Mehmed Ali’s wars aimed at dynastic ambition, not Egyptian national liberation.

Evidence

The wars that the Pasha fought, and in particular those that were waged against the Ottoman Sultan, could not therefore be viewed as wars of national independence, aimed at liberating the Egyptians from the “Turkish yoke,” nor could they be compared to those that the Greeks fought against the Sultan. Not only would the thousands of fellahin who made up the bulk of his fighting force have found this claim difficult to believe, but also the Pasha himself could think of these wars only along dynastic lines. He repeatedly said that what he was seeking to do was to foil the intrigues directed against “our family,” and hoped for nothing more than to “strengthen the foundations of my dynasty,” and to “carve a place for my family and my dynasty’s families in history to be remembered in four or five centuries’ time.” — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1552

Categorization

• XREF: Reverses modern Egyptian nationalist framing of Mehmed Ali that appears in standard school textbooks and much nationalist historiography.