Details Napoleon's dramatic invasion of Egypt in 1798, the first attack on a Middle-Eastern country by a Western power in modern times. With 335 ships and 40,000 men, it was the largest long-distance seaborne force the world had ever seen. But Napoleon's assault was intended to be much more than a colonial adventure, for he took with him over one hundred and fifty scientists, mathematicians, artists, and writers - a "Legion of Culture" - with a view to bringing Western civilization to "backward" Egypt. Drawing upon newly uncovered diaries and papers, this is a portrait of Napoleon, the colorful members of his expedition, and this bold gamble. Napoleon was just twenty-eight when he invaded Egypt, and it was an episode which contained in embryo many seminal events in his later life. Epic military victories, his declaration of himself as emperor, the introduction of the Napoleonic code - all of these were foreshadowed in this brilliant, ambitious, and ultimately disastrous adventure.

Originally published : London : Jonathan Cape, 2007.