Cosplaying Caesar - Napoleon in Egypt - Part 1 - Extra History 

Welp Cleo!

I can't wait for Muhammad Ali pasha to appear in this series.

Please do Texas revolution please extra history please

@Extra History from who you learn history you know that napoleon lose the war against the ottoman empire

You skipped over how the native population of Egypt was almost eradicated in the 8th century....gee why so quiet....

I still don't see the parallels... Ceasar is a salad... Napoleon is a cake... one is a sweet dessert, other is a vegetable meal. I guess you stab them both with a fork is about all that's common between the two.

​@@KasumiRINA you have good points

"Release the lions"

Napoléon is also a hybrid cat breed, and an Indian Street food sandwich

He's not unlike the Prussian King talked about in previous episodes

Ambition, that was the key to all of Napoleon. He was very ambitious and he knew how to get what he needed. Now it’s safe to say based on almost all his correspondence kept on record that he very much was a devout revolutionary. He genuinely believed everything he did was for the good of France and the Revolution. The catch? He believed only HE was the one capable and to be trusted with such authority and responsibility. It would reflect not only in his political career as future-Emperor, but even as a battlefield commander.

As Oversimplified pointed out, he likely was only tolerant of different religions because he thought it would keep the people happy and 'in their place'.

@@charliefarmer4365 It was definitely a strategic idea than a humanitarian one. But that doesn't negate the decency of the action, no matter the motive.

@DasTemplar 96 It's a quality that I think makes leaders such as Washington and Lincoln better because despite having faults of their own, they weren't delusional enough to pretend that they could single handedly fix the problems they faced themselves. Where as, I don't believe Napoleon ever saw the Revolution succeeded without him.

Yeh they become Christianized like whole europe

Neither is Egypt or India, nor China, or Israel, South America of the El Dorado gold, Mongolia or Japan

Tbf its hilarious that Otto managed to be king of the greeks for so long, having nothing to do with them at all, then dying in the first days of the war without even a lick of fighting.

Have any links to papers on this? I'd like to see what they thought

Well to be fair... anything having to do with Islam is going to set you back 6000 years....

"This time he spent there was a real detriment to his journey" It actually was the other way around. Nelson arrived in Egypt before Napoleon, but as Napoleon wasn't there yet, Nelson assumed Napoleon had sailed further ahead and went off. The delay at Malta was partly responsible for Napoleon giving the superior British navy, which he could not hope to beat in a direct confrontation, the slip on his way to Egypt. Of course, there is no way Napoleon could have known this at the time, he wasn't a psychic.

aaaaaand then the locals hated him so much they invited Britain to kick the french out again.

@@freewillgeorgesaid the English

@@freewillgeorgesaid the English x2

And the english were right!

Those wars shaped Europe for decades. Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign was just a complete failure and didn’t achieve anything besides finding the Rosetta Stone. Losers don’t have as much place in history as winners as the saying goes history is written by the victors

I mean, American and Europeans have always neglected African and Asian histories, compared to European ones. Just look at this channel. The videos on Africa and Asia are very minimal compared to American and European histories.

Ironically, Napoleon felt differently. He felt that the true empires were won in the East, and that his loss in Egypt was a great failing.

Well outside Britian Trafalgar is not even a thing but well.

@@grapeshott you can't blame them for focusing on their own history

​@@youtubehandlesshouldsuckadick am pretty they did the whole campaign

Thank our lovely Patreons for making it possible!

@@extrahistory thank you Patreon. Even though I don’t have enough money to be with you guys

@@extrahistory thank for existing 💖 your Chanel is great

Make a video series : A pop Culture decade series video

History Dose made a pretty dope vid on it.

He didn't do much in Egypt, so I don't know if he'll get covered, soon after the Battle of the Pyramides, he had words with Napoléon and asked to be returned to France. Unfortunately, his ship sunk, he was captured by the Naples government, and was only liberated to discover Napoléon in the government, who lost no tme to fire him (well a lot of soldiers were fired, it was peace time, but being hostile to the regime was a sure way to be the first to go XD) and will die a few years later ^^'

@@krankarvolund7771 LOL Dumas was the military governor of Cairo during the revolt, and keep his position, then Napoleon went back to France but Dumas believed who he should remain with Kleber, but then he changed his mind, the problem was who the French "fleet" was operating with the help of the Algerian Regency, and they depended on pre-arranged dates, but Dumas escaped Egypt to late to made it with Napoleon and to Early to made it with Dessaix, thus his ship was captured and Napoleon had to pay a ransom for him, so Napoleon recriminated him being caught and when Dumas become ill, he didn't let him go (something similar with Massena, Odener, Junot) but he never fired him, by the contrary he insisted on him mantaining his job, something who Dumas was not fit for, nevertheless he was on Napoleon staff in 1805, and then he finally was allowed to retreat after Austerlitz, but he died in 1806.

Dumas was the father of Dumas "Pere" (the writer) and grandfather of Dumas (the other writer) both were called Alexandre, but the general is Thomas Alexandre

One can only hope, because the story of the Dumas family is a truly interesting one.

Also it weakened the Muslim fundamentalist control on Egypt which was a big thing keeping ancient Egypt mysterious. I think the Native Egyptians could have figured out what Europeans figured out theoretically but due to Islamic taboos about Pagan teachings they didn't want to. There is cases in the modern day of like Saudi Arabia destroying pre Islamic ruins in Arabia.

@@doomdimensiondweller5627 Actually many Muslim scholars and historians tried to study ancient Egypt and to decipher the Hieroglyphs, a famous one being Ibn Wahshiyya al Nabati ابن وحشية النبطي, but their understanding was mostly limited or their historical facts were downright false

@@manetho5134 I am sure many did but Islamic society as a whole was against the idea and it wasn't patronized by Sultans which limited the room for growth.

I have to admit that, although I am very interested in history, I don't know much about the capaign and the occupation itself. The outcome here gets far more focus, as the capaign was the kickstarter for modern Egyptology and Napoleons rise to become First Consule.

Napoleon himself is also viewed with a mixed perception in other parts of Europe, besides France. English speaking historians tend to glorify him, almost like the French do, mostly due to his successes in battle, but he too caused lots of death and destruction in the countries that he waged war with. It is easy to overlook the dark aspects about his existence, when consuming English speaking sources. English speaking civilians never had to suffer under his reign, so it's easy to see, why they mostly focus on the glorious aspects of Napoleon today. And this whole chapter also had its benefits for Napoleons enemies in Europe as well. Lots of gains in technology, standardization, society and military through French occupation (and fighting them). But those were still violent occupations. Many generations saw Napoleon as a monster, an enemy who killed sons and daughters, who destroyed, pillaged and then occupied and ruled against the native population, after the end of this chapter, while French people praised him as a national hero till this very day.

I am happy somebody brought this up.

You are correct, but keep in mind, that the mamluk bey, who held the title "sheikh al-balad", was often equal in power if not more influential than the ottoman appointed pasha/wali.

Thanks, I was super confused about that.

أنت على حق، لكن المملوكيين ما زالوا كانوا ولاة تحت إشراف السلطان في الوقت ده

🤣

One of extra history’s most memorable moments!

@@extrahistory​Snake shenanigans aside, I have a serious question to ask: what’s your estimate on when we will see a comprehensive series on Napoleon’s rise/fall from power (and life in general)? I find it very perplexing that you’ve quickly glossed over his French Revolution origin story to jump straight into his Egypt campaign.

@@topnotchshinobi You got Oversimplified for that baby :p I'm sure they'll get to it eventually, look at how they're filling in Japanese history! We have like 5 series within 2 centuries and 1 prequel story for it in the span of like 6 years

@@AtlasNovack Eh, good point! Then I guess I’m okay with waiting for another decade (ish?) for us to see the Napoleon anthology gradually come to life here on Extra History! In the meanwhile, back to preoccupying myself with Oversimplified memes!

What

co?

Not any polish woman, the Countess Walewska was from one of the most prestigious noble families of Poland XD Although I don't find anything on them becoming billionnaires in the auto industry, there's like a dozen of big car builders in France (well was, most of them have closed ^^), but none of them had belonged to the family Colonna-Walewski. The closes I could find is that they invested in logistics and transports and notably a taxi firm that had helped France in the famous Marne Battle during WWI ^^' But yes, the son of Napoléon did served in the french army, in fact on the three sons of Napoléon, both of his illegitimate sons served during the Second Empire, Alexander Walewski as an officer in the Foreign Legion, while Charles Leon, son of Napoléon and a handmaiden of his sister, who served in the National Guard. As for Napoleon II, his only legitimate son, he died at 21 years soe didn't do anything noteworthy, saying himself on his deathbed "My birth and my death that is all my history, between my cradle and my tomb, there's a big zero".

Here's another fun fact : one of his great-nephews, Charles-Joseph, created the Bureau of Investigation in 1908, which would later become the FBI.

​@@tremendousbaguette9680 honestly I would love an Extra Credits serie about the creation of the FBI. It would nicely link with their series about the Pinkertons and Teddy Roosevelts trust busting

Yes Napoleon bodyguards and elite troops were Mameluks recruited from Egypt, they were the first Guard Mamelukes,

thats a persian name lmao

It's very understandable, which statemen would not love having a personnal guard of what's basically a slave only loyal to him? It's not about their military prowess I suppose regarding the technological and strategical gaps between the french army and the mamluks. Beside the plague following his troops Egypt was kinda piece of cake before fighting the english in Africa.

@@handhand212 Persian name, lived a Georgian, enslaved by the Turks, worked for the French and died in France.

@@theanglo-lithuanian1768 indeed because the mamluks were a class of mostly foreign slaves, mamluk even means when translated from Arabic: one who is owned.

You're joking! Now I'm interested. I second this suggestion.

Agreed

And his great-son Alexandre Dumas, son, wrote the Lady of the Camellias, although not as famous as his father ^^

@@krankarvolund7771 I wonder what caused such a line of novelists?

@@malachiphoniex8501 When pressed on his skills during his first job interview, Alexandre admitted he knew very little about anything. Except, they found out, he knew how to carve beautiful letters. That's how writers are born.

How to become a member like you?

​@meme-face_ you can press the "join" button on the channel I believe

it is

How dare he stop Napoleon from abandoning his army to death and disease! Evil I tell you!

Yup

We don't need comedic elements in these series. Appreciation of history should be enough. If that isn't for you, that's bad trouble.

@@ianrastoski3346So why do you watch this channel? How has it changed?

@@ianrastoski3346 …you do realise there can be both, right?

I mean some of us still do like me.

Hey, Mazdas are great, imagine Taliban taking Tehran on a bunch of Miatas and firing an RPG from an RX-7!.. I am joking of course, they would more likely use a 4x4 Mazda not a roadster, when they do to mullahs what Iranian women want for a long time.

We actually did a series on cleopatra and discussed her heritage and the Ptolemaic Dynasty here ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-ypswk9-DP9M.html

This is literally the same design they used for her in their series that predates Netflix. That's exactly why she has the bun hairstyle and not the Ankha bob. It doesn't change the fact she was a Egyptian queen, like come on, do you call US congresswoman "aCtUaLlY gReEk" because she isn't native FFS?

@@KasumiRINA Back then, when people weren't as mixed, ethnicity mattered a lot, in fact it mattered the most, USA is a mixed of different ethnicities so it no longer matters

A big part of his success in Italy was that his troops were able to live off the land (as in grab whatever wasn’t nailed down) and he assumed it would be the same in Egypt. Europeans knew nothing about the Saharan climate, so he had no way to know what to expect in Egypt.

Well he did once state he liked Islam the most of all the Abrahamic faiths

Yasss!!!

@@extrahistory BRUH!

Still waiting on the Inquisition's dirty laundry.

It only took 10 years

That'd be cool

Indeed, even the name of the state and the choice of the capital city was heavily influenced by the enlightenment movement, the French revolution and the romantic ideals It's not a coincidence that the very first country that recognized Greece as a sovereign nation, was Haiti an other child of the French revolution

He is consequential I will admit that.

French army in Egypt isn't really unknown though, they were even rumored to shoot off Sphinx's nose.

I would say this isn’t unknown but unfortunately in the modern-day world none of the classics get taught and history bored young ppl. As a fellow young person, its just so strange, how the hell is this not exciting? Like i get it if ppl aren’t always interested, but the complete dismissal of the grandeur and excitement of history is insane to me.

@@GuineaPigEveryday completely agree. There are so many fascinating bits of history (snippets and eras alike) that get overlooked. For example, Colonel Blood is mostly known as having a cool name and trying to steal the crown jewels when there's so much interesting stuff about him. Not to mention the fact that the Persian Empire gets overlooked in favour of the Greeks and Romans.

The problem with the Ottomans was who they were in a moral and political decline, thus they had conceded to the western powers their wishes, (like going against France in this war), and also they didn't seem intrested in going to India, meanwhile Tipu Sultan was even from the same political club as Napoleon

I mean, if I was like Tipu Sultan fighting to kick invaders off my country I would contact all their rivals, regardless if they're fighting each other XD

Maybe they really go into Middle-Eastern and African politics beyond Egypt. Or it’s a four part series

Thats an amazing idea man. I’m also someone who actually rlly loved the opportunities of alternate history, because it allows you to explore your passion for history and creative writing without the risk of tarnishing and insulting history by getting the details of it wrong. I always feel like i might get something wrong if i ever wrote a historical novel, ik ppl take creative liberties but to a history student it feels like sin, and it can also be insulting to a lot of ppl. What sort of stuff or ideas are you gonna be exploring? Like what impact does this have, what developments will turn out from this, what does Napoleon want to do or who does he become because of it? The storyline potential sounds great

@@GuineaPigEveryday i'm of a similar mind on fudging the details a bit in alternate history--you should still try to be as true to actual history as possible provided whatever story, but the genre gives some leeway just by being what it is for mine, i haven't developed the actual events of Napoleon's time as much, (need to do more proper research on that) but the idea is that he'll still die when he did historically and for the same reasons--i know there's some alternate theories, which are floated in the vein conspiracy theory/secret history in the alternate timeline, but that's beside the point. the end result of his victory is that France is the premier European power of the 19th century but as far as imperialism goes is a bit more limited because of their ongoing rivalry with Britain and so that's more focused on the Mediterranean and the Suez. the planned story itself is meant to be more about the timeline's divergent egyptology starting with a young French woman who basically smuggles herself there out of concern for her father, a soldier stationed at the Suez, because of the outbreak of an alternate Mahdi Revolt and she's essentially stuck in Egypt for the same reasons. she's upset about all this at first but starts getting over it as she becomes enamored with Egyptian antiquities and the story develops from there. she of course gathers up a group of friends and allies, but the only one i've done any development so far is a local Arab woman who becomes a "big sister mentor" figure to her, and the requisite antagonists (filling in as the Belloq or Donovan to her Indiana Jones) are Confederate expatriates who are meant to also feature in another story set to take place in the same timeline, this basically explaining what they did after they left the plot in the other one.

I noticed that too lol. I was like "Egypt is not that big" and looked up a map to make sure

Fr

Thank you so much for becoming a member! It's people like you who help keep us going.

getting an egyptian waifu

Single* Intended* Not to be rude tho just telling ya

@@itz.yukiix Appreciated and no offence taken. I think I was half asleep when I wrote that.

LOL, the artists do some fantastic comedic work!