Napoleon in Egypt: Siege of Acre 1799

reversing almost all of Napoleon's gains in Italy and now threatening the Republic with an invasion. This is no time for France's best general to be away from home, unable to influence events. The Homeland is in danger. Napoleon's next move is not in doubt. On the afternoon of August 23, Napoleon calmly boards a frigate near Alexandria, with a small entourage, including Berthier, Marmont, Lannes and Murat... and sets sail for France. He only leaves a brief proclamation for his army. "The news from Europe had decided me to go to France. I leave the command of the army to General Kléber.

The army will listen to me immediately; for the moment I cannot say anything more. It gives me great pain to leave the troops. to whom I have a lot attachment." General Kleber is not happy with his sudden promotion: "He has left us with his pants full of shit," he declares, "when we return to Europe, we will rub it in his face." The following summer he is stabbed in Cairo by a young Muslim. The remains of the French army surrender to the British in 1801. They are later repatriated by the British navy under a peace treaty. Egypt was a costly failure for France.

Her goals, which had always been vague and opportunistic, became impossible in the popular imagination after the destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir: for every act of gallant heroism or romantic legend, there was a moment of glory. Extraordinary brutality and terrible suffering left a positive legacy. Just before leaving for France, Napoleon was invited to inspect a stone slab that his troops had excavated from the ruins while building a fort near the town of Rosetta. The plaque, which dates from the 2nd century BC. C., had a royal decree inscribed. Exceptionally, the same text appeared in Demotic, Ancient Greek... and Egyptian hieroglyphs.

The French had to hand it over to the British according to their surrender conditions, which is why the 'Rosetta Stone' is now in the British Museum. Two decades after its rediscovery, the Stone turned out to be the key to unlocking the lost language of Egyptian hieroglyphics and revolutionizing the study of Ancient Egypt. This and other discoveries of the French "sages" gave rise to a completely new discipline: Egyptology, the study of Egypt's distant past, which continues to fascinate and surprise us to this day. Napoleon's voyage across the Mediterranean lasts 41 days and includes several encounters with the Royal Navy.

But his destiny was not to stumble again. Along the way, he makes one last visit to Corsica and his hometown... before heading to France... to take the next step in his surprising rise to power. Prejudice and misinformation are as old as history itself. In this video we have seen how Napoleon's enemies took advantage of his actions in Jaffa to portray him as a murderous demon. While French artists, as expected, chose to commemorate other parts of history. Today, with social media and online news, that number has increased to 11. That's why it's so important to get a variety of opinions when reading the news and be aware of all possible biases.

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