One of the main arguments that nationalist historians have put forward to prove that the army was indeed a national army in spite of the Turkish ethnicity of its founder is that of how different his son was in this respect. Ibrahim, it is alleged, was closer to his Egyptian soldiers and never identified himself as an Ottoman. Be that as it may, what this chapter has argued is that Ibrahim had no doubt in his mind regarding the nature of the wars that his army was fighting. As far as he was concerned these were wars that he waged in the name of his father and for the sake of his family.

XREF: Builds on earlier claims about Ibrahim's pragmatic loyalties (loc 917: preferred speed over French standards; loc 926: prized loyalty over competence) and counters the nationalist historians' framing at loc 1095. Pays off: "Nationalist historians overstate soldiers' willingness to die for "Egypt.""

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1306