Battle of the Pyramids
On 21 July 1798, Napoleon's Army of Egypt — some 25,000 men — confronted the Mamluk cavalry of Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey on the west bank of the Nile near the village of Embaba, with the pyramids of Giza visible on the horizon. The Mamluks were formidable horsemen but had no answer to French divisional squares: each division formed a square six ranks deep with artillery at the corners and cavalry and baggage in the centre. Repeated charges by Mamluk horsemen armed with pistols and scimitars were repulsed with musket volleys and canister fire at virtually no cost to the French. Napoleon reportedly told his troops before the battle: 'Soldiers, forty centuries look down upon you.' Whether he said it or not, the phrase captured the expedition's self-conscious theatricality. Murad Bey escaped into Upper Egypt with the remnants of his force, while Ibrahim Bey fled across the Nile toward Syria. Napoleon entered Cairo the following day. The battle ended Mamluk military power in Egypt, though Mamluk political resistance continued until Muhammad Ali's massacre of 1811.
- Year: 1798 CE
- Category: Military
