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

A SKY AFLAME41Adj. Gen. Augustin-Daniel Belliard, the son of a public prosecutor, hadformed a militia of patriots at the time of the Revolution, which became part ofthe National Guard and started him on a military career. Belliard recalled, “Thegloom was thick, we were marching defiantly, when we saw by the light oftorches a big group approaching us.” 25 It was a deputation headed by the localmufti, or Muslim jurist. “They brought us a torch, bread, honey, and cheese.”Encouraged by this attempt at propitiating them, the French asked for lodging,but the cleric flatly refused (Belliard thought it was because they were infidelsand would have polluted the servants of Muhammad, but one wonders if aFrench town would have been eager to have German troops billeted on them.)“We were happy to be admitted to the baths, where the general staff passed thenight on mats.” General Desaix, who was from an aristocratic background buthad thrown in with the revolutionary army, had less patience with local customs.He had the doors of a local mosque forced and established himself there. Needlessto say, turning a mosque into a barracks for French soldiers made a bad impressionon the Muslims of Damanhur.Many of the 4,000 townspeople of the city, upon discovering the Frenchadvance, had fled, taking with them their provisions, their animals, even insome instances their doors (carved wood is precious in an arid land). Bernoyerexulted that the locals had been unable to carry away their water, which waswhat the troops mainly sought. Jean-Pierre Doguereau, a young artillery lieutenantfrom a modest family in Orleans, central France (his father was a wigmaker), had fought in the Army of the Rhine, then been assigned to the Egyptiancampaign. He described Damanhur as a “mound of huts that look a lot likedovecotes.” 26 He continued, “Some mosques, the minarets of which are visibleamong tall palm trees, offer from afar an agreeable glimpse. The illusion endswhen one approaches.” Only by dint of much effort and money could the soldiersfind anything to eat, and the townspeople disdained their coins. Heviewed them as mischievous assassins in league with the Bedouin that surroundedthem, having many relations with the latter “and much of their character.”The officer memoirists often expected peasants to be subservient, butwere repeatedly disappointed. Doguereau was already constructing a rationaleto explain the rebelliousness of Damanhur, blaming it on the bad influence ofthe Bedouin.Desvernois maintained that the other officers confronted Bonaparte atDamanhur about the unfolding disaster they were witnessing, as the desert andBedouin harassment used up their men. General François Mireur of Montpellier,he said, condemned the Directory for sending the army to Egypt and spoke