... to modernize the Egyptian army. Prior to his rule, the military had been an unorganized, divided fighting-force, similar to that of the Ottoman Empire. Muhammad Ali consolidated power and directly began to organize the military. However, he noticed that it was too small of a force to accomplish any significant victories. For this reason, Muhammad used his invasion of the vast Sudanese lands to conscript Sudanese people into his army. However, these people could not adapt to Egypt, and thus Muhammad was forced to look for an alternative source for soldiers. In a European-type move, Muhammad took drastic steps the area had not witnessed before; he began to conscript Egyptian peasants into the army. Unemployed French commanders from the Napoleon era were then brought in to train these soldiers, and when he was finished, Muhammad Ali had an army of over 100,000 well-trained men. They were equipped with advanced weapons, ...

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