Small disciplined Ottoman regular units outperformed far larger irregular forces

Evidence

It ought to be generally known that, whilst many thousands of our undisciplined forces were unable to obtain the least advantage in the war they waged in Alexandria and Cairo against the reprobates of France, our gunners and regular infantry, although few in number, bravely combated the infidels and defeated them incessantly; and the flight of a single individual of that corps was never seen nor heard of. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 427

Categorization

• XREF: The discipline-versus-numbers claim prefigures the standard argument used for nineteenth-century military regularization, echoed in Mehmed Ali’s own rationale.