|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Napoleon in Egypt: The
Greatest Glory
But deep down, Napoleon always felt "cheated" by destiny that Alexander, The Great (his alter-ego) had made similar gains at a younger age. The world at large would learn of this and much else about Napoleon, the man, indirectly through his letters to Josephine and more specifically through his memoirs written during the final incarceration at St. Helena. These memoirs were published posthumously and have been recalled extensively in the book under review. After Eastern Europe, Napoleon had little difficulty in motivating the Army of Italy to overrun the country in what may be a record-time in military history? The ease with which he attained this strategic goal and validated his tactical handling of armies led Napoleon to confess that it was in Italy when he "first saw the world recede beneath me, as if I was being borne up into the sky...." It was natural, therefore, that once back in Paris he would be restless , particularly, as by now he considered Europe to be "a mere molehill" for any grandiose strategic gains. The French Directory too were keen to keep Napoleon, who was already wearing the hallo of a conqueror, occupied and away from Paris. They assigned to him the Army of England. But to Napoleon that venture would be less than even a molehill. Ultimately, he convinced the Directory, through the aid of the brilliant Tellyrand, that France must create an Oriental Empire. At the personal level, Napoleon saw himself as "marching to Asia, mounted on an elephant... with a turban on my head... in my hand a new Koran that I would have composed to suite my needs...." Thus, the Army of England became a smoke screen for the Army of The Orient with 335 ships carrying 40,000 soldiers, 1,200 horses, 171 field guns and 200 Frenchmen constituting a "Legion of Culture" (philosophers, mathematicians, astronomers, geologists, mineralogists, physicists, chemistry professors, linguists etc). All this was assembled and launched, again in record time, from four separate embarkation ports in Southern France and Italy. And they covered 2,000 miles before dropping anchor off Alexandria in mid 1798, becoming "The first great sea borne invasion of the modern era". This is where Paul Strathern begins his book that is an absorbing narrative of Napoleon— the "Emperor" and the "statesman". His military victories against a brave but thoroughly disorganised and disunited foe (the Mamelukes, the Bedouins, Murad Bey’s desperados and later even the Ottoman Turks) though crucial, were militarily not so significant. After the Battle of the Pyramids, Napoleon had in fact already declared himself the Emperor. And he now focused his energies on the conquest of India and set about creating an Army of 60,000 men mounted on 50,000 camels. Even a crushing defeat of the French naval fleet at the hands of Nelson was not enough to upset him. So he sent his envoys to the Persians seeking safe passage for his army. At the same time on January 25, 1799 he wrote to Tippoo Sahib in Mysore to seek an alliance against the British in India. Concurrently, his "Legion of Culture" was tasked, among other things, to survey the linking of the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Se, which ultimately would become the Suez Canal. He also tasked them with brewing beer in Egypt with something other than Hops? Wonder why no one came up with the "Napoleon" brand beer particularly as we in India may have been among the first few beneficiaries of this new formulation. Napoleon’s fixation with his Oriental Empire was so deep-rooted that he consciously distanced from the two major shortcomings of Alexander, The Great. He avoided all forms of alcohol except as a social etiquette, on formal occasions. And he refused to take on local wives or mistresses even though Sheikh Al-Bekri, the de-facto ruler of Cairo, offered him the hand of his 16-year-old daughter. Would Napoleon have succeeded where Alexander had failed had destiny not played its hidden hand by luring him to Paris to overthrow the crumbling Directory and become the Emperor of France?
|
Napoleon