Napoleon's quest

There were many the difficulties faced by the Middle Eastern empires in adapting to the intellectual, technological, economic, political and social challenges presented by the West in the 18th and 19th centuries. Some of them were difficult to overcome, but everything happens for a reason and things worked out for the best. The problems faced by the Middle Eastern empires were caused by the strength and dreams of others.

The Middle Eastern empires had difficulties adapting to the intellectual changes introduced by the West. The one man whose dreams were big enough to cause such controversy and make such big changes was Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon was leading an expedition from France to Egypt from 1798 to 1801. The conquest of Egypt was part of the Arab-Islamic expansion.

Napoleon’s objective was to raise the French flag in Egypt and to rule like a king. Unfortunately he met with the Mamelukes and fought the battle of the Pyramids. The Mamelukes were defeated by Napoleon’s Army and that was the fact that convinced the people of Egypt that there would be a new conqueror in the area. The Egyptians were scared, but Napoleon’s conquest brought something more than just stressful days and scary nights to the Egyptians.

Napoleon’s army was made with more than soldiers. The group of people who traveled with him were scholars. He brought engineers, scientists, mathematicians, artists and many more. The purpose of these scholars was to study Egypt. They were there to study the enemy and learn all their techniques so they can conquer them. The scientists studied the pyramids; they considered every monument possible to make their initial plan work. They discovered the Rosetta stone, which has helped to decipher the Egyptian hieroglyphics. The scientists also studied the Mummies. Napoleon brought reform to the Egyptian villagers. He took over the education system and made the Egyptians learn French. They had to speak three languages, which were: Arabic, English and now French. His scholars studied Egypt so in depth that when they went back to France, they already had twenty two volumes of big books. They named the book collection The Description de Egypt. The idea of reform came then to Egypt.