Napoleon in Egypt: Battle of the Pyramids 1798

by Panzer
May 1798.
A massive French invasion force sails across the Mediterranean.
55,000 men, aboard more than 300 ships, escorted by 13 ships-of-the-line.
Aboard the most powerful of these - the 120-gun L’Orient - sails General Napoleon Bonaparte.
France’s celebrated hero of the war in Italy has received new orders from his government.
He is to lead an expeditionary force east, to Egypt… the wealthiest province of the
Ottoman Empire...
and to all educated Europeans, an ancient land of mystery and wonder.
After six years of war in Europe, the French Republic faces one last remaining enemy – Great
Britain.
The conquest of Egypt will strike a powerful blow against the British, disrupting their
trade in the Eastern Mediterranean, and threatening their connections to India and the east.
These profitable trade networks help fuel the British war effort.
What’s more, it will extend France’s revolutionary, civilizing mission to the people of Egypt,
liberating them from superstition and feudalism.
France’s corrupt and avaricious government, the Directory, sees two further benefits from
the campaign…
The opportunity to acquire tremendous riches…
And to get the alarmingly popular and ambitious General Bonaparte far away from Paris – where
plots and coups are never far from anyone’s mind.
Napoleon is thrilled by the expedition, which he has done much to promote and organize himself.
It is a chance to win fresh glory, and to walk in the footsteps of his heroes – Julius
Caesar, and Alexander the Great.
Like Alexander, Napoleon even has fanciful notions of marching on to India, to attack
the British there.
“Europe is a molehill” he had told his secretary, Bourrienne.
“We must set off for the Orient; that is where all the greatest glory has been achieved.”
But the Mediterranean is dangerous water for the French.
While the Republic’s armies have won great victories on land, Britain has cemented its
status as the dominant naval power of the age – with decisive victories over French
allies: the Spanish, at Cape Saint Vincent, and the Dutch, at Camperdown.
Rear Admiral Sir Horatio Nelson and his squadron of 14 ships-of-the-line now prowl the Mediterranean.
Nelson knows a large French fleet has just left Toulon, but does not know its destination,
which remains a closely-guarded secret.
Undetected, the French expedition sails south along the Italian coast.
On 9th June, it arrives off Malta.
The island is ruled by the Knights of Saint John – a religious military order dating
back to the Crusades.
But the French have decided that they want it for a naval base, and a thorn in the side