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Napoleon's Campaign In Egypt

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Napoleon Bonaparte was a French military and political leader who significantly influenced European history. Born in Corisca on August 15th 1769, Napoleon first rose to prominence as a general in the French Revolution (Hutt, 4). With his “strength of will, character, application, and daring” (Napoleon) characteristics, Captain Bonaparte made a name for himself. Staging a coup d’etat in late 1799, Napoleon managed to install himself as First Consul and within three years, as Consul for life (Hutt, 3-4). Ultimately, Napoleon’s military background and cunning character led him to become a self-crowned emperor of France beginning in 1804(Dziewanowski, 90). Under Napoleon’s new military dictatorship, many of the French Revolution’s reforms …show more content…

However, of the scholars and civilians amongst Napoleon’s expeditionary force many managed to greatly influence modern understanding of Egyptian culture and language, marking a great historical achievement. Enough information and knowledge was collected during Napoleon’s campaign by his collection of scholars and artists to complete generations of encyclopedias (Rosensweig, 1).
With his troops at hand, Napoleon set out for Egypt hoping to undermine Britain’s access to India while gaining more land and extensive knowledge. On his way to Egypt, Napoleon conquered Malta and left approximately 3000 of his crewman there (Hutt, 27). After departing from Malta, Napoleon arrived on the coast of Alexandria on July 1st and encountered his first battle on Egyptian soil against the Mamelukes, fearsome warriors that ruled Egypt in the name of the Turkish sultan (Hutt, 28). Within a day, Napoleon’s forces managed to conquer the opposing army with its outstanding military tactics. Napoleon organized his infantry within small hollow square formations that faced four directions, allowing his army to repel attacks coming from either side (Dziewanowski, 91). This tactic and Napoleon’s military leadership helped the French army to defeat this much larger army. However, the celebration of victory was not long lasted as the British Royal Navy captured all but two of

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