Mass desertion reveals Egyptian feeling about Mehmed Ali’s rule better than nationalist sources

Evidence

In other words, I find acts of desertion to be a much more eloquent testimony of how Egyptians felt towards the Pasha’s regime than all the tomes written on Mehmed Ali’s nationalist enterprise. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1697

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s concern with army performance and soldier experience under Mehmed Ali.
• SEED: A counter-history of Mehmed Ali’s ‘nationalist’ army measured by desertion rates rather than battlefield glory.