Syria’s wealth and shared language worsened Egyptian army discipline problems

Evidence

Although this problem of the uncontrolled mingling of the soldiers with the civilian population at large was encountered by the military authorities in various lands that Mehmed Ali’s army fought in, it was particularly noticeable in Syria. Unlike the barren deserts of Arabia or the Sudan, Syria was a rich province dotted with big towns and cities offering all kinds of attractions for the soldiers to leave the camps and have a taste of the civilian life they must have missed. And unlike Morea or the Mediterranean islands that Mehmed Ali sent troops to, Syria was also an Arabic-speaking province, a fact that allowed the soldiers to mix with the local population for all the reasons mentioned above. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1174

Categorization

• XREF: Directly serves the reader’s stated goal of understanding the Egyptian army’s actual performance and why Syria was the hard theater.