Battle of the Pyramids

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Battle of the Pyramids
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Battle of the Pyramids 1798.jpg
Battle of the Pyramids by Wojciech Kossak
Date July 21, 1798
Location Embabeh, near Cairo, Egypt
Result Decisive French victory
Combatants
France Mamluks
Commanders
Napoleon Bonaparte Murad Bey, Ibrahim Bey
Strength
25,000 men 50,000-75,000 men
Casualties
300 dead 4000-6000 dead or wounded
Battle of the Pyramids, Francois-Louis-Joseph Watteau, 1798-1799.

The Battle of the Pyramids was a battle fought on July 21, 1798 between the French army in Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte and local Mamluk forces. It was the battle where Bonaparte put into use one of his significant contributions to tactics, the massive divisional square.

Napoleon's Ibvasion of Egypt

Napoleon's invasion of Egypt was almost certainly intended to be a stepping stone for further imperial expansion in the East, perhaps with the intent of equalling the achievements of Alecander the Great. Exactly why Napoleon invaded Egypt, however, has been subject to speculation with his own account suggesting that it was for the glory:

If, when we conclude peace with England, we give up the Cape of Good Hope, we should take Egypt ... [turning to address the navy] without you we could only carry the glory of the French name to a small port of the Continent; with you, we shall cross the seas and out national glory shall be witnessed by the most distant shores (Johnston: 69).

When Napoleon left France for Egypt, too, he did not only take his troops but scholars and In July of 1798, Napoleon was marching from Alexandria toward Cairo after invading and capturing the former. He met two forces of the ruling Mamluks 15 kilometers from the Pyramids, and only 4 miles from Cairo. The Mamluke forces were commanded by Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey and had a powerful and highly developed cavalry.

The Battle of the Pyramids, Louis-François, Baron Lejeune, 1808.

Napoleon realized that the only Egyptian troops of any worth on the battlefield were the cavalry. He had little cavalry of his own and was outnumbered by a factor of two or three to one. He was thus forced to go on the defensive, and organized his army into hollow "squares" with artillery, cavalry and baggage at the center of each square, and so dispersed sustained charges of Mameluke cavalry with supporting artillery fire. He then stormed the Egyptian camp in the village of Embebeh, routing the disorganized Egyptian infantry and scattering their army.

The battle won Cairo and Lower Egypt for France. Upon hearing news of the defeat of their legendary cavalry, the waiting Mamluk armies in Cairo dispersed to Syria to reorganize. The Battle also signalled the final chapter of 700 years of Mamluk rule in Egypt. Despite this auspicious beginning, Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory in the Battle of the Nile ten days later ended Bonaparte's hopes for a glorious conquest of the Middle East.

See also

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Bierman, Irene A Napoleon in Egypt, Reading, UK \: Ithaca Press \; Los Angeles \: Gustave E. von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, 2003 ISBN 9780863722998
  • Jabartī, ʻAbd al-Raḥmān, Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne, and Edward W. Said. Napoleon in Egypt: Al-Jabartî's chronicle of the first seven months of the French occupation, 1798. Princeton: M. Wiener, 1993 ISBN 9781558760691
  • Johnston, R. M (ed) The Corsican: A Diary Of Napoleon's Life In His Own Words,
  • Lloyd, Christopher The Nile Campaign: Nelson and Napoleon in Egypt, Newton Abbot: David and Charles; New York: Barnes and Noble, 1973 ISBN 9780715354490
  • Strathern, Paul Napoleon in Egypt: a clash of cultures, London: Jonathan Cape, 2007 ISBN 9780224076814

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