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Political Strategy Over Pure Conquest
- Napoleon planned political control as carefully as military conquest, forbidding looting and courting local religious leaders.
- He framed the French as liberators from the foreign Mameluke rulers to win native cooperation.
Who The Mamelukes Really Were
- The Mamelukes were slave-warriors who effectively ruled Egypt through a military aristocracy.
- They were foreign-born elites, which Napoleon exploited by promising liberation to native Egyptians.
Surprise Landing And Split Advance
- The French landed at Alexandria, rushed troops into the city overnight, and captured the port before defenders could react.
- Bonaparte then split his army and marched inland toward Cairo from two directions immediately.