| Edition |
Bantam hardcover edition. |
| Description |
480 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 24 cm |
| Note |
Originally published : London : Jonathan Cape, 2007. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references (pages [429]-460) and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue: The song of departure -- The origins of the Egyptian campaign -- "The liberator of Italy" -- The cream of France -- Outward bound -- "A conquest which will change the world" -- The march on Cairo -- The battle of the Pyramids -- Cairo -- "Josephine!...and I am 600 leagues away!" -- The battle of the Nile -- "We are now obliged to accomplish great things" -- The Institute of Egypt -- Life in exile -- The perils of diplomacy -- Insurrection -- Love and dreams -- A Suez adventure -- Pursuit into upper Egypt -- Into the unknown -- A turn for the worse -- The Syrian campaign -- The siege of Acre -- The battle of Mount Tabor -- "That man made me lose my destiny" -- The retreat from Acre -- Sensational discoveries -- The decision of a lifetime -- An abandoned army -- Aftermath. |
| Summary |
Details Napoleon's dramatic invasion of Egypt in 1798, the first attack on a Middle-Eastern country by a Western power in modern times. With 335 ships and 40,000 men, it was the largest long-distance seaborne force the world had ever seen. But Napoleon's assault was intended to be much more than a colonial adventure, for he took with him over one hundred and fifty scientists, mathematicians, artists, and writers - a "Legion of Culture" - with a view to bringing Western civilization to "backward" Egypt. Drawing upon newly uncovered diaries and papers, this is a portrait of Napoleon, the colorful members of his expedition, and this bold gamble. Napoleon was just twenty-eight when he invaded Egypt, and it was an episode which contained in embryo many seminal events in his later life. Epic military victories, his declaration of himself as emperor, the introduction of the Napoleonic code - all of these were foreshadowed in this brilliant, ambitious, and ultimately disastrous adventure. |
| Subject |
Egypt -- History -- French occupation, 1798-1801.
|
|
Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821.
|
|
Civilization -- Egyptian influences.
|
|
France -- History -- 1789-1815.
|
| ISBN |
9780553806786 |
|
0553806785 |
|
