The Ottomans deliberately kept European officers subordinate and low-paid in their new army
Evidence
Furthermore, when the Sultan decided to seek the assistance of Europeans in helping him create his new Mansure army, these were employed only as advisors or instructors and none of them was allowed to assume posts even half as important as that of Süleyman Pasha in Egypt. Whether because of religious reasons, or the sense of pride and jealousy with which the Ottomans regarded their military past, when Europeans were employed in Sultan Mahmud’s new army every effort was made to ensure, as an official directive put it, that “foreign officers will not gain influence and independence. Thus they shall have authority only in matters of training, and in all matters of command, discipline, and the like they shall operate only through … Ottoman officers.” This inferior position of the Europeans who were employed in the new army was also reflected in the low salaries that they were paid: whereas Süleyman Pasha was said to receive a monthly salary of 17,500 piasters, his compatriot, Gaillard, who was Sultan Mahmud’s chief infantry instructor, received less than one-tenth that amount. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1382
Categorization
- XREF: Contrasts directly with Süleyman Pasha’s rise in Egypt, key to the reader’s question about how Egypt surpassed the Ottomans militarily.