ABSTRACT
In 1798 Napoleon Bonaparte, leader of France's revolutionary armies invaded Egypt, attempting to win local hearts and minds by, among other statements, claiming that the French people were Muslim. The French Revolution was not only an event of world scope and importance; it in many ways shaped the modern world, constituting a foundational event in the rise of globalization. In many ways, the French Revolution created the idea of modernity, both for France and for the world in general. Hostility to the nobility certainly helped bring about the Revolution, but such hatred was nothing new in France. The American Revolution had an enormous attraction for the progressive intellectuals of France. Most of the leading revolutionaries were male, and the political work of the National Assembly detailed the rights of men as citizens, while largely excluding women. The Revolution's impact in the Caribbean and the Americas as a whole spread far beyond France's own territories.
