Napoleon's Egypt: Invading The Middle East - Reenactor.ru

26 NAPOLEON’S EGYPTMarseilles, and their complaints helped impel the Directory to intervene. Thespacious European mansions of the foreign merchants in Alexandria marked offthe nicest part of the city, reflecting the dominance of French and Venetian capital,and that part of the city, in a way already colonized, warmly welcomedBonaparte.The French heavy guns were now off-loaded at Abuqir, and companies ofgrenadiers manned the fortifications at the lighthouse. Bernoyer, a civilian withno military experience, went to the beach to attend to his personal effects andwas surprised to see the sands covered with ammunition wagons, bombs, cannonballs,and artillery pieces. More than a thousand men were scurrying abouton the beach and in boats, off-loading this deadly cargo, which was intended tosubdue the entire Nile Valley. He was shocked to see the Alexandrians comingto the beach and nonchalantly bathing and praying, appearing to pay no attentionto the fleet’s disgorgement of the weapons of large-scale terror. He tooktheir insouciance for a strange lack of curiosity, and did not stop to think thatcarrying on with business as usual has often been among the secret weapons ofresistance employed by vanquished populations to bolster their morale.The Bedouins who had resisted the French advance that morning sent adelegation of thirty men to offer an alliance by breaking bread, saying they hadnow heard that Bonaparte was only interested in overthrowing the beylicate ofIbrahim Bey and Murad Bey, Egypt’s two rulers. The commander in chief assuredthem that this was the case, and ate with them as a proof of the sincerity ofhis intentions. He reaffirmed his commitment to interfere neither with their religionnor their women, and went beyond seeking a truce, asking them to allywith him against the beys. For their part, they pledged not to harass his columnsand to provide some men to fight Egypt’s former masters. For his part, Bonapartesaid that upon becoming master of Egypt he would return to them somelands they had formerly possessed, but which the emirs had confiscated.For a while the Bedouins withdrew, temporarily making the roads secure.The few chieftains who made this pledge to Bonaparte were not representative,and other Bedouin, who did not feel bound by the agreement, harassed theFrench army relentlessly. Moiret, showing the usual disdain of urban observers,described the Bedouins as inveterate highwaymen (ignoring their valuable roleas pastoralists, producers of meat and milk products from marginal land, andmanagers of long-distance communications and transportation). He depictedthe men as well armed, typically owning a horse, a carbine, two pistols, and asaber of Damascene steel. He said that, when in camp, each was accompanied bya young female slave who took a stirrup in her hand and followed alongside the