Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY: OUTLINE OF EVENTS IN EUROPE, 1783–1793
- CHAPTER II THE CONDITION OF THE NAVIES IN 1793—AND ESPECIALLY OF THE FRENCH NAVY
- CHAPTER III THE GENERAL POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONDITIONS, AND THE EVENTS OF 1793
- CHAPTER IV THE WEST INDIES, 1793–1810
- CHAPTER V THE NAVAL CAMPAIGN OF MAY, 1794, AND BATTLE OF THE FIRST OF JUNE
- CHAPTER VI THE YEAR 1794 IN THE ATLANTIC AND ON THE CONTINENT
- CHAPTER VII THE YEAR 1795 IN THE ATLANTIC AND ON THE CONTINENT
- CHAPTER VIII THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALY.—FROM THE EVACUATION OF TOULON IN 1793 TO THE BRITISH WITHDRAWAL FROM THAT SEA, IN 1796, AND BATTLE OF CAPE ST. VINCENT, IN FEBRUARY, 1797.—AUSTRIA FORCED TO MAKE PEACE
- CHAPTER IX THE MEDITERRANEAN IN 1797 AND 1798
- CHAPTER X THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM 1799 TO 1801
- CHAPTER XI THE ATLANTIC, 1796–1801.—THE BREST BLOCKADES.—THE FRENCH EXPEDITIONS AGAINST IRELAND
- Plate section
CHAPTER X - THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM 1799 TO 1801
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2011
- Frontmatter
- PREFACE
- Contents
- LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
- CHAPTER I INTRODUCTORY: OUTLINE OF EVENTS IN EUROPE, 1783–1793
- CHAPTER II THE CONDITION OF THE NAVIES IN 1793—AND ESPECIALLY OF THE FRENCH NAVY
- CHAPTER III THE GENERAL POLITICAL AND STRATEGIC CONDITIONS, AND THE EVENTS OF 1793
- CHAPTER IV THE WEST INDIES, 1793–1810
- CHAPTER V THE NAVAL CAMPAIGN OF MAY, 1794, AND BATTLE OF THE FIRST OF JUNE
- CHAPTER VI THE YEAR 1794 IN THE ATLANTIC AND ON THE CONTINENT
- CHAPTER VII THE YEAR 1795 IN THE ATLANTIC AND ON THE CONTINENT
- CHAPTER VIII THE MEDITERRANEAN AND ITALY.—FROM THE EVACUATION OF TOULON IN 1793 TO THE BRITISH WITHDRAWAL FROM THAT SEA, IN 1796, AND BATTLE OF CAPE ST. VINCENT, IN FEBRUARY, 1797.—AUSTRIA FORCED TO MAKE PEACE
- CHAPTER IX THE MEDITERRANEAN IN 1797 AND 1798
- CHAPTER X THE MEDITERRANEAN FROM 1799 TO 1801
- CHAPTER XI THE ATLANTIC, 1796–1801.—THE BREST BLOCKADES.—THE FRENCH EXPEDITIONS AGAINST IRELAND
- Plate section
Summary
After the destruction of his fleet, Bonaparte resumed the task of subduing and organizing Egypt, which had by that misfortune become more than ever essential to his projects. In the original conception of his eastern adventure the valley of the Nile had borne a twofold part. It was, in the first place, to become a permanent acquisition of France, the greatest of her colonies,—great not only by its own natural resources, susceptible as was believed of immense development, but also by its singular position, which, to a power controlling the Mediterranean waters, gave the military and commercial link between the eastern and western worlds. To France, bereft of the East and the West Indies, childless now of her richest colonies, Egypt was to be the great and more than equal compensation. But this first object obtained, though in itself a justification, was but the necessary step to the more dazzling, if not more useful, achievement of the destruction of the British power in India, and the creation there of an empire tributary to France. “Thus, on the one side Egypt would replace San Domingo and the Antilles; on the other, she would be a step towards the conquest of India.”
Measured by the successes of a few handfuls of British in the empire of the Moguls, the army brought by Bonaparte into Egypt was more than able to subdue that country, and to spread far and wide the obedience to the French arms.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010First published in: 1893