and, even if we did not know of his early hankering to serve the Porte, we
would be alerted to the romantic side of his perception of the Orient by
his many asides to Bourrienne. 'We must go to the Orient; all great glory
has been acquired there.' On 29 January 1798, two days after protracted
talks with Talleyrand about all the implications of an Egyptian adventure,
he remarked to Bourrienne: 'I don't want to stay here, there's nothing to
do ... Everything's finished here but I haven't had enough glory. This
tiny Europe doesn't provide enough, so I must go east.'
In the early months of 1798 Napoleon's 'Oriental complex' chimed
perfectly with his own objective self-interest. After three months in Paris,
he was ceasing to be an object of universal fascination. Convinced of the
need for ceaseless momentum, he knew he had either to attempt a coup in
Paris or to find an adventure elsewhere. He felt he would probably lose if
he attempted an invasion of England, but would probably win if he went
to Egypt. True, there was great risk from the Royal Navy but, after the
loss of Leghorn and Hoche's invasion attempts in 1796, the British had
pulled their fleets out of the Mediterranean. If cross-Channel invasion
fever could be kept up, it was likely they would stay out.
For two months from 5 March Napoleon moved heaven and earth to
put together a viable expedition. He had to raise the money, troops and
ships needed while maintaining secrecy about the destination of his
forces. He had to find a means of 'selling' the idea of Egypt to the French
population at large when the secret became known. And he had to be
absolutely sure in his own mind that he was doing the right thing, that his
absence would not, after all, play into the hands of his enemies and
political rivals. France was not yet psychologically ready for the fall of the
Directory, and the Five must be given enough rope to hang themselves
with; on the other hand, if things went wrong in Egypt or he was away
too long, Napoleon could come back to find that he was yesterday's man
and that Bernadotte, a new Hoche or maybe even Barras still was the man
of the hour. Napoleon's actions throughout March-May 1798 were those
of a gambler playing for very high stakes, and it is this that accounts for
the many 'blips' in the preparation of the expedition.
The first problem was that of men, money and materiel. Napoleon had
originally projected a total army of 6o,ooo for his ultimate advance into
India: these were to comprise 30,000 Frenchmen and 30,000 recruits he
hoped to find in Egypt, conveyed on ro,ooo horses and so,ooo camels,
together with provisions for sixty days and water for six. With these, a
train of artillery, rso field-pieces and a double issue of ammunition, he
estimated he could reach t he Indus in four months. The very mention of
the Indus, with its association with Alexander the Great, is suggestive.
marcin
(Marcin)
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