This chapter has attempted to uncover the factors that prompted Mehmed Ali to conscript the male population of Egypt and has shown that the Pasha did not originally intend to press them into military service but was forced to do so only after his Albanians troops resisted his efforts at imposing discipline and after he failed to raise troops from the Sudan in any efficient way.

Builds on: "Universal conscription was Mehmed Ali's last resort, not initial plan."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 489