Mehmed Ali's fascination with western models of reform, and French ones in particular, seems to be overstated. As obvious as it is that he was borrowing from the French, it is clear that he was equally influenced by the Ottomans who themselves had been borrowing from the French and adopting their models to suit their own needs. … Most important of these Ottoman attempts to create a disciplined army was Sultan Selim's new army, the nizam-i cedid.

XREF: Challenges the conventional European-centric framing seen throughout this book's treatment of reform, echoing the recurring critique of nationalist/historiographic distortion in loc 103 and loc 77. Builds on: "The sultan credited his rival for inspiring nizami army reform."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 410