If the comparison between the two armies shows that in both of them the distance was great between the poor, oppressed soldiers and their alien, impersonal despot, there is, however, a crucial difference between the two armies. This concerned the type of people who lay between the soldiers and their distant sovereign, viz. the officers. Napoleon was successful in bringing together members of the old nobility and the new, rising bourgeoisie and in making a more-or-less homogenous officer corps that was loyal to his person.

XREF: Contrasts with Mehmed Ali's army at loc 1306 and 1323, which remained ethnically segregated by Turkish officers. Builds on: "The army's character derives from officer-corps composition, not its commander."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1366