ABSTRACT
Napoleon Bonaparte's expedition has won renown for having included 167 artists, scholars, and scientists, who set out to explore and describe Egypt thoroughly. Napoleon viewed Egypt as the first step toward his goal of taking India; soon he was leading his troops into Palestine. The French occupation had hastened political and social changes that had begun under Ali Bey and Abu al-Dhahab. Muhammad 'Ali in Arabic and Mehmet Ali in Turkish, would become the founder of modern Egypt. His own background was probably Albanian, but he had been trained as an Ottoman officer. He spoke mainly Turkish, not Arabic. He did not learn to read and write until he was middle-aged. Yet Mehmet Ali succeeded where Napoleon had failed and accomplished more for Egypt than any of his better-educated descendants. Mehmet Ali made Egypt a military power second to none in the Middle East. Mehmet Ali's weakness proved to be his relationship with the British.
