Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Juan Cole (Author)

Book Description

Release date: August 7, 2007

In this vivid and timely history, Juan Cole tells the story of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt. Revealing the young general's reasons for leading the expedition against Egypt in 1798 and showcasing his fascinating views of the Orient, Cole delves into the psychology of the military titan and his entourage. He paints a multi-faceted portrait of the daily travails of the soldiers in Napoleon's army, including how they imagined Egypt, how their expectations differed from what they found, and how they grappled with military challenges in a foreign land. Cole ultimately reveals how Napoleon's invasion, the first modern attempt to invade the Arab world, invented and crystallized the rhetoric of liberal imperialism.

 

You can visit Juan Cole's Blog, Informed Comment at http://www.juancole.com/

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In July 1798, Napoleon landed an expeditionary force at Alexandria in Egypt, the opening move in a scheme to acquire a new colony for France, administer a sharp rebuff to England and export the values of French republicanism to a remade Middle East. Cole, a historian of the Middle East at the University of Michigan, traces the first seven months of Napoleon's adventure in Egypt. Relying extensively on firsthand sources for this account of the invasion's early months, Cole focuses on the ideas and belief systems of the French invaders and the Muslims of Egypt. Cole portrays the French as deeply ignorant of cultural and religious Islam. Claiming an intent to transplant liberty to Egypt, the French rapidly descended to the same barbarism and repression of the Ottomans they sought to replace. Islamic Egypt, divided by class and ethnic rivalries, offered little resistance to the initial French incursion. Over time, however, the Egyptians produced an insurgency that, while it couldn't hope to win pitched battles, did erode French domination and French morale. Perplexingly, Cole ends his account in early February 1799, with Napoleon still in control of Egypt but facing increasingly effective opposition. Napoleon's attack on Syria is only mentioned, not detailed, and his return to Cairo and eventual flight to France are omitted altogether. In a brief epilogue, Cole makes an explicit comparison between Napoleon's adventure in Egypt and the current American occupation of Iraq. Though at times episodic and disorganized, this doesn't detract from the value of Cole's well-researched contribution to Middle Eastern history. Illus. (Aug.)
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From Booklist

At the end of the eighteenth century, the Middle East had remained beyond the orbit of European concerns since the end of the Crusades in the late thirteenth century. Egypt, in particular, was viewed as a backward Ottoman province. In 1798, Napoleon led a massive force across the Mediterranean to the Nile Delta, quickly overwhelming the Egyptian forces, but the French occupiers were expelled by British and Ottoman armies in 1801. Although the military effects of the French incursion were minimal, the long-term cultural and political results were immense. Historian Cole, effectively utilizing diaries and letters of contemporaries on both sides, illustrates the confusion, hostilities, and necessary accommodations as two distinct cultures collide. French scholars who accompanied the expedition make the now familiar claims of "liberating" a people from backward oppressors while respecting the traditions of a great people. Arab reactions range from outrage to indifference. At the center of events, of course, is the young emerging titan, Napoleon, who is revealed here as cynical, power hungry, but possessed of an enormous intellect and insatiable curiosity. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan; 1st edition (August 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1403964319
• ISBN-13: 978-1403964311
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1 x 9.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,004,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

43 of 50 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What a read! August 15, 2007

By Alan J. White

Format:Hardcover

I'm a recent graduate of UC Santa Cruz (History of the Islamic World '05), and I've completed additional course work in Arabic at the University of Jordan in Amman. As a somewhat informed reader, Juan Cole's new book appears to me to be a refreshing synthesis of modern historiographical trends, with a classic writing style. When I pre-ordered the book in July, I had only been familiar with Cole's writing in his blog Informed Comment (a staple in my morning reading). While I love his commentary and analysis in the blog format, I felt compelled to write and comment on how wonderfully surprised I was by his historical writing, as exemplified by this book. The research and the narrative style compliment each other quite nicely, and it's a pleasure to read. Perhaps it's time for me to purchase Sacred Space and Holy War?

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Three quarters of the game... December 18, 2008

By John Chamberlain

Format:Hardcover

This book was difficult to rate. Where it was good, it was very good. Where it was bad, it was very bad. So, I compromised at three stars.

At first I almost didn't buy it. The topic was intriguing because I have an interest in the Napoleonic wars. But I looked on the back cover and found five intellectually bankrupt quotes from academic reviewers who were, directly or indirectly, trying to draw parallels between Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Only a politically fevered college sophomore, or an academic desperate to be a star at their next wine and cheese party, could make such an equivalency, moral or otherwise. So, I feared for what might be in the book. I bought it anyway, and was pleasantly surprised by most of it.

Cole does an excellent job of taking you through (part of) Napoleon's Egyptian campaign. Using accounts drawn from contemporary journals, he weaves together numerous tales of adventure and misadventure into an interesting whole. At the same time, he provides genuine insight into the complex clash of two very different cultures. That's the good part.

The bad part comes at the end of the book.

Try to imagine yourself listening to a detailed account of a football game; then, when the commentator gets to the fourth quarter, he says: "Then they ran a bunch of plays and everyone went home." That is basically what Cole does to the reader.

The siege of El Arish, the capture and sack of Jaffa and of Gaza, are handled in THREE SENTENCES! The siege of Acre gets a whole paragraph; but the two-month battle, in which a British Naval officer defeated Napoleon on land (!), is reduced to "[Cezzar Pasha] enjoyed naval backing from the British."

Unbelievable!

And that doesn't even get us to Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Acre (one sentence), the British landing and battle at Abuqir Bay (two sentences), the dramatic deaths of Murad Bey and of General Kleber (one sentence each), and so on.

If three quarters of Napoleon's Egyptian campaign story is all you're interested in, this book is for you. It's excellent. But if you want to hear the fourth quarter of the game as well, you'll need to try another commentator.

21 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hubris and flight! July 7, 2008

By Brian Comnes

Format:Paperback

I recently finished this book. I liked it a lot. I would recommend it to anyone seeking a longer view on relations and their consequences between Europe and the Middle East. Professor Cole's has done a great job of capturing the essence of this story which rings frightfully true today - a self absorbed megalomaniacal leader, telling fibs to his troops about the noble reasons for going, making major blunders along the way (Nelson burned and sank the French fleet - oops), presiding over the degradation of his own troops, and then total bewilderment as to why these "Mohammedans" just don't "get it", in spite of lavish French (occupier) spectacle followed with mostly vain attempts to co-opt other portions of the local population, ending with a rapid personal withdrawal from the whole affair leaving it to others to clean up the mess left behind. Sound familiar? In any case, the book is well written and documented thoroughly with source material. If I was to improve the book I would have added an epilogue as to the consequences of this campaign to Napoleon's imminent ascension in French life.