cbr18bingo Maps
cbr18bingo – Maps
I know far more about Napoleon’s later career than his earlier one, so this was pretty much all news to me. Seems that after his initial successes in various battles in the Italian states, the French government decided that he was just the man to tackle a challenge that they had had their eye on for some time, obtaining access to India via the east end of the Mediterranean. Some sort of short cut through Egypt seemed just the thing. So Napoleon and a small fleet were dispatched to Alexandria to take of that.
Just after they set off, however, Admiral Nelson of the British Navy set off in pursuit, effectively blocking the harbor at Alexandria. They were on their own. So. Bonaparte thus decided to take his army down to Cairo and conquer it, which ended up being a very nebulous idea. Egypt was at this time part of the Ottoman Turkish Empire, and had been so for a few hundred years. The Ottoman Empire had survived as long as it had by putting very few constraints on its subject nations. They could keep their royal families, their religions, and as long as they sent in their taxes, the Empire didn’t really care what else they did. So conquering this piece of the empire called Egypt for France really wasn’t in the books, Napoleon soon came to discover. And to take over enough land to make a route to the Suez really wasn’t going to happen. But there was no going home at this point with the mouth of the Nile blocked and being surrounded by impassible (at least to the French) deserts. It was botched from the start, and Napoleon only managed to escape ignobly with a few troops at the end, leaving Egypt very much unconquered.
Cole does a good job of covering the many players in this multinational affair, as well as mentioning entertaining tidbits. For example, Napoleon soon realized that if they were going to be here awhile, there were two things his army needed – wine and bread. Wasn’t much he could do about the former, but he had brought along numerous bakers. The enemy, however, were no fools, and quickly learned to take them out first thing.
One thing about this book puzzles me, however. There is a lovely map at the front of the book showing the course of the Nile River all the way down to Aswan (as in the Dam) but Napoleon never went past Cairo, way up at the top. Why do you tease me so, Cole?
