Name: Napoleon's Obsession: The Quest for Egypt
Genre: Documentary
Released: 2000-04-23
Rating: 7.6
Cast: Bob Brier

He Who Violate This Tome -- Well, He Better Look Out, That's All.

A neatly presented documentary on Napoleon's adventures in Egypt. For the most part, all we know is "Napoleon conquered Egypt." But it's not that simple. Nothing is.

At the time, France was at war with England, and the occupation of Egypt would block England's route to India and its empire in Southeast Asia. That's the traditional explanation. But, according to host Bob Brier, aka "Mister Mummy", Napoleon wanted Egypt because it was there. It's glorious to be a conqueror of an ancient nation, just as it's glamorous to be a war-time president.

He sailed his fleet to Egypt and landed his men at Alexandria, some hundred miles from Cairo. After a brutal march across the desert, during which many of his troops died, he managed to defeat the savage Mamalukes who ruled Egypt at the time, but his fleet was destroyed by Admiral Nelson in the Battle of the Nile. It left him stranded, with no way of getting supplies, so he taxed the Egyptians to the point of revolt, which he was able to put down at the expense of many lives.

To keep the local populace quiet, he claimed to convert to Islam, along with his men, but his men couldn't keep away from booze and from squiring about women who wore no veils, so the ruse didn't work very well.

Hearing that the Turks in the Holy Land were gathering for an attack, he marched his army north, conquered one city, and was defeated at the gates of another. He spun it well. His message to France claimed total victory, even though he now had to march his bedraggled army, sick with plague, back to Cairo. He dumped his artillery to make camel ambulances but was now in no position to do much more in the way of conquering. In addition, he couldn't carry all his sick and wounded, so he poisoned them to prevent their torture by the enemy.

He slipped unnoticed out of Egypt, without telling his men, and left command to his subordinate, Clebert, who was assassinated shortly afterward. In Paris he was welcomed as a hero and within weeks declared himself emperor, which ticked off one of his admirers, Beethoven, to such an extent that the composer changed the title of one of his symphonies -- I think, the third -- which had originally been dedicated to Napoleon.

The chief legacy of his move on Egypt may have been established by the many scientists and artists he brought with him. The Rosetta Stone, which now rests in the British museum, provided the avenue to the translation of ancient heiroglyphs.

He was awfully careless with the lives of his men and he seemed to have learned little when he later invaded Russia. It's good to be confident, I guess, but you can have too much of a good thing.

Informative and well presented. Nice job in straightening out some myths about the Corsican artillery lieutenant.

The documentary is a form of non-fiction storytelling that aims to present factual information, insights, and perspectives on real-world subjects, events, issues, or people. Documentaries can cover a wide range of topics, including history, science, culture, social issues, nature, biographies, and more.

Dziga Vertov in Man with a Movie Camera (1929)

Napoleon's Obsession: The Quest for Egypt

Napoleon's Obsession: The Quest for Egypt (2000)

The Biggest Movies and TV Coming in September

"The Gentlemen" and "Slow Horses" return this fall, while the "Reacher" spin-off series "Neagley" makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

2026 Fall TV and Streaming Watch Guide

&quot;The Gentlemen&quot; and &quot;Slow Horses&quot; return this fall, while the &quot;Reacher&quot; spin-off series &quot;Neagley&quot; makes its debut. See our guide of the biggest Fall TV and streaming releases.

Get a closer look at these actors from their many TV and streaming series roles.

Streaming Stars, Then and Now

Napóleon szeszélye: Az egyiptomi hadjárat

There's Something Wrong with Aunt Diane (2011)

André René Roussimoff in Andre the Giant (2018)

Ian Diaz and Angela Diaz in A Toxic Love Story (2026)

Louis Theroux in The Most Hated Family in America (2007)

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Their Time Is Now

DC's Legends of Tomorrow: Their Time Is Now (2016)

Napoleon's Obsession: The Quest for Egypt

Photos

Cast1

User reviews1

More like this

Related interests

Storyline

Top picks

Details

Tech specs

Contribute to this page

More to explore

Recently viewed