Bonaparte in Egypt [Hardcover]

J C Herold (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1963

This book has hardback covers.Ex-library,With usual stamps and markings,In fair condition, suitable as a study copy.No dust jacket.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: Hamish Hamilton; 1st Ed. edition (1963)
• Language: English
• ASIN: B0006DC7O8
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,798,226 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Factual facts of both versions of the Legend., January 7, 2007

By 

Carlos Santillan (Mexico City, Mexico.) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bonaparte in Egypt (Paperback)

Factual facts of both versions of the Legend.

It has been said that Napoleon created his legend when writing his memoirs in Saint Helens, also that his opponents have created a Black Legend around him, well, the late J. Christopher Herold in a objective manner analyzes and writes about the Napoleon who went to the conquest of Egypt. He had a most peculiar way of explaining the events of this campaign while throwing here and there humorous comments, for example, when he writes about a "the gentleman with the unforgettable name".

His approach to the analysis of the campaign is deep, for instance, the events involving the massacre of the prisoners of Jaffa, in other biographies of Napoleon, that I own, in two of them the authors do not mention it, and the other one justifies it. But J. Christopher Herold in his objective research, clearly demonstrates that it was a war crime, he talks about other points of view of the event, done by pro-Napoleonic and anti-Napoleonic authors and he analyses Napoleon's choices and the the execution of the thousands of prisoners by bayoneting and drowning was not the only and most humane solution. (There is another previous event involving the execution of 450 prostitutes).

Follow Napoleon from Toulon to Malta, Abukir, Alexandria, Cairo, Syria, etc. this book includes tons of information, and the book is not centered around Napoleon, you'll read about other players in this campaign, like Monge, Berthollet, Conté, Desaix, you'll read even letters written by grenadiers, and learn about Middle East history: The Porte, The Mamelukes, about Murad Bey, etc. Originally published in 1962, this book is a worthy addition to the library of any scholar or "armchair general" interested in Napoleon Bonaparte.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Egyptian Conquest, January 2, 2010

By 

Christina Paige (Tucson, AZ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bonaparte in Egypt (Paperback)

This is a wonderful book. It describes and explains the formation of Napoleon's campaign to conquer Egypt as a stepping stone to wresting India away from Britain. Napoleon took with him the largest army France had ever assembled, and the lion's share of her Navy, as well as scientists, cartographers, artists, and writers who were given the work of apprehending the soul of the East. If he had brought water canteens along too, he probably would have succeeded.
With a disastrous landing, soldiers dying of thirst on the long forced marches, raids by the desert-dwelling beys, and convoluted political maneuvering, Napoleon more than once had cause to doubt the genius of his Luck. Ironically, had he accomplished all he set out to do, civilization would have advanced in many beneficial ways, with schools, hospitals, canals, and freedom of religion introduced to countries that still lack these good things. But he met resistance at almost every turn, and England exerted all her energies to oppose him. Even so, this campaign changed the world.
It is fascinating to read about the men who accompanied him, either as officers or scientists. Some of these were betrayed, many died, but some made extraordinary contributions to the advancement of knowledge and culture. It is impossible to read this book without discovering heroes.
Furthermore, the complexity of Egyptian culture and politics are well represented so that the reader genuinely understands the enormity of what Napoleon undertook.
Without question, one of the best history books I have ever read.

2.0 out of 5 stars English Academic Jingoism is Alive and Well...., November 12, 2011

By 

Robert L. Squires "...like a red-headed step-... (Cascadia) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Bonaparte in Egypt (Paperback)

J. Christopher Herold is, unfortunately, a very shallow scholar, more interested in promoting his British pride over England's defeat of Napoleon, rather than objectively presenting credible scholarship. Beyond the simple historical facts which he gives, he fails utterly in any form of intellectual analysis of the various subjects which this work SHOULD be comprised. The fact that Herold is not a professor, but is one of those uniquely English self-motivated historians, at the same time knowledgeable and eccentric, should be a clue that you are not reading an objective monograph or dissertation. For the military historian, and the Nelson buff, this book could be a grand starting point for further study into this important, yet little understood, bit of French and Napoleonic history. What is most perplexing in the author's amateurish approach to his subject is his apparent hatred of both the French, as well as the Egyptians. By the end, I was wondering why he even chose the subject, considering he tripped over his own bigotry at all turns.

This is not the kind of nationalistic historiography of the 19th and early 20th centuries, where the British academicians, in spite of their jingoism, could still deliver well executed, and deeply deconstructive works of important scholarship. This book, I'm afraid, was written with Johnny Bulldog Brit in mind, and not the scholar of French Napoleonic history. True, the author describes in fair detail the Nelson "victory" at Abukir Bay, and the so-called Battle of The Pyramids, with enough detail to whet the military buff's appetite, but the starting point and end-point for all descriptions is the great Lord Nelson, further hagiofied here. Regardless of the nuances of a battle's outcome, or the specious claims to victory over the French, Herold seems content to wallow in ancient British propaganda rather than to see the true outcome of the various engagements. The French didn't lose quite so badly as he portrays it, nor did the British win so decisively.

While one can rightly state that Egypt was where Napoleon practiced and honed his methods of empire building, and the Cesarian propaganda required to return to France and assume ultimate power, the author only barely touches on this important feature of the Grand Army's experiences in Egypt. He adopts a rather snide tone in describing the People's army, and the quite amazing accomplishments, even in failure, of Napoleon, the army, and the savants in the Mid East. All descriptions of the French, Napoleon and his generals, and the Turks, Egyptians and Muslims in general, are offered from the victorious British point-of-view. This is frustratingly shoddy scholarship, and this work shouldn't even be on your reading list, considering the marked improvement in modern historiography over the last half century.

I'll offer some embarrassing examples of Herold's poor scholasticism:

Herold continuously describes Napoleon's edicts and memos to his officers as "peevishness" and as constant lies. If Napoleon were such a disingenuous general, then why did his men and most officers continue to revere him even in defeat and abandonment? When Napoleon speaks to his generals, it is all a bunch of "twaddle", from Herold's point of view. I'm not sure what the correct academic definition of "twaddle" is, but it is decidedly a British term.

When he attempts to portray Egyptian street scenes, he compares old Egypt with the experiences a modern (1960's) visitor to Cairo might have as they stumble off the tour bus: In a completely subjective manner he describes a city full of noise, dirt, and the general untrustworthiness of the populace. He unnecessarily portrays "old women going furtively about their business.."

Like a common non-doctoral military historian he has fine words for the French officers who died gloriously taking a broadside from the Noble and Transcendent Nelson, and these are the only chaps about whom he has good things to say. I kept asking myself as I read about this fascinating moment in history why the author even chose to write about the French and Egypt if he despised both so much.

Herold takes great delight in describing the supposedly deviant sexual appetites of the Turks and the egyptian Mamelukes. He has Napoleon criticizing French soldiers for getting captured, gang raped by their captors, then daring to cry about it. The author invariably points out, as if it were common knowledge, and needed no substantiating evidence, that Muslims rape men in combat, keep boys in their harems, and that many of the French war injuries were of a violent sexual nature. While this may in fact be sort of historically accurate, the author offers no credible proof beyond the shocked first hand letters of French troops who heard about such things. He even goes so far as to mock the French people in general as hypocrites, because supposedly most French men are gay in the modern age, and engage joyfully in homosexuality. He even postulates in one of his few attempts at cultural analysis that the French became partly homosexual as a result of the experiences in the middle East. Could anything be more amateurish, and disgusting for an historian to go on and on (I'm serious) about, regardless of personal views on the subject?

In all fairness, Herold does give the details relevant to this campaign from a military historian's point of view. He describes Napoleon's barbaric massacre of prisoners at Jaffa, much to the eternal shame of the French nation; he even writes this, in analysis, which I quote in an impossible attempt to redeem the author:

"One cannot help asking, what transforms a group of fundamentally good-natured people---kind husbands, dutiful sons, sentimental lovers, and fathers of families---into ferocious, screaming beasts? The question...has not been investigated scientifically." (As of 1962?) The answer, of course, is War, and nothing else. That a writer I have come to despise, because of this work, reveals a level of humanity not particularly common to the military historian, by writing these words, may be the only redeeming sentiment of this book.His comparison of Napoleon's war crimes to those perpetuated in the 1950's and 1960's in North Africa and Indo-China indicate that Herold was seeking a modern relevance for his scholarship.Unfortunately, this real contribution to the field is wrapped up in British nationalist hyperbole, much to the ultimate detriment of any understanding of the subject. I recommend a different choice if you wish to study Napoleon in the Mid East. Considering the many recent contributions to the field, a thoughtful scholar shouldn't have to wallow through this piece of drivel.