Mehmed Ali’s officers were foreign newcomers with no roots in Egypt

Evidence

The soldiers gradually came to see their own commanding officers and not the enemy they were fighting as the “other.” How does the nationalist discourse explain the fact that the Egyptian soldiers resisted serving in the army, allegedly the national institution, or that they saw their own officers and not the Ottoman army as the other? — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1670 (#expands, via linked claim)

It could be argued, however, that Mehmed Ali’s army was instrumental in propagating the idea of Egyptian nationalism, albeit unwittingly. It did this not because the Pasha, his son, or any of their chief military commanders thought of the various wars they waged as “national”; the dynastic aspect of these successive military confrontations, as was shown above, was clear to all to see, and Ibrahim, in spite of his often-quoted “Egyptian” sentiments, had no doubts about it. … Nevertheless, the army did unwittingly contribute to the rise of Egyptian nationalism by homogenizing the experience of tens of thousands of Egyptians over a period that exceeded twenty years by instilling in them the feeling of hatred of the “Ottomans,” and thus helped in their collective “imagination” of the nation. This creation of the “other” that wars are singularly successful at doing was operational in Mehmed Ali’s army not in directing the men’s sentiments of animosity against the army of the Greek rebels, or the Wahhabi brigands, let alone the army of the Ottoman Sultan, but against their own Turkish-speaking officers. These feelings of animosity towards the “Ottoman” eventually came to fruition two or three generations later when the frustrated leaders of these fellah-soldiers, the middle-ranking, Arabic-speaking officers, broke out in open rebellion together with other disgruntled members of Egyptian society against Turco-Circassian domination. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1371 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Foreign-born officers could not sell nationalism to Mehmed Ali’s conscripts.; Officers in Mehmed Ali’s army behaved as mercenaries loyal to pay, not national identity; Mehmed Ali barred Arabic-speaking officers from high army and bureaucratic ranks (+3 more)

Related

• Mehmed Ali barred Arabic-speaking officers from high army and bureaucratic ranks (similarity 0.88)
• Egyptian conscripts saw their own officers as the enemy rather than the Ottomans (similarity 0.87)
• Mehmed Ali’s army unwittingly fostered Egyptian nationalism by turning fellahs against their Turkish officers (similarity 0.86)
• Mehmed Ali’s Turkish-speaking officer corps felt no national loyalty to Egypt (similarity 0.86)
• Egyptian soldiers served under Turkish officers in the reformed army (similarity 0.86)
• Officers in Mehmed Ali’s army behaved as mercenaries loyal to pay, not national identity (similarity 0.85)
• Egypt’s army in Mehmed Ali’s era was not a national force. (similarity 0.84)
• Ottoman officers readily defected to serve in the Egyptian army (similarity 0.83)
• Mehmed Ali’s army was a personal, dynastic force rather than a national one. (similarity 0.83)
• The officer corps served the Pasha’s dynasty rather than any Egyptian nation (similarity 0.82)
• Shared resentment against Turkish officers, not foreign wars, forged Egyptian national identity. (similarity 0.82)
• Mehmed Ali’s army split officers and soldiers along Turkish-Arabic linguistic lines (similarity 0.82)
• Mehmed Ali’s army founded Egyptian nationalism through control practices, not enlightenment. (similarity 0.81)
• Albanian tribal troops recognized Mehmed Ali only as first among equals. (similarity 0.81)
• Mehmed Ali’s officer corps spoke Turkish while common soldiers spoke Arabic. (similarity 0.81)

Broader Connections

• Mehmed Ali barred Arabic-speaking officers from high army and bureaucratic ranks #corroborates (0.85)
• Egyptian conscripts saw their own officers as the enemy rather than the Ottomans #expands (0.55) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1670
• Mehmed Ali’s army unwittingly fostered Egyptian nationalism by turning fellahs against their Turkish officers #expands (0.50) — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1371
• Albanian resistance and Sudan failures forced Mehmed Ali to conscript Egyptians #complicates (0.40)