The Egyptian army replaced names with numbers to control soldiers

Evidence

For this strict regime of control to succeed the soldiers had first to be “fixed” in positions assigned to them. This was done through a number of techniques. First the soldiers were each given a number by which they were identified. It was not enough simply to register the names and physical descriptions of the soldiers in every regiment to be able to control them; each soldier came to be identified by a number he was given, i.e. the place he occupied in the bigger unit. … When a woman merchant complained that a certain officer did not repay her money he had previously borrowed from her, it was not enough to refer to the officer in question by name; but she also had to give his number in his military/administrative unit: the first captain of the 4th Battalion of the 10th Regiment. Similarly, identifying the dead had to be done by referring to the specific regiment and even battalion of the dead soldier; his name was not enough for that purpose. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 711

Categorization

• CANDY: The woman merchant who had to file her complaint against ‘the first captain of the 4th Battalion of the 10th Regiment’ is a vivid small detail — a creditor reduced to bureaucratic designation to reclaim her loan.