Editing Napoleon (section)

===Egyptian expedition===
{{Main|French campaign in Egypt and Syria}}
[[File:Bonaparte ante la Esfinge, por Jean-Léon Gérôme.jpg|thumb|alt=Person on a horse looks towards a giant statue of a head in the desert, with a blue sky|''[[Bonaparte Before the Sphinx]]'' (c. 1886) by [[Jean-Léon Gérôme]], [[Hearst Castle]]]]

After two months of planning, Bonaparte decided that France's naval strength was not yet sufficient to confront the Royal Navy. He decided on a military expedition to seize [[Ottoman Egypt|Egypt]] and thereby undermine Britain's access to its [[Company rule in India#Trade|trade interests in India]].<ref name="rxviii2"/> Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East and join forces with [[Tipu Sultan]], the [[Kingdom of Mysore|Sultan of Mysore]], an enemy of the British.<ref name=Watson /> Bonaparte assured the Directory that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions".{{sfnp|Amini|2000|p=12}} The Directory agreed in order to secure a trade route to the [[Indian subcontinent]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=342}}</ref>

In May 1798, Bonaparte was elected a member of the [[French Academy of Sciences]]. His Egyptian expedition included a group of 167 scientists, with mathematicians, naturalists, chemists, and [[geodesy|geodesists]] among them. Their discoveries included the [[Rosetta Stone]], and their work was published in the ''[[Description de l'Égypte]]'' in 1809.{{sfnp|Englund|2010|pp=127–28}} En route to Egypt, Bonaparte reached [[Hospitaller Malta]] on 9 June 1798, then controlled by the [[Knights Hospitaller]]. Grand Master [[Ferdinand von Hompesch zu Bolheim]] surrendered after token resistance, and Bonaparte captured an important naval base with the loss of only three men.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=175}}</ref>

[[File:Louis-François Baron Lejeune 001.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|left|alt=Cavalry battlescene with pyramids in background|''[[Battle of the Pyramids]] on 21 July 1798'' by [[Louis-François, Baron Lejeune]], 1808]]

Bonaparte and his expedition eluded pursuit by the Royal Navy and landed at [[Alexandria]] on 1 July.<ref name="rxviii2"/> He fought the [[Battle of Shubra Khit]] against the [[Mamluk]]s, Egypt's ruling military caste. This helped the French practise their defensive tactic for the [[Battle of the Pyramids]] on 21 July, about {{convert|24|km|0|abbr=on}} from the [[Egyptian pyramids|pyramids]]. Bonaparte's forces of 25,000 roughly equalled those of the Mamluks' Egyptian cavalry. Twenty-nine French<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=179}}</ref> and approximately 2,000 Egyptians were killed. The victory boosted the French army's morale.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=372}}</ref>

On 1 August 1798, the British fleet under [[Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson|Sir Horatio Nelson]] captured or destroyed all but two vessels of the French fleet in the [[Battle of the Nile]], preventing Bonaparte from strengthening the French position in the Mediterranean.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=188}} His army had succeeded in a temporary increase of French power in Egypt, though it faced repeated uprisings.<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=392}}</ref> In early 1799, he moved an army into the [[Wilayah|Ottoman province]] of Damascus (Syria and [[Galilee]]). Bonaparte led these 13,000 French soldiers in the conquest of the coastal towns of [[Arish]], [[Gaza City|Gaza]], [[Jaffa]], and [[Haifa]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|pp=411–424}}</ref> The [[Siege of Jaffa|attack on Jaffa]] was particularly brutal. Bonaparte discovered that many of the defenders were former prisoners of war, ostensibly on parole, so he ordered the garrison and some 1,500–5,000 prisoners to be executed by bayonet or drowning.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|page=198}}{{sfnp|Bell|2015|pp=39-40}}{{sfnp|McLynn|1997|p=280}} Men, women, and children were robbed and murdered for three days.<ref>{{harvp|McLynn|1997|p=189}}</ref>

Bonaparte began with an army of 13,000 men. 1,500 were reported missing, 1,200 died in combat, and thousands perished from disease—mostly [[bubonic plague]]. He failed to [[Siege of Acre (1799)|reduce the fortress]] of [[Acre, Israel|Acre]], so he marched his army back to Egypt in May. Bonaparte was alleged to have ordered plague-stricken men to be poisoned with opium to speed the retreat.{{sfnp|Gueniffey|2015|pp=500–502}} Back in Egypt on 25 July, Bonaparte defeated an [[Battle of Abukir (1799)|Ottoman amphibious invasion at Abukir]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=442}}</ref>

Bonaparte stayed informed of European affairs. He learned that France had suffered a [[Campaigns of 1799 in the French Revolutionary Wars|series of defeats]] in the [[War of the Second Coalition]].{{sfnp|Connelly|2006|p=57}} On 24 August 1799, fearing that the Republic's future was in doubt, he took advantage of the temporary departure of British ships from French coastal ports and set sail for France, despite the fact that he had received no explicit orders from Paris.{{sfnp|Zamoyski|2018|pages=205–206}} The army was left in the charge of [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]].<ref>{{harvp|Dwyer|2008a|p=444}}</ref>