Page 82 - All About History - Issue 58-17
P. 82
EGYPT Egypt, 1798–1801
apoleon Bonaparte, still a general for Revolutionary France but with one eye on seizing
power, has invaded Egypt. His intention was to establish a colony and disrupt British trade Bring your own equipment.
with India. Unfortunately, the Egyptians have not thanked him for liberating their country AllofNapoleon’s scientific
Nfrom the Ottoman Empire instruments were on his ship
as he had hoped. In fact, they Le Patriote, which hit rocks off the
are instead resisting him quite ALEXANDRIA Alexandriacoastandsank4July1798.
vigorously. But since the British
Navy destroyed his fleet at Formasquare when
GIZA
Aboukir a few months ago, G SUEZ attacked. French infantry
he can’t retreat or expect any CAIRO are able to hold off repeated
reinforcements. This conquest cavalry charges using a square
is doomed to fail but will formation to protect their cannons
kick-start the serious study of and supplies.
the land of the pharaohs.
Fancying himself a modern- Bring flea powder. Bubonic
day Alexander the Great, plague is ravaging the French
Napoleon handpicked 150 troops in the city of Jaffa and
scientists, artists and engineers the disease is transmitted by flea bites.
— collectively known as ‘the
savants’ — to join his 55,000 Respect Islam. Napoleon
troops. Instructed to document claims he worships Allah
the ancient civilisation in “more than the Mamelukes do”
unprecedented details, their but this isn’t really fooling anybody —
heavily publicised results will FIG.01 least of all Murad Bey.
inspire a European fascination
with Egyptology. Be fooled by mirages. The
soldiers are often tricked by
illusions of distant lakes but
poleon’s mathematician, Gaspard
onge, has shown that they are actually
used by refraction.
Share French maps. The
charts created on this
expedition are so accurate that
e French government has classified
em as state secrets.
Panic when Napoleon leaves.
Although the Little Corporal
abandoned Egypt in favour of
izing power in France in 1799, the
itishwon’trecaptureEgyptuntil1801.
Stand too close to General
Kléber. On 14 June 1800, the
French commander will be
a bbed to death by a Syrian student,
d his chief engineer also wounded.
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