Battle of the Pyramids

Battle of the Pyramids
Part of the Campaign in Egypt and Syria of the French Revolutionary Wars
The Battle of the Pyramids, Louis-François, Baron Lejeune, 1808.
Date 21 July 1798 Location Embabeh, near Cairo, Ottoman Egypt 30°5′N 31°12′E / 30.083°N 31.200°E / 30.083; 31.200Coordinates: 30°5′N 31°12′E / 30.083°N 31.200°E / 30.083; 31.200 Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
France	Ottoman Empire Mamluks
Commanders and leaders
Napoleon Bonaparte	Murad Bey Ibrahim Bey
Strength
20,000 total 3,000 cavalry 17,000 infantry 42 cannons	25,000
Casualties and losses
29 dead, 260 wounded	20,000 Mamelukes from Napoleon's own records or uncertain from other sources Several thousand peasants dead or wounded

Ottoman Empire

The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a major engagement fought on July 21, 1798 during the French Invasion of Egypt. The French army under Napoleon Bonaparte scored a decisive victory against the forces of the local Mamluk rulers, wiping out almost the entire Egyptian army. It was the battle where Napoleon employed one of his significant contributions to military tactics, the divisional square. Actually a rectangle, the deployment of the French brigades into these massive formations repeatedly threw back multiple cavalry charges by the Egyptians.

The victory effectively sealed the French conquest of Egypt as Murad Bey salvaged the remnants of his army, chaotically fleeing to Upper Egypt. French casualties amounted to roughly 300, but Egyptian casualties soared into the thousands. Napoleon entered Cairo after the battle and created a new local administration under his supervision.

The battle exposed the fundamental military and political decline of the Ottoman Empire throughout the past century, especially compared to the rising power of Napoleon's France. Napoleon named the battle after the Egyptian pyramids because they were faintly visible on the horizon when the battle took place.

In July 1798, Napoleon was marching from Alexandria toward Cairo after invading and capturing the former. He met the forces of the ruling Mamluks nine miles (15 km) from the Pyramids, and only four miles (6 km) from Cairo. The Mamluk forces were commanded by two Georgian mamluks Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey and had powerful and highly developed cavalry. This fight was known as The Battle of Chobrakit.

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