Egyptian anti-French resistance in the province of Rosetta (July – September 1798)

The military and political expansion of the French Republic into the territories of other countries during the Revolutionary Wars of 1792–1802 was carried out under the guise of “liberation” rhetoric. While claiming to “liberate” other nations from their tyrants, revolutionary France actually occupied neighboring countries and extracted resources from them. In 1798, at the head of the Oriental Army, Napoleon Bonaparte also planned to carry out the conquest of Egypt under the guise of a similar verbal veil, announcing to the Arab population that the French had come to “liberate” them from the “yoke of the Mamluks”. Therefore, Bonaparte ordered the preparation of a special Arabic-language appeal to the Egyptians in order to ensure their loyalty to the occupiers. To what extent was his plan successful? Were his assurances convincing to the Egyptian Muslims? According to Napoleon's memoirs about the Egyptian campaign, dictated on the island of St. Helena, he managed, at least at first, to convince the locals of his good intentions and gain their cooperation. This “harmony” in the relationship between the French and the Arabs was allegedly disrupted only when the Ottoman Sultan declared jihad against the infidels in September 1798. Napoleon does not mention any conflicts between the occupiers and the local population during the previous period. The author of the article, relying on the correspondence and memoirs of the French participants in the campaign, as well as on the official documents of the Oriental Army, analyzed how the relations between the local residents and the French in the province of Rosetta, located in the western part of the Nile Delta, actually developed during the first three months of the occupation. The author concluded that during this period, the French were unable to establish complete control over the entire territory of the province of Rosetta, whose capital was occupied in the first week of the campaign. Optimistic reports from General Menou, the governor of the province, to Bonaparte about the peaceful coexistence between the occupiers and the local population were not truthful. In reality, the French power was limited only to the city of Rosetta, and their attempts to extend their control over the entire province were met with armed resistance from the local inhabitants.