Ottoman military reform failure explains Ibrahim’s victories more than Egyptian strength.

Evidence

By comparing the performance of Mehmed Ali’s army to those of Napoleon and Sultan Mahmud II it is possible to come up with suggestions as to how the Pasha’s army was capable of accomplishing these spectacular victories in spite of the fact that its soldiers were drafted into it against their wishes and used every means at their disposal to resist it. While to argue, as most contemporary observers did, that “the Turkish defeat in the conflict with Muhammed Ali [was due] primarily to the inadequacies of the Ottoman military leadership” might be to stress the point too forcibly, it remains true that Ottoman incompetence and timid military reform contributed significantly to Ibrahim’s victories, and that had the Ottomans been more successful in managing their own armies, Ibrahim Pasha’s career and, indeed, that of his father would seem much less impressive. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1391

Categorization

• QUESTION: Promises a comparison of Mehmed Ali’s army to Napoleon’s and Sultan Mahmud II’s armies - worth chasing where that comparison lands.