Napoleon Supplies His Troops for His Final Battle in Egypt, the Defeat of the Ottoman Turks

In 1797, the young general Napoleon Bonaparte, fresh from the conquest of the substantial Austrian territories in the Netherlands and northern Italy, proposed to the Directory (the French government) an expedition to seize Egypt, then a province of the Ottoman Empire. His purpose was to protect French trade interests, obtain influence in the Middle East, and undermine Britain's access to its rich colony of India.  The Directory, although troubled by the scope and cost of the enterprise, agreed to the plan in March 1798, in part to remove the popular Napoleon from the center of power but also because the idea of an assault on England had been rejected as premature. The invasion of Egypt was, the Directory stipulated, to be kept as a closely guarded secret.  Napoleon set sail on May 19 with 50,000 soldiers; but as a member of the French Academy of Sciences, he also took a group of 167 scientists and scholars, including mathematicians, naturalists, earth scientists, chemists, historians and linguists. Evading Admiral Horatio Nelson’s fleet, Napoleon landed in Alexandria on July 1, 1798 and routed the Egyptian army.  He was now in control of Cairo, but Nelson decimated his fleet in the Battle of the Nile in August.

In 1799, the Sultan of Turkey joined England and declared war on the French. Napoleon countered with a preemptive strike into Syria.  From March 18 through May 20, he laid siege to the entrenched Ottoman garrison at Acre, and though his initial forays into Palestine had been successful, he was eventually forced to fall back into Egypt.  Still, he had defeated part of the Ottoman army and returned on June 14 to Cairo in triumph.   But the Turks were not defeated yet.  A month later, Napoleon was equipping his army for the coming counter-invasion by the Ottomans. 

Document signed, on his “Bonaparte, General in Chief” stationery, July 7, 1799, to the Officer in Chief of the Commissary, ordering supplies one week before the Ottoman army arrived in Aboukir Bay in Egypt. “Please give 100 pairs of boots to the different mounted artillery companies. Bonaparte.”

On July 14, the Turks landed, and on the 25th, they were soundly defeated at the Battle of Aboukir Bay. The result was the decisive victory over the Ottomans for the French and Napoleon’s final battle in Egypt.  Less than two months later, in spite of his military victories, with his ambitions in the Middle East effectively stalled, and the situation in Europe rapidly changing, he quietly returned to Paris, where a coup he helped stage overthrew the Directory and brought him to power.  Interestingly, just 8 days after the signing of this document, the Rosetta Stone was discovered.