The characterization of an army as a national institution, however, cannot be done solely by analyzing the sentiments and personality of its commander-in-chief, as crucial as these surely are. No matter how "liberal" or "enlightened" one wishes to judge Ibrahim, the performance of the army was much more influenced by the composition of the officer corps and by the problematic relationship that existed between officers and their men. Naturally, any army is bound to have serious problems between the officers issuing the commands and the men doing all the dirty work, problems that emanate from the social and economic backgrounds of both groups. Yet, in addition to these problems, Mehmed Ali's army also had an important point of tension that had its origins in the ethnic and linguistic differences between officers and soldiers.

XREF: Builds on loc 1184 and loc 1306 claims about officer-soldier ethnic divides and the ethnic Turkish officer dominance fueling Arab fellahin revolt. Builds on: "Ibrahim reconsidered universal conscription to preserve experienced soldiers."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1323