This sharp stratification was even more apparent in the case of Mehmed Ali's army than with most other contemporary armies since the officer corps was ethnically and linguistically different from the overwhelming majority of the soldiery. Studying the internal relationship between soldiers and officers within that army, therefore, allows us to see how a representative proportion of the masses dealt with members of the elite and how these conflictual boundaries between the Turkish-speaking elite and the Arabic-speaking lower classes were constantly fought and challenged.

XREF: Connects to the earlier claim that armies mirror society's class structure internally (loc 118) — this highlight unpacks how that internal mirroring in Mehmed Ali's army specifically ran along ethnic-linguistic lines. Builds on: "Armies mirror their society's class structure internally."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 118