Vernet04 ~ Bataille du Caire, dite des Pyramides livree le 3 Thermidor an 6 (21 Juillet 1798) ~ framed 20 x 24.5 inches ~
The Battle of the Pyramids. After landing in Egypt and capturing Alexandria in early July, 1798, Napoleon's army advanced towards Cairo. Within sight of the Pyramids and only four miles from Cairo, Napoleon fought his first major battle against the Mamelukes, a slave descendant caste that had ruled Egypt for seven centuries. The battle was a clash between a modern European Army and a medieval Middle Eastern Army, and although heavily outnumbered, Napoleon realized that the only Egyptian troops of any worth on the battlefield was the Mameluke cavalry. In an inventive move, Napoleon arranged his infantry forces in large divisional 'Squares' with French cavalry and baggage hid within the lines. With this approach, the French Army repelled the Mameluke horsemen, and French infantry drove the disorganized Mameluke infantry in to the Nile river. Seeing the defeat, a larger Mameluke army waiting in Cairo dispersed into the desert leaving the capital open to Napoleon.