (similarity 0.86)
• The officer corps served the Pasha’s dynasty rather than any Egyptian nation (similarity 0.86)
• Mehmed Ali’s 1838 bid for independence served his family, not the Egyptian nation (similarity 0.84)
• Egyptian historians narrate Mehmed Ali’s career as a teleological quest for independence (similarity 0.84)
• Muhammad Ali sought independent empire, exceeding prior Ottoman governors’ ambitions. (similarity 0.84)
• Muhammad Ali sought Egyptian independence from the Ottomans rather than mere provincial expansion (similarity 0.83)
• Mehmed Ali’s rule over Egypt resembled feudal lordship between Sultan and subjects. (similarity 0.83)
• Mehmed Ali’s wars may be internal Ottoman power struggles rather than nationalist bids (similarity 0.83)
• Mehmed Ali’s wars aimed at dynastic ambition, not Egyptian national liberation. (similarity 0.82)

Broader Connections

• Ibrahim saw the Syrian war as a dynastic family struggle, not a national one #corroborates (0.95)
• The officer corps served the Pasha’s dynasty rather than any Egyptian nation #corroborates (0.90) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1393
• Mehmed Ali sought a personal empire, not Egyptian independence. #corroborates (0.80) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1551
• Mehmed Ali and his officials thought of themselves as Ottomans, not Egyptians. #expands (0.70)