Nationalist historiography attributes Egyptian failures to British conspiracy

Evidence

Having assumed that the army taught those innocent and naive peasants the essential truths of the nation, its unadulterated personality and their umbilical attachment to it, the nationalist argument proceeds with a second assumption, namely, that any problems that this army faced were not the result of “any shortcomings on the part of Egyptians,” but were due to “external” malice and conspiracy. In this sense, the failure of Mehmed Ali’s entire “experiment” and not only his military establishment, was the result of British machinations aimed at frustrating the Egyptian nation’s attempts at development, independence and dignity. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 89