French Invasion of Egypt - Preparations and Voyage - Proposal

Proposal

At the time of the expedition, the Directoire had assumed executive power in France. It would resort to the army to maintain order in the face of the Jacobin and royalist threats, and count in particular on general Bonaparte, already a successful commander, especially thanks to his leadership of the Italian campaign.

In August 1797, Bonaparte proposed a military expedition to seize Egypt, a province of the Ottoman Empire since the Ottoman–Mamluk War (1516–1517), in a letter to the Directoire, seeking to protect French trade interests, attack British commerce and undermine Britain's access to India and the East Indies, since Egypt was well-placed on the trade routes to these places. Bonaparte wished to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with his ally Tipu Sultan, who was the ruler of the Sultanate of Mysore, which was one of the biggest hindrances to the British East India Company. As France was not ready for a head-on attack on Great Britain itself, the Directoire decided to intervene indirectly and create a 'double port' connecting the Red Sea to the Mediterranean Sea, prefiguring the Suez Canal.

At the time the expedition was being mooted, Egypt was an Ottoman province which had collapsed in on itself, with dissension among the Mamluks. It was now out of the Ottoman sultan's direct control. In France, Egyptian fashion was in full swing — intellectuals believed that Egypt was the cradle of western civilisation and wished to export the Enlightenment to the Egyptians, French traders already based on the River Nile were complaining of harassment by the Mamluks, and Napoleon wished to walk in the footsteps of Alexander the Great. He assured the Directoire that "as soon as he had conquered Egypt, he will establish relations with the Indian princes and, together with them, attack the English in their possessions." According to a 13 February 1798 report by Talleyrand, "Having occupied and fortified Egypt, we shall send a force of 15,000 men from Suez to the Sultanate of Mysore, to join the forces of Tipu Sultan and drive away the English." The Directoire agreed to the plan in March 1798. Though troubled by the enterprise's scope and cost, they readily agreed to the plan in order to remove the popular and over-ambitious general from the centre of power, though it long remained a secret that this was one of their main aims for the expedition.