Official army blueprints reveal little about actual daily functioning

Evidence

This chapter takes as its starting point these unexpected moments in the performance of a machine-like structure like that of Mehmed Ali’s army. It seeks to go beyond the veneer of orderly spectacles that often characterized the army to see how it was actually functioning, as opposed to how it was supposed to function. The main question that this chapter attempts to answer is the following: how faithfully did the daily workings of that army approach the blueprints that were regularly issued to guide it and organize its functioning? Using the training manuals, penal codes and military laws that were reviewed in the last chapter can be a good way to write the institutional history of Mehmed Ali’s army. They can also be useful in writing the history of mentalities, the aims and goals of those who were structuring it. However, they offer little insight into how this institution actually worked and how it was received by the society into which it was introduced. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 909

Categorization

• DEFINE: Methodological framing distinguishing institutional blueprint-history from actual-performance history of the army.