The Little Corporal ponders glory. News in 1798 that Napoleon was massing a huge force in the Mediterranean port of Toulon sent shivers through Europe and the Ottoman Empire. Candidates for invasion included England, Spain Portugal, Sicily, and even Brazil. However, Bonaparte s secret objective was to raise the French flag over the Pyramids of Egypt. We must go to the Orient, he was reputed to have said.
All great glory resides there.
In July 1798, after a rough six-week trip, nearly 400 transport ships landed some 34,000 troops near Alexandria. Along with the soldiers came nearly 1,000 civilians, who were to have a more lasting effect on history. These consisted mainly of administrators, but also included artists and poets, botanists and zoologists, surveyors and economists. It was they who were to return to France triumphant, with enough information to swell the 22-volume Descriptions de L Egypte, the authoritative tome on Egyptology for generations. Napoleon battles the Mamelukes at the Pyramids.