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Napoleon's
quest for glory
From the ancient world to our modern world, Egypt has always been a synonym of fascination. During centuries, after Cleopatra's death, Egypt has been forgotten. The land had remained a desert full of mysteries. Tombs and pyramids were plundered, mummies were sold because they were supposed to increase sexual performances. Egypt was bleeding and loosing its precious heritage. The pyramids were still standing and looking at those foolish humans fighting at their feet.
Nobody could understand the meaning of all those beautiful and mysterious buildings, even the Egyptian couldn't understand the language of the pharaoh. After years of decade, in the name of the war, a man saved Egypt. Napoleon Bonaparte, the French emperor saw the interest to capture the land of pharaohs and led an expedition to achieve his goals.
The young French general Napoleon Bonaparte whose ambition seems to have no limit is crushing the enemies of the French directoire. His popularity is raising very fast and the directoire fears that his influence could be a danger for the power in place. They decide to send Napoleon in Egypt because only the East seems to be big enough to contain his ambitions. The English admiral Nelson is ruling in the Mediterranean sea, he knows what Napoleon is up to and is waiting for him, ready for the battle.
May, 9th, 1798 Napoleon gathers his troops in Marseilles. He is in command of 38000 crewmen and 167 scientists whose mission was to unveil Egypt's mysteries.
May 20th, 1798 The fleet leaves France and heads for Sardinia. Napoleon hasn't enough crewmen to manage correctly his fleet, his vessels are old and worn out.
June 9th, 1798 Napoleon conquers Malta on his way to Egypt. He nearly encountered Nelson but bad weather conditions gave him a chance to avoid the clash. Napoleon leaves 3000 crewmen in Malta.
June 14th, 1798 Napoleon leaves Malta and thanks to a thick mist, he avoids Nelson for the second time.
July 1st, 1798 Napoleon arrives at Alexandria, Egypt. He decides to leaves his ship and marches in direction of Cairo. Egypt is still in the hands of the Mameluks but they don't offer a significant resistance to Napoleon. The decisive battle between Napoleon and the Mameluks takes place in Murad Bey, 18 French were killed while 1600 Mameluks were slain, a glorious victory.
July 24th, 1798 Napoleon arrives in Cairo, he is now the master but he has left his boats in Alexandria... Nelson who had remained on the sea attacks the French fleet and destroys it completely. Napoleon is now the prisoner of his own conquest. He decides to implement an open policy in Cairo to avoid any riots. He allows the Muslims to worship their god. Unfortunately his policy didn't satisfy the Egyptians and a violent riot breaks out in Cairo. Napoleon's repression is bloody. While Napoleon is trying to rule Egypt, another expedition goes in the south of the land and begins to explore the abandoned temples.
The engineers make plans of the discovered buildings, artists make paintings while others try to discover the meaning of the forgotten hieroglyphs. Those expeditions will bring a new light on Egypt, this will be a resurrection for the land. Ships are bringing statues, obelisks, mummies and other treasures to France. In the meantime, England was trying to gather its force to conquer Egypt again. England makes an alliance with Russia, Austria, Italy and the Ottoman Empire to crush Napoleon in Egypt. They want to conquer Egypt from Palestine and Syria. Of course, Napoleon knew all about those plans. Instead of waiting for the English and their allies, Napoleon marches in direction of his enemies. Napoleon wins battles after battles until the plague appear in February 1799.
Napoleon's armies are weakened by the plague but Egypt remains in the hands of France. August 22nd, 1799 England and its allies are conquering Europe and Napoleon decides to go back to France to defend his country. On November 9th, Napoleon takes the power in France and becomes emperor. The French troops are also leading a successful campaign in Egypt but only for a short time because the English are gathering their forces to attack Egypt.
September 20th, 1801 France withdraws and Egypt falls in the hands of the English. All those endless battles had awakened a new passion for Egypt, scientist from all over Europe were going to Egypt to admire the land of pharaohs resurrected. Leading an expedition at that time was very difficult because there were no infrastructures, the land was merely a desert with sometimes a pyramid or a temple emerging from the eternal sands. After Champollion's discovery, Egypt became an open book for the world. The scientific world could at last read the fabulous story of that land. New expeditions were led to discover Egypt's secrets. 200 hundred year later, Egypt hasn't unveiled all its secret yet, there are still many things to discover but Egypt has to face serious economic problem and the demographic explosion is really a danger for the ancient land which is crumbling each day a bit more under the concrete of skyscrapers.
