The Rise of Napoleon: Italy and Egypt
The mighty Napoleon defends the French Republic.
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The French Republic was in mortal danger. Externally threatened by Europe, internally by the counter-revolution within her borders. Only one man could save France: his name was Napoleon Bonaparte.
Through his invasions of Italy and Egypt, Napoleon went on the offensive. He defeated the Austrians at every corner, looting Italy of its priceless artworks. Journeying into the Middle East, the great Bonaparte unlocked the secrets of one of humanity’s most ancient civilizations: Egypt.
Under the shadow of Egypt’s great pyramids, the Turks fell to the mighty Frenchman. But not before the British could inflict a fatal blow to France’s navy in the Nile. Science and art blossomed under Napoleon’s enlightened rule in Cairo. Marrying East and West, it was the birth of Oriental studies—a legacy we are still discussing in the post-colonial era.
As war loomed with Europe, Napoleon seized dictatorial powers in France. Now First Consul, he successfully conquered France’s foes at the glorious Battle of Marengo. The Second Coalition was crushed. Peace was restored, but not for long.
Fall of Robespierre
Back in Paris, the Jacobins imposed a Reign of Terror from 1793 to 1794. Over 16,000 people were executed on charges of being a counter-revolutionary. But an insurrection overthrew Robespierre’s government in the summer of 1794. The coup was called the Thermidorian Reaction, named after the month of the French Revolution’s new calendar.
Just days after Robespierre’s fall, Bonaparte left Paris for a diplomatic mission to Genoa. But due to his connections to the disgraced Robespierre brothers, Napoleon now found himself in danger. He was arrested in his home at Nice, in southern France. Narrowly escaping execution, he was released from jail in August of 1794.
Now free, Napoleon embarked on an expedition into his homeland of Corsica in March of 1795. But his French fleet, consisting of fifteen ships and 17,000 men, were scattered by the ferocious British Navy. Worse still, Bonaparte struggled to find any postings in Italy, the war’s most important theater.
Despite internal tensions, the French Republic made several significant gains in its foreign wars. The French successfully inspired a democratic revolution in the Austrian Netherlands, where the Dutch proclaimed the Batavian Republic. The French Army also advanced into Prussia’s territories, in what is now western Germany. They gained control of the West Bank of the Rhine.
With these French victories, the European powers signed the Peace of Basel. By the end of 1795, Prussia, Spain, and Holland had all been knocked out of the First Coalition.
“Whiff of grapeshot”
Civil war broke out in the month of Vendéimaire, running from September to October. Royalists and Catholics opposed democracy in France. Led by General Jacques-François Menou, the French government fought against the counterrevolutionaries. But Menou was ineffective, and this led to Bonaparte’s ascent within the Republican Army.
It was October 5, 1795. Napoleon arrived at the Tuileries Palace. He was given command of the army by the French politician Paul Barras.
By this time, as many as 25,000 royalists descended upon Paris. To oppose them, Napoleon gathered about 5,000 troops who were loyal to the Revolution. Napoleon ordered dozens of cannons be brought from Neuilly to the Tuileries. As the royalists marched on the Tuileries, Napoleon ordered his men to open fire.
This became Napoleon’s famous “whiff of grapeshot,” although the term itself comes from a later Scottish historian named Thomas Carlyle. By early morning, hundreds of royalists lay dead around the Tuileries Palace. The rest were scattered and hunted down throughout Paris.
Having defeated the Revolution’s enemies, Napoleon Bonaparte became a celebrated hero. Despite his earlier association with the Jacobins, his reputation was now redeemed in France.
Adopting a new constitution, France came under a new government, called the Directory, which ruled until 1799. Through his friend Barras, Bonaparte kept close ties to the government in Paris for the next several years.
Napoleon, the lover
Napoleon fell in love with Désirée Clary. She was the sister of Julie Clary, the wife of Napoleon’s brother Joseph. But it was a long-distance romance, which did not last. Napoleon himself was sadden by this. He wrote a semi-autobiographical novella about his failed romance, called Clisson et Eugénie.
Bonaparte then fell in love with Joséphine Beauharnais, the daughter of a wealthy French sugarcane planter, whose fortunes came from their Caribbean plantation on the island of Martinique.
Joséphine was an odd choice for Napoleon. At age 32, she was six years older than him. She also had two children from a previous marriage. Her first husband was Alexandre de Beauharnais, who was executed during the Reign of Terror. She first fell in love in Paul Barras, before being smitten by Bonaparte. The love-stricken Napoleon married his woman in 1796.
The Bonapartes were shocked by Napoleon’s choice of bride. Over the years, Napoleon and Joséphine would suffer from a strained marriage, with both of them engaging in infidelities.
Fun facts
Napoleon was a lifelong believer in fate and destiny. He picked out lucky stars from the sky. He hated cats, due to their medieval association with witchcraft. He was deeply uncomfortable with doors that were left wide open.
Bonaparte only slept for about three or four hours a night. His diet was very simple, usually just chicken or onions, which he hastily devoured in fifteen or twenty minutes. But Napoleon did enjoy one luxury: his long baths, which eased his painful skin infection and hemorrhoids.
Italian Campaign (1796-97)
In spring of 1796, Napoleon went on his Italian campaign to fight the Austrians and their allies. It was his first true senior command of a major army. Austria enjoyed support from smaller Italian cities, such as Venice, Tuscany, and the Papal States.
The French army in Italy was suffering from poor supplies, nepotism, and incompetence. But when Bonaparte arrived, he quickly modernized the French forces. Using money from Jewish financiers in Genoa, Napoleon invested in new military equipment. He reorganized his divisions, which eliminated social distinctions between officers. He also fired a number of incompetent commanders, replacing them with his own lieutenants.
The larger-than-life charisma of Napoleon won over the demoralized French army. “He is not a machine that must be made to move,” the great general once observed of his troops. “He is a reasonable being who needs leadership.”
No detail escaped Napoleon’s attention. He ordered thousands of pairs of shoes for his men. He ensured the plentiful supply of bread. Logistics were still a new field in Europe, and Napoleon’s micro-managing was the key to his meteoric success. Napoleon’s success also came from his retinue of France’s finest men. Louis-Alexandre Berthier was his chief-of-staff and military engineer. Joachim Murat accompanied Napoleon to Italy as his aide-de-camp. Unlike most generals, Napoleon did not wait around to hear back from his government. He operated independently of Paris, but the Directory could hardly argue with his good results.
Using his quick-moving cavalry, Napoleon and his French forces harassed the numerically superior Austrians across northern Italy. In lightning succession, Bonaparte defeated the Piedmontese at the Battles of Montenotte and Mondovi. Realizing Napoleon’s superior genius, King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia quickly sued for peace.
Napoleon advanced further into the Plain of Lombardy, in the early summer of 1796. He moved in toward Milan, defeating the Austrians at the fateful Battle of Lodi. This allowed the French forces to overwhelm the Duchy of Milan, which had been in Austrian hands for a century. Bonaparte continued his rampage across northern Italy, killing several thousand Austrians.
By February of 1797, the great Bonaparte had completely conquered northern Italy. He reorganized it into the Cisapline Republic, with a new capital at Milan. Marching on Rome itself, the mighty Napoleon forced Pope Pius VI to accept France’s peace terms. The French brought home priceless artworks from Italy, such as those of Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Titian.
After Italy, Napoleon advanced toward Vienna, forcing the Austrians to surrender. The Treaty of Campo Formio was signed in October. France now controlled Europe west of the Rhine. It was a stunning victory for France!
Egyptian Campaign (1798-99)
Just like Alexander the Great, Napoleon sought to establish his legacy as a mighty conqueror. In the spring of 1798, Bonaparte convinced the French Directory to endorse a campaign into Egypt. This was done to cut off British access to its colony of India. France was a peer competitor against the British Empire. For at least two decades, the French sought to establish a link between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean. Now, Napoleon aimed to make this dream a reality!
The Ottoman Empire, based out of what is now Turkey, had once stretched across the Balkans, North Africa, the Levant and Middle East, the Caucasus, and the northern shores of the Black Sea. But over the 18th century, Europe had outcompeted the Ottomans in terms of science, technology, and military. Egypt was nominally part of the Ottoman Empire. By invading Egypt, Napoleon hoped to style himself as a liberator against the Ottomans.
Revolutionary France organized the Army of the Orient, and set sail for Egypt. The expedition consisted of 40,000 French troops and about 10,000 mariners. Several hundred ships carried men, horses, and wartime supplies. Sneaking past the British Royal Navy, the French fleet moved into the Mediterranean. It was protected by a sparse force of about two dozen battleships and frigates. But news of Napoleon’s expedition reached the ears of British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who set out to destroy the French fleet.
Napoleon’s Egyptian expedition began with a brief stop at Corsica. From there, he continued to the island of Malta, under the thumb of a medieval military order known as the Knights of Saint John. Having occupying Malta, Napoleon hurriedly continued toward the Nile, which he captured. Spreading across the northern coast of Egypt, Napoleon and his men prepared to advance south toward Cairo.
Battle of the Pyramids
Napoleon found himself confronted by the two Mamluk rulers of Egypt. The French Army of the Orient clashed against the Turks at the Battle of the Pyramids. “From the top of those pyramids, forty centuries are contemplating you,” Napoleon told his men before battle. But the Mamluks stood no chance against modern French rifles and cannons. Having vanquished the Turks, Napoleon marched triumphantly into Cairo. Egypt was now under his rule.
Battle of the Nile
But unfortunately for our French hero, the British caught up to Bonaparte. British Admiral Nelson and his Mediterranean armada led a surprise assault on Napoleon’s fleet, stationed in Aboukir Bay. Known as the Battle of the Nile, it took place over three days in August of 1798. The French were completely caught off guard. Within a few hours, several French ships were sunk, including the flagship Orient. Nine French ships were captured. Only two ships and two frigates escaped the bloodbath.
Egyptology
With his fleet destroyed, Napoleon was stuck in Egypt. Now cut off completely from France, Bonaparte had to adapt himself. He consolidated control in Cairo, and ruled over Egypt. Egypt benefited greatly from French science, technology, and liberal values. Taxes were reformed. Newspapers freely circulated around Cairo for the first time.
Napoleon was deeply fascinated by Egypt’s culture. His expedition became the birth of modern Egyptology. He founded the French Commission of Arts and Sciences to academically study the Middle East. Oriental studies were born for the first time. The famous Rosetta Stone was discovered near the Nile Delta in July of 1799, which deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs for the first time.
Tolerant and open-minded, Napoleon urged his fellow Frenchmen to respect Islam’s culture. Raised Catholic, Bonaparte came to reject organized religion by his twenties. Still, as Egypt’s ruler, Napoleon favorably recognized the Prophet Muhammad as one of history’s great conquerors. Unlike Europe’s other colonial empires, such as British India or the Dutch Cape Colony, Napoleon was much more respectful of his non-Christian and non-European subjects.
Syrian Campaign
By 1799, the Ottomans waged a jihad to push out Napoleon and his French forces. But Bonaparte preempted them by invading into what is now Palestine, Israel, and Syria. Gaza fell under French occupation. But as Napoleon besieged Jaffa, Cana, and Acre, he faced more resistance that he had expected. Back by the British, the Turks blocked Napoleon’s north advance toward Lebanon and Syria. But plague broke out among Napoleon’s men, derailing his conquests completely. Napoleon won a major victory against the Turks at the Battle of Mount Tabor. But disease forced the French to abandon their siege of Acre, and return back to Egypt.
When Napoleon heard that France was back at war with Europe, he raced back to the continent. To command his Egyptian expedition in his absence, Napoleon appointed General Jean-Baptiste Kléber. But the French occupation was despised, and the Egyptians assassinated Kléber in 1800. Over the next few years, the Ottomans reconquered Egypt from French hands.
First Consul
The War of the Second Coalition began in the final weeks of 1798. This time, Britain had many new allies to oppose France. Russia was outraged by French incursions into Malta and Switzerland. Austria and the German states were eager to recapture their lost lands from the First Coalition War. Thanks to Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, the Ottoman Empire also joined forces with the European Allies. France prepared to expand into German and Italian lands. Spain was an ally, as well as several smaller republics across Italy and the Low Countries.
Napoleon arrived back in Paris in October of 1799. What he found shocked him! The French government was bankrupt, and fears loomed of an imminent European invasion.
Bonaparte received a hero’s welcome, seen as the Republic’s savior. With help from Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès, the French government was overthrown and replaced with a new one. In a bloodless coup, Napoleon became the new ruler of France. The government was reorganized into a Consulate, modeled on the triumvirates of the Late Roman Republic.
Starting in November of 1799, Napoleon now ruled France as its First Consul, a de facto dictator. Bonaparte issued a new constitution. He ruled according to direct referendums from the public, known as plebiscites.
Battle of Marengo
As the specter of war haunted Europe, First Consul Napoleon commanded his French forces to preemptively attack the Austrians in Italy in 1800. Like a modern Hannibal, the great general Napoleon crossed the Alps and descended into northern Italy.
Just north of Genoa, Napoleon defeated the Austrians at the Battle of Marengo. This French victory was largely due to Bonaparte’s personal intervention. Led by the brave General Louis Desaix, French forces led a direct charge right into the Austrian lines. This turned the tide of the war. Within the hour, the Austrian lines broke down and began to flee.
Marengo became Napoleon’s greatest victory to date. Austria sued for peace. Emperor Francis II informed British King George III that he could no longer keep fighting France. The Treaty of Lunéville was signed in February of 1801. The Second Coalition was now defeated.
Napoleon’s triumph at Marengo was a crushing blow to the Austrian Empire. It expanded French power further south into Italy. Many of the ecclesiastical states within the Holy Roman Empire were secularized, in keeping with the French Revolution’s antipathy toward organized religion. Britain finally relented, signing the Treaty of Amiens in March of 1802. Under its terms, the British government diplomatically recognized the French Republic.
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