482 Ch. 13 • Napoleon and Europe
satellite Cisalpine Republic in northern and central Italy. For the moment,
only Great Britain remained as an enemy.
Dreaming of an eastern empire, Napoleon then turned his attention to
the Middle East. In 1798, he set off on a spectacular voyage to Egypt, part
of the Ottoman Empire, thus undertaking the first try by a Western power
to occupy a country in the Middle East. He was accompanied by 35,000
soldiers and a shipload of scientists, including mathematicians, physi
cians, zoologists, and engineers, a few of the latter already dreaming of
carving a canal through the Isthmus of Suez that would give the French an
overwhelming advantage in trade with the Far East. In Cairo he founded
the Institute of Egypt, which greatly influenced the origins of Egyptology.
Thus, Napoleon cloaked his invasion as a “civilizing mission.”
After pausing en route long enough to capture the island of Malta,
Napoleon defeated Egyptian forces at the Battle of the Pyramids in July
- But the tiny British admiral Horatio Nelson (1758-1805), who could
see out of only one eye, had lost an arm, and had few teeth left, trapped and
destroyed the French fleet on August 1, 1798, in the Battle of the Nile. Rus
sia and Austria, their respective interests threatened by French campaigns in
the east, now formed a Second Coalition against France, which Turkey also
joined. Temporarily stranded in Egypt because of the naval defeat, and with
his officers having to use the Greek historian Herodotus’s Histories as their
guide to Egypt, the undaunted Napoleon set off to conquer Syria. In Pales
tine his army stopped at Jaffa, where it massacred the population. Forced to
retreat to Egypt by dwindling supplies and disease, Napoleon achieved a
final victory there over the Turks with the annihilation of several more vil
lages and their inhabitants. Napoleon then returned to France.
In Paris, Abbe Emmanuel Sieyes was plotting to overthrow the Direc
tory. Such a venture now required the participation of one of the powerful,
popular young generals whom the incessant warfare had catapulted to
prominence. Napoleon, who could be portrayed as the potential savior of
France, now helped piece together a political constituency from among the
quarreling factions of the Directory. With the coup d’etat of the 18th Bru
maire (November 9, 1799), Sieyes and Napoleon overthrew the Directory.
Consolidation of PowerAfter the overthrow of the Directory, the conspirators established a new
government, the Consulate. It brought political stability to France. It did so
by concentrating strong executive authority in the eager hands of Napoleon,
who oversaw the drafting of a constitution and made peace with the
Catholic Church. Designated “consul for life” in 1802, Napoleon crowned
himself emperor two years later. In the meantime, he continued to wage
wars against Britain, Austria, Russia, and Prussia, four rivals driven into co
alitions by French expansion. By 1809, although he had failed in his goal of