It was then that the Pasha thought for the first time of conscripting the natives of Egypt in order to relieve his Turkish soldiers from this task. … It is obvious that we are sending troops under the command of our children to the Sudan so as to fetch us blacks to use in the affair of the Hijaz [campaign] and other similar services . . . However, since the Turks are members of our race, and since they must remain close to us all the time and should be saved from being sent to these remote areas, it has become necessary to gather a number of soldiers from Upper Egypt.

XREF: Connects to earlier claims about Egyptian peasants resisting conscription and the ethnic divide between Ottoman officers and Egyptian soldiers, revealing why the Pasha diversified recruitment sources. Builds on: "Armies mirror their society's class structure internally."

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