It was the year 1798 in a France where the Directory ruled, that collegiate group that had ruled the country for four years and had been characterized by corruption, coups and insurrections that had greatly undermined its popularity. In this difficult environment, given the prevailing instability, a 28-year-old had to always have his horse saddled in case he had to flee in a hurry. He was very thin, had charisma and had been extremely successful in campaigns in Italy; that success had made him very popular, so much so that he alone had all the popularity that the Directory together could not have, which made him ambitious and with great dreams of glory. He himself had said on one occasion with reference to the Directory “that he should overthrow them and proclaim me king. But it’s not time yet. He would be alone”. His name from him? Napoleon Bonaparte.
That popularity made him an object of suspicion by the members of the Directory, who could not find a way to keep him away from circles where he could conspire and seize power. It was necessary to find something for him to entertain himself, and preferably as far away as possible.
Destination: Egypt
France was still surrounded by very powerful enemies who represented a danger to the Revolution, therefore it was necessary to undermine them so that the French State could continue to exist. The greatest threat was Great Britain, at that time the greatest power in the world. Several plans were presented to reduce Great Britain, including the invasion of the island, which Bonaparte rejected due to the great British naval superiority. However, an idea arose that seemed very far-fetched but made a lot of sense. This consisted of cutting off the supplies that he received from his colonies in India, materials that were very valuable given that having lost the thirteen colonies, his economy was severely weakened.
Napoleon thought that by conquering Egypt and Syria, which was then a colony of the Ottoman Empire, Great Britain would be strangled economically and in the process France could make Egypt its colony and from there expand the French dominions. The idea had the support of Talleyrand, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Directory, despite the riskiness of the plan due to British naval supremacy and because it controlled the Mediterranean. Thus, the executive body accepted the project, being the general assigned to the Napoleon mission.
It had an army of 40,000 men, more than fifty warships, 280 ships to transport troops, the best generals of the time such as Kléber, Desaix, Berthier, Lannes and Murat, as well as 154 scientists (some say that 167) whose objective was to bring the advances of the illustration to an almost medieval town and in the process carry out studies that would serve to increase the scientific heritage, make studies of the history of Egypt and the current situation in the country. Obviously these studies would result in prestige for the Corsican.
But what motivated Napoleon to embark on this project? Without a doubt, the prestige and fame that would result from it and that obviously helped his ambitions for power. It was clear that he did not want the popularity of the successes of the Italian campaign to decline. But there was also a kind of renaissance of oriental exoticism that was popularized by works like Constantine Volney’s Voyage into Egypt and Syria, published in 1794, and at the time the best reference source on Egypt. Bonaparte met Volney, surely before the trip, but he did not heed the warning given by him in the book where he said that “if the French dared to land there, Turks, Arabs and peasants would arm themselves against them. Fanaticism would take the place of skill and courage.”
Napoleon’s army departed on May 18, 1798 from the port of Toulon without knowing exactly where they were going, since it was first said that they were going to Sicily, where the Bourbons who were allies of Great Britain ruled. It was also said that they were going to Ireland, this being a ploy to mislead the British.
They stopped in Malta for a week, long enough for Napoleon to defeat the order of Saint John of Jerusalem and seize control of the island. But the corsican was not the only asset, since as soon as the British Admiral Horacio Nelson learned of the fall of Malta, he mobilized the fleet that was in Gibraltar to intercept the French, reaching Crete where he could not see them because it was at night. Nelson correctly guessed that the French destination was Alexandria and set off, but finding no trace of Napoleon decided only to patrol the eastern Mediterranean until he found him, which he failed to do. This was the reason why Napoleon without any mishap, albeit with rough seas, landed on July 1, 1798 in legendary Alexandria.
the difficult egypt
Although officially the Turks held that region, in reality the Mamluks were the real rulers. Their name means “white slave” and they were a caste of mercenary warriors established for centuries in the country and which sent annual tribute to the sultan in Istanbul, but who enjoyed total independence to govern the country as they pleased. They had divided the country into 24 regions and each of them was controlled by a bey; nine of them formed a Diwan.
The defense of the city was really very poor since it was only reduced to dilapidated walls, twenty Mamluk horsemen, five hundred Egyptian infantrymen and a couple of cannons, in addition to very little gunpowder. Despite the small size of the Mamluk defenses, this did not mean that there had been no small fights. General Menou received seven wounds trying to cross the walls, but in the end Napoleon took the city, where Bonaparte offered an agreed surrender and freed seven hundred Arab slaves who came from Malta. That attitude of the Corsican helped other towns, like Rosseta, surrender without a fight and even expel the hated Mamelukes from their regions.
Napoleon commissioned General Kléber to occupy the delta of the Nile River to protect the squadron that anchored in Abukir. Napoleon’s intention was to occupy Egypt as quickly as possible because he knew that the English would soon arrive; so he moved his troops to Cairo and small boats were used on the Nile to give logistical and artillery support to the troops. However, the trip was truly a via crucis. High temperatures, lack of water, and harassment from the Mamluks and Bedouins made the journey extremely difficult. A general would write to a friend: “I could never describe to you the horrible country we went to conquer.” The lack of water was such that some soldiers committed suicide because of it. In addition, in Cairo, the great religious authority of the country (the great mutfi) published a sentence in which he called on all true Muslims to fight the infidel invaders. This done, the villages were not kind to the Napoleonic troops.
On July 12, in Shubrakhit, 130 kilometers south of Cairo, the first major battle took place against the Mamluk leader Murad Bey, who, however, demonstrated the lack of capacity of the Mamluk troops against the highly disciplined French troops. of infantrymen who formed hedgehog squares with bayonets. The skilled Mamluk horsemen, with their carbines that shot at a gallop with some accuracy, their two pistols and the very sharp scimitars (which could cut a man in two) were not enough to stop the advance of the invader.
the battle of the pyramids
In this way Napoleon baptized that confrontation held on July 21 in Cairo before, once again, Murad Bey, who now had the support of his brother Ibrahim. The Mamluk troops numbered 40,000 men and were placed in a 15-kilometre crescent along the river, placing troops on both sides. Napoleon had 21,000 men whom he had divided into six divisions of about 3,000; 1,500 cavalry and a thousand artillery that had 40 pieces. The French divisions advanced in a line and far from the Mamluk range to later surpass the right flank and reach the Nile River and there, Murad Bey commanded to charge when he saw that the French troops were trying to cut his lines, but that maneuver was irresponsible since he charged more beyond the range of their own artillery. Napoleon then ordered his men to form squares on the ground like forts. The Mamluk troops charged again and again but without success, since the Napoleonic troops were highly disciplined, had better weapons and more experience in combat, contrary to the Mamluks who only had in their favor the excellence of their horsemen.
Ibrahim tried to reorganize his men but Desaix’s charge caused a rout. Murad fled with 3,000 to Giza and upper Egypt; His brother Ibrahim did the same but headed for Syria with 1,500 men. Thus, in a matter of hours, Napoleon had won. The success of the privateering consisted in how he accommodated his troops, since these were formed by mixing the formations of the Greek and Roman phalanxes and adapting them to the moment. In this way he went out of the conventional of the time and surprised the Mamelukes.
The story goes that Napoleon encouraged his men before the fight, with the pyramids in the background, with the following words: “From the top of these pyramids, forty centuries contemplate them.” In this way Napoleon broke with seven centuries of Mamluk power in Egypt.
the master of egypt
The Corsican entered Cairo and found a city of 250,000 inhabitants, chaotic and depressed. Narrow, dirty streets, its buildings were like dungeons, the shops were like stables and the air was full of dust and the stench of garbage. But Napoleon did what the Turks had not done in many centuries: significantly improve the city. He ordered the construction of hospitals, exterminated packs of dogs, organized the garbage collection system and introduced public lighting. Also, to win the sympathy of the Muslims he made a proclamation in which he praised Islamic precepts and even wore an Arab dress. He also enacted laws to end slavery, feudalism and thus preserve the rights of citizens (remember that the French revolution changed the status of people from subjects to citizens). It is noteworthy that in his proclamations a movable type printing press with Arabic characters was used that had been confiscated from the pope and was the first to be used in that country.
Despite this, the Egyptians did not look favorably on the French troops, whom they greatly distrusted because they saw them as an infidel occupying force that undermined Islamic traditions; That mistrust increased when he imposed a new property tax, carried out a census so that everyone would pay taxes, heavily fined those who did not respect the new urban standards for public lighting and cleanliness,…