Lesson 10: The French Campaign — Events and Egyptian Resistance until the Evacuation

01The landing and Napoleon's manifesto

Napoleon's policy at the start

• Napoleon judged that the best way to consolidate France's authority was to flatter the Ottoman State and draw the Egyptians to his side.
• He convinced the Egyptians that he had come to fight the foreign Mamluks who drained Egypt's wealth and wronged its people.
• He promised to found a local (civil) government in which authority would belong to the Egyptians.
• He issued a manifesto in June 1798 and circulated it before the Campaign reached the Egyptian shores.

The ideas of the manifesto

• It claimed that he believed in God, honoured His Prophet and the Qur'an, and that all people are equal before God.
• It said that only reason, virtues and knowledge distinguish people from one another.
• At the same time it threatened to burn any village that attacked the French forces.

Arrival of the Campaign

• The Campaign arrived in early July 1798; the Mamluks had exhausted their strength in internal quarrels and had not fortified the country's borders.

02Egyptian resistance at Alexandria, Shubra Khit and Embaba

The resistance of the people of Alexandria

• The people of Alexandria resisted the Campaign under Sayed Muhammad Karim, the governor of the city.
• The French arrested him and executed him by firing squad in September 1798.

The battles of Shubra Khit and Embaba

• The French advanced towards Cairo and met Murad Bey's forces near Shubra Khit in Beheira; he was defeated and fell back southwards.
• Murad Bey made his stand at Embaba to defend Cairo; the Mamluks were defeated there and Murad Bey fled.
• Bonaparte entered Cairo in July 1798 after it had been left with no force to defend it.

03The battle of Aboukir (naval) and the resistance of Upper Egypt

The naval battle of Aboukir

• The English fleet under Nelson burned the French fleet of the Campaign in August 1798.
• This destroyed France's hopes of extending control over the Mediterranean basin.
• The Campaign was cut off from supplies coming from France.

The resistance of the people of Upper Egypt

• Napoleon marched to Upper Egypt to eliminate Murad Bey, whose survival there threatened navigation on the Nile; Murad refused to surrender.
• Napoleon defeated Murad, but the spirit of national resistance caught fire among the people of Upper Egypt.
• The French failed to subdue them, for reasons including:
  • the length of the Nile valley;
  • the cooperation of some Mamluk forces with the people;
  • the joining of them by a force from the Arabian Peninsula;
  • the use of skirmishing and scattered engagements.
• This resistance lasted about ten months.

04The First Cairo Revolt

Al-Azhar's leadership

• Al-Azhar al-Sharif took the lead of the resistance against the French occupation in Cairo, and the French governor of the city was killed.
• It became known as the First Cairo Revolt (October 1798), and the revolt spread to the neighbouring provinces.

The French reaction

• The French used repression and terror and executed many of the rebels.
• The French entered the mosque of al-Azhar on horseback, which aroused the religious feeling of the Egyptians.

05The triple alliance and the Campaign of the Levant

The Ottoman–English–Russian alliance

• The Ottoman State allied with England and Russia to expel the French from Egypt by force.
• They sent two expeditions: a land one coming from the Levant and a naval one heading for Alexandria.

Bonaparte's campaign on Syria

• Bonaparte led a campaign into the Levant in March 1799 but failed to take Acre.
• Reasons for failure: the strength of the city's defences, the stubborn defence of its people under its governor Ahmed Pasha al-Jazzar, and the help given to it by the English fleet.
• He returned to Cairo.

Aboukir (land)

• Word reached him that the Ottoman fleet had landed at Aboukir in July 1799; he turned against them and inflicted on them a resounding defeat.

06Napoleon's departure, Kleber and the convention of El-Arish

Napoleon's departure

• Napoleon decided to return secretly to France (August 1799) to face the French government's troubles with Austria and its allies.
• He left the command of the Campaign to his deputy Kleber.

Kleber's position and the convention of El-Arish

• Kleber realised that the Campaign could not remain, because of the falling number of soldiers, the Ottomans' continuing expeditions, the renewed resistance of the Mamluks and the revolts of the Egyptians.
• He proposed to the Ottoman sultan and the commander of the English fleet that the Campaign withdraw at the Ottoman State's expense — the so-called convention of El-Arish (January 1800).
• The British government rejected the agreement and insisted on the surrender of the French.
• Kleber was forced to attack the Ottoman forces and drive them back to the Levant.

07The Second Cairo Revolt and the killing of Kleber

The Second Cairo Revolt

• The Egyptians seized the opportunity and attacked the French camps — the Second Cairo Revolt.
• The French quelled the revolt in Lower Egypt.
• The French agreed with Murad Bey to subdue the revolt of Upper Egypt in return for his rule over it.

The killing of Kleber

• Suleiman al-Halabi, a young man of Syrian origin studying at al-Azhar, killed the commander Kleber in June 1800.
• Menou then took command of the Campaign.

Comparison between the two revolts

08The evacuation of the French Campaign from Egypt

Menou's policy

• Menou wanted to turn Egypt into a great French colony and intended to settle there.
• He drew up a reform plan in agriculture, industry, trade, health and the judiciary.

The end of the Campaign

• England sent a new fleet to Aboukir (February 1801).
• It was joined by the Ottoman army and some Mamluk leaders, and they succeeded in entering Cairo.
• The French forces surrendered and left Egypt on 18 September 1801.

09Exam traps and key takeaways

• The manifesto came before the landing, and the Campaign arrived in early July 1798 — not 1799.
• Alexandria resisted under Sayed Muhammad Karim; Embaba was the battle that opened the road to Cairo.
• Nelson burned the fleet at Aboukir SEA (August 1798); Napoleon's victory over the Ottomans is Aboukir LAND (July 1799) — never swap them.
• Upper Egypt's resistance lasted about ten months and used skirmishing, not set battles.
• Al-Azhar led the First revolt; the Second was led by the people of Cairo.
• Acre failed because of al-Jazzar + the English fleet, not because of Ottoman regulars.
• Britain rejected the convention of El-Arish and demanded surrender — so the convention never ended the Campaign.
• Suleiman al-Halabi was an al-Azhar student, and the killer of Kleber, not of Menou.
• The evacuation date is 18 September 1801; Menou is the commander who surrendered.