Egyptian Campaign
Napoleon's Egyptian expedition of 1798-1799 was a bold strategic gambit to disrupt British trade routes to India by seizing Egypt and threatening the overland route to the East. The campaign opened brilliantly: Napoleon crushed the Mameluke cavalry at the Battle of the Pyramids in July 1798 and occupied Cairo. But Nelson's destruction of the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay) in August 1798 cut the army off from France. The subsequent Syrian campaign failed at the siege of Acre, and news of political crisis in France prompted Napoleon to abandon his army and return in secret in August 1799. Despite its ultimate failure, the campaign's scientific expedition produced the Description de l'Égypte and ignited Egyptomania across Europe, while Napoleon's return set the stage for the Brumaire coup.
- Year: 1798 CE
- Category: Military
