The Ottoman military had spent years in an internal struggle that obstructed reform and weakened both army and navy. Janissary resistance helped depose Selim III, and Mahmud II did not destroy the corps until 1826. The sultan therefore depended on Muhammad Ali's comparatively capable, French-trained Egyptian forces during the Greek war. When promised Syrian and Cretan rewards were withheld, that wartime dependence helped turn into the Egyptian-Ottoman conflict of the 1830s.
Chapter · 55:02-59:31
The Janissary crisis left the sultan dependent on Egypt
Failed reform, Janissary resistance, and the 1826 abolition of the corps explain why Egyptian forces carried so much of the Ottoman war effort.