# General Yaqub

General Yaqub, born Yaqub Hanna (1745-1801) was a Coptic military general who commanded the Coptic Legion during the Napoleon's conquest of Egypt. His contemporary writer, Abd al-Rahman al-Jabarti, described him as a revanchist defender of the Coptic minority. The intellectual and writer Louis Awad describes him as the founder of the first project for Egypt's independence. Yaqub's biography was written in 1921 by one of his descendants, Gaston Homsy.

## Early Life

General Yaqub was born as Yaqub Hanna in 1745 in Mallawi, Upper Egypt, to Maryam Tawfiq Ghazal and Mu‘allim Hanna. He was educated as a civil servant before entering into the service of a Mamluk to oversee his finances in Asyut. His master taught him the art of war, and Yaqub took part in his Mamluk master's battles. After the death of his first wife, he married a Syrian woman.

## The Coptic Legion

When Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798, Yaqub Hanna was attached to General Desaix who conquered Upper Egypt and defeated its Mamluks. Desaix quickly recognized Yaqub's military ingenuity and involved him in his campaigns. Encouraged by Desaix, Yaqub formed the Coptic Legion to fight alongside the French army in Egypt and to protect the country's native Coptic Christian community. Yaqub was made a general by the French army to head the Coptic Legion. During the Revolt of Cairo, Muslims led by Hasan Bey al-Jiddawi looted and murdered Copts in the city. General Yaqub and his legion barricaded themselves in the fortress with towers and ramparts they built at the neighborhood of Azbakeya, and successfully defended Copts there during a 20-day siege. For his protection of the Coptic Christians in Egypt, General Yaqub was given the title "Agha of the Coptic Nation" by the French general Kléber. He was given a guard of thirty French troops for his personal security and to display respect for his authority. In March, 1801, he was promoted to brigadier-general by General Menou. In May, 1801, General Yaqub received a latter from Napoleon praising his courage and encouraging him to persevere in the war against Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire, promising him promotion and reinforcements from France.
After the defeat of the Napoleonic conquest of Egypt at the hand of the British, the French troops were forced to withdraw from Egypt. Under articles 12 and 13 of the treaty signed between France and Great Britain, protection for those who had helped the French was guaranteed. Anyone who wished to leave for France was allowed to do so, and so many members of the Coptic Legion returned with the French army to France in 1801, including General Yaqub. Nonetheless, most of the members of the Coptic Legion chose to remain in Egypt, and were eventually murdered by the Ottomans.

## Independence of Egypt

Accompanied by his family and some of his troops, General Yaqub left Egypt from the port of Abu Qir on 10 August, 1801, on board of the British ship "The Pallas", heading for Marseille. On the ship, he befriended the ship's captain and a French officer of Maltese origin called Theodore Lascaris. Both provided letters documenting their conversations with Yaqub, which are currently held at the British archives. After reaching France, Yaqub's companions addressed two more letters to Napoleon in the name of the Egyptian people. In these letters, Yaqub is presented as the head of an Egyptian delegation seeking to contact European powers to achieve Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire. The tone of these documents is one of Egyptian nationalism, highlighting the past glory of the country, lamenting its current state unworthy of a people who built a great civilization, and stressing the debt that humanity owes to Egypt's ancient culture. Together those four documents represent the earliest known project for the independence of Egypt.

## Death

General Yaqub died suddenly at sea on 16 August, 1801, on board of the British ship carrying him to Marseille, only six days after leaving Egypt. It is believed that the cause of his death was dysentery. He was buried in Marseille with military honor. General Yaqub was succeeded by his nephew, Gabriel Sidarious, who ultimately distinguished himself in battle as leader of the Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orient during the hostilities of the War of the Third Coalition in Dalmatia.