Napoleon's Egyptian Campaign In 1798 Napoleon took an expeditionary force to Egypt made up of soldiers and scholars. Taking Egypt would disrupt British trade with India and give the French a foothold to expand from the Southern Mediterranean and into the Indian Ocean. Napoleon began to negotiate with Indian Princes to rebel against the British East India Company in anticipation of victory. His aim was to supplant British naval power with the French.

He had early victories against the Egyptians, taking Alexandria easily and winning the Battle of the Pyramids, which cleared his way to Cario unopposed. When the British under Admiral Horatio Nelson defeated the French Navy in the Battle of the Nile, Napoleon and his forces were stranded in Africa. He continued his military campaign but lost more men to disease than conflict and could not reinforce them. Local revolts and riots all became too much trouble to continue to put down, so Napoleon returned to Europe in 1799.