1-155-453 - Art Media/Heritage Images

'Battle of the Pyramids', 21 June, 1798, (c1835). Trudging towards Cairo, Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) and 25,000 men faced two forces of Mamelukes under Murad and Ibrahim Bey.The French formed themselves into squares covered by 30 guns and determinedly beat off sustained attacks by the Mamelukes.The Egyptian defenders in the village were isolated and a brutal assault resulted in them being routed. More than 5000 of the Mameluke force were killed or wounded, while Bonaparte's Army of the Orient lost 300 men. The Pyramids won Lower Egypt for France, but Admiral Horatio Nelson's victory on the Nile squashed Bonaparte's hopes for a conquest.