It has often been argued that it was during the first half of the nineteenth century and mostly by being allowed to carry weapons and to defend their own country that the fellahin of Egypt came to think of themselves as Egyptians first and foremost. Given the fact that most banners of Mehmed Ali’s battalions had his name on them, would it be more accurate to argue that this was the Pasha’s personal army fighting what were in essence his own wars and not those of “Egypt,” and that the men who fought in them conceived of it as such, i.e. as a personal not a national army?

QUESTION: The author challenges this argument, asking whether the army was a personal force serving Mehmed Ali rather than a national one fostering identity. XREF: Connects to loc 93 (army discipline manufactured rather than revealed national identity) and loc 1095 (nationalist historians overstate soldiers' willingness to die for Egypt). Builds on: "Ibrahim reconsidered universal conscription to preserve experienced soldiers."

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