A Brief History of the French in Egypt

The late 1700’s was a tumultuous time for world politics.  The French were particularly unhappy perhaps due to the significant loss of colonies they experienced during the seven-year war. 

In 1798, a group American stragglers from Italy emerged in Cadiz promptly informing British warships who were blockading the Spanish there of what was happening in the French coastal city of Toulon. The port, they said, was bristling with preparations for a massive French military expedition. Fearing that the target would be Ireland, (then in revolt against the English) the Royal Navy decided to send a young rear admiral, Horatio Nelson,  at the head of three 74-gun line-of-battle ships to investigate. It soon became apparent that Napoleons object was Egypt.

Historians aren't sure why Napoleon insisted on conquering Egypt. The ostensible aims were to take control of the Indian Empire from the hands of the British. Napoleons own memoirs list the reason solely as "glory".

Nelson set sail for Alexandria, convinced the French were before him, though in fact they had fallen back to the island of Malta. When on June 22nd his lookouts spied sails behind him, Nelson chose to ignore them, so firmly did he believe that he was behind the French. These were later confirmed to have been the ships he was seeking. When he arrived at Alexandria on June 28th and found no sight of the French, he left hastily and in disgust, moving up the coast to Palestine.

In July 1798, after a rough six-week trip, nearly 400 transport ships lead by Napoleon, landed some 34,000 French troops near Alexandria. Along with the soldiers came nearly 1,000 civilians, who were to have lasting effect on history. The civilians consisted mainly of administrators, but also included artists and poets, botanists and zoologists, surveyors and economists.

On July 21, 1798, Napoleon's army met Egyptian forces 15 kilometers north of the Pyramids at Giza and scored a decisive victory. Learning of the French victory in Alexandria and the move of  Napoleon to Cairo Nelson again sailed for Egypt. Finding the French fleet anchored in the Nile he struck under the cover of darkness.

The Battle of the Nile was one of the most decisive naval battles to ever have been played out -- in one night it altered the course of world history, denying Napoleon his Eastern Empire, and crippling him at sea. For its victors, the British under Admiral Nelson, it was also a textbook example of daring inventiveness, unconventional warfare, and the power of individual initiative. Not a single British vessel was lost, and only 218 British were killed. The French losses were estimated at around 1,700 lives. More than 3,000 prisoners were taken.

On August 23, 1799, Napoleon abandoned his army in Egypt, and slipped off with a small crew on a swift vessel to France. Upon arrival, he took advantage of political turmoil to stage a coup d'etat, ultimately crowning himself Emperor. His army in Egypt fared less well. Their numbers steadily dwindled through lack of supplies and illness. By the time they surrendered to the British, one man out of every three had died.

The real winners of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign were the artists, historians and other savants who accompanied him, and carried back numerous treasures (including the Rosetta Stone, inscribed in both Greek and hieroglyphics, which would later enable linguists to decipher the hieroglyphs). Astounded by the depth of Egypt's previously unknown splendors, they opened the eyes of France and the West to the mysteries of that country. So enchanted were the French by their role in the 'conquest' of Egypt, as Napoleon succeeded in convincing them, that for a century French art and culture would continue to glorify it.

Leading up to the French surrender the city of Cairo was surrounded by the British, Turks and their allies, communication with the outside world was impossible and the people were afraid they might starve.  Upon the French surrender the British re-established the Turks as the ruler of Egypt.  One of the most powerful was Muhammad, an Albanian born in the same year as Napoleon.

Mohammed Ali soon made himself pasha of Egypt with some help from his Albanian troops and he was reluctantly acknowledged the ruler of an independent state within the Ottoman Empire. He would rule Egypt for forty-three years, in which most of the years Egypt would be his private estate and Cairo would be his private city.

Muhammad Ali courted both the French and English and Egypt became a wealthy trading port and grower of cotton.  During this period Muhammad and his sons who followed him borrowed heavily from French banks, even to build the Suez canal.

By the time the canal was opened, Ismail, Mohammed Ali's grandson was ruling Egypt.  Ismail's aim was to turn Cairo into "Paris on the Nile". Fueled by lavish spending Cairo become one of the worlds most advanced and beautiful cities. Gas was brought to Cairo by Ismail in 1870 which was, in turn, replaced in 1898 with electricity. (Cairo one of the earliest cities in the world to use electricity). However, the money came from heavy taxation of everyone and everything and large loans from Europe. Egypt was in such debt that Ismail had to sell his shares of the Suez Canal to the British for four million pounds. This only provided short relief and eventually he was forced to abdicate.