244 DESTINY DISRUPTED
dreams of wealth for himself and his country. He borrowed enormous
sums of money from European bankers to industrialize Egypt's cotton in-
dustry overnight: he bought cotton gins and other such machinery at
enormous expense, money he figured Egypt could easily repay since it
would be selling cotton forever.
But the rise in cotton prices was a mere blip caused by the outbreak
of the U.S. Civil War, which choked off cotton exports from the south-
ern states there and forced English textile factories to look elsewhere for
thread. As soon as the U.S. Civil War ended, the price of cotton dropped
and Egypt was ruined. Now, the bankers and financial advisers flooded
into the country in earnest. Every Egyptian government official ended
up with a European adviser of his very own. The Eastern questions still
remained-both France and Britain stood poised to achieve total domi-
nance in Egypt.
Britain seemed to have the edge, however, which made France all the
more determined not to lose the edge it had further west. In the period of
France's revolutionary turmoil, two Algerian Jewish families had sold 8
million francs' worth of grain to France to feed its armies. When
Napoleon fell and France reverted to monarchy, France disavowed that
debt. The Ottoman governor of this province met with the French con-
sul, Pierre Duval, to demand an explanation. Duval told him France did
not discuss money with Arabs. The governor slapped Duval in the face
with ... a fly swatter. What a blow to French honor! L'A.ffaire de Mouche-
Swatter {the "affair of the fly swatter") made it into the French press, and
nobody laughed. More insults were exchanged and tensions went on ris-
ing. As it happened, there was a struggle under way in France just then
between monarchists and liberals. The monarchists who held power saw
domestic political advantage in a quick, successful military adventure.
Napoleon had proven how easily Arabs could be defeated in Egypt, and
so, in 1830, France invaded Algeria.?
The venture proved as quick and successful as any Frenchman might
have hoped. The governor fled to Naples, leaving his fortune behind and
his country leaderless. France hauled about 100 million francs out of Al-
geria, about half of which made it to the French treasury. The rest disap-
peared into the pockets of the soldiers and officers who invaded the
country.