Gone were the days when an Ottoman vali or a Mamluk emir could issue an order or declare a wish and be practically ignored, cannily evaded, or met by cold indifference and a calculated lack of interest on the part of the population. Conscription was to transform the face of Egyptian society and to drastically alter the relationship between the government and the populace.

Builds on: "Conscripting peasant farmers threatened Egypt's agricultural labor supply."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 464