Battle of the Pyramids

 The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a significant action fought between French invaders and Mamluk forces on July 21, 1798, in Egypt. Napoleon Bonaparte's French army defeated the local Mamluk lords and nearly obliterated the Ottoman army in Egypt. This is also the conflict in which Napoleon used one of his significant contributions to world military tactics, the infantry square. The deployment of French brigades into these huge formations, in actuality a rectangle, frequently effectively repulsed Mamluk cavalry attacks.

For the French, the victory at Embabeh was an important victory for their conquest of Egypt, as Murad Bey had to lead the remnants of a chaotic retreat to Upper Egypt. French casualties were less than 300, while Ottoman and Mamluk casualties numbered in the thousands. After the battle ended, Napoleon entered Cairo and established a new local government under his supervision. The battle exposed the decline and political and military backwardness of the Ottoman Empire over the past century, especially before a rising power like France. Napoleon named the battle after the Egyptian pyramids because they loomed over the horizon as the battle progressed.

Battle of the Pyramids Summary

Napoleon marched from Alexandria to Cairo in July 1798 after landing and seizing the harbor city. He encountered the soldiers of the local Mamluk authority approximately 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) from the Pyramids of Giza and about 6 kilometers (3.7 miles) from Cairo. The Mamluk army is led by two Georgian-born Mamluks, Murad Bey, and Ibrahim Bey, and possesses an elite and well-trained cavalry force.

Napoleon gave orders to march straight in the direction of Murad's army, with each of the five divisions organized into hollow squares with cavalry and supplies in the center and cannons in the corners. The French divisions marched south in chant, with the right flank leading and the Nile guarding the left flank. Napoleon organized divisions under the direction of Louis Charles Antoine Desaix, Jean-Louis-Ébénézer Reynier, Charles-François-Joseph Dugua, Honoré Vial, and Louis André Bon, from right to left. Desaix also dispatched a small unit to the west to conquer the adjacent settlement of Biktil.

Murad stationed his right wing in the village of Embabeh on the Nile's banks, which was supported by infantry and some old cannons. The Mamluk cavalry was deployed on the desert slopes. Ibrahim, with a second army, watched helplessly from the east bank of the Nile, unable to intervene. Chandler asserts that Napoleon's army of 25,000 men outnumbered Murad's army of more than 6,000 Mamluk cavalry and 15,000 infantry.

The Mamluk cavalry charged into the French formation without warning at about 15:30. With muskets and artillery, the square infantry of Desaix, Reynier, and Dugua repelled the cavalry. Unable to harm the French formation, Mamluk's cavalry got disappointed and attacked Desaix's detachment, but were destroyed as well.

Meanwhile, near the river, Bon's division attacked the settlement of Embabeh in vertical formations. Breaking into the village, the French drove out the garrison. Many Mamluk soldiers and infantry were trapped in the river and attempted to swim to a safe place, causing hundreds of civilians to drown. In Napoleon's army, only 29 died and 260 were injured. Murad suffered far greater losses, possibly 3,000 Mamluk cavalry and an unknown number of infantry. Murad fled to Upper Egypt, where he waged guerrilla warfare until he was beaten by Desaix in late 1799.

What Was the Outcome of the Battle of the Pyramids

When the Mamluk army in Cairo learned of the fall of their famed cavalry, they went to Syria to regroup and reorganize. The Battle of the Pyramids marked the end of seven centuries of Mamluk sovereignty in Egypt. Despite this promising start, British Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory at the Battle of the Nile ten days later put an end to Napoleon's aspirations of conquering the Middle East.