Napoleon in Egypt (5 page)

Napoleon’s great opportunity would come in the following year. In the summer of 1793 the Royalists seized the main Mediterranean naval port of Toulon, and were supported from the sea by the British navy under Rear-Admiral Hood. Napoleon was rushed in from a nearby training camp at Valence, and given charge of the artillery barrage ranged against the all but impregnable fortifications of the city. The commander of the siege of Toulon was General Doppet, an appointed revolutionary who had previously been a mesmerist doctor; his tactics consisted of little more than fruitless frontal assaults, which came to nothing owing to the bombardment from the British fleet. The twenty-three-year-old Napoleon suggested to his commander a daring plan: instead of attacking the fortifications, they should seize some high ground to the south and bombard the British fleet. The plan soon began to prove successful, and Napoleon himself showed exceptional bravery in leading his men in the final assault on the city. In the course of this charge he received four wounds, including a pike thrust that nearly resulted in his leg being amputated in the field. According to Hood’s twenty-nine-year-old second-in-command, the brave young maverick sailor Sir Sidney Smith, the fleeing British and Royalist troops “crowded the water like the herd of swine that ran furiously into the sea possessed of the devil.”
⁴
However, Smith managed to deprive the French of complete victory by spectacularly detonating the arsenal and setting ablaze the ships that were being left behind. This would not be the last time that Smith encountered Napoleon and thwarted the French army; as we shall see, this brilliant if eccentric sailor would play a crucial role in Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign. Coincidentally, two other men present at Toulon would also play leading roles in Egypt. Napoleon’s aide at this siege was a young Burgundian sergeant called Andoche Junot, who stuck to his side throughout the fiercest of the fighting. At one point Napoleon had just finished dictating an order paper to Junot when a British salvo landed close by, nearly killing them both and showering the order paper with earth. Junot merely remarked, “Good, now I won’t have to sand the ink.”
⁵
Napoleon was pleased to recognize a man as fearless as himself. Another future hero of the Egyptian campaign who fought at Toulon was the twenty-seven-year-old Louis-Charles Desaix, whose military brilliance whilst serving with the French army on the Rhine had led to him being promoted from sub-lieutenant to brigadier general in just seven months. During the turbulent years following the Revolution, men of merit as well as mesmerist doctors could achieve unprecedented advancement.

In December 1793 Napoleon was promoted to brigadier general—his ascent had been even more meteoric than that of Desaix: he had risen from captain to general in just four months. He had already taken part in some minor post-Revolution engagements, but Toulon had been his true baptism of fire, and he had proved himself a heroic leader, inspiring fervent loyalty amongst his men, the cannoneers. The rough conscripted troops under his command, illiterate peasants and the Revolutionary underclass of the city slums, knew that he was always with them; no matter the conditions, he ate and drank with them, swore with them and encouraged them. When necessary he rode on his horse, leading from the front, a gesture which also stirred his junior officers and hardened NCOs. He appeared fearless under fire, and even General Doppet noticed that he was always at his post: “If he needed rest he slept on the ground wrapped in his cloak, he never left his batteries.”
⁶

After Toulon,
le général
Napoleone Buonaparte, as he was then known, was recognized as a rising star; as a result, he would be befriended by the powerful Paul Barras, who had been one of the two government commissioners (political officers) overseeing the siege. Barras was a corrupt former Royalist officer who had inveigled himself into power with Robespierre’s Jacobins, and then played a major role in Robespierre’s execution when he fell, emerging as commander of the Army of the Interior and the police. A dangerous and unsavory character of considerable hauteur and presence, Barras stood out amongst the grasping mediocrities who were rising to the top in post-Revolution politics. He enjoyed his power, using it for personal enrichment as well as wide-spread seduction of prominent Parisian beauties and even some of the young men they attracted. He also had considerable political acumen, and it was this that caused him to befriend Napoleon, the young up-and-coming general. Napoleon had traveled to Paris, the center of power, in the hope of obtaining an active command, only to find himself balked by political maneuvering, forced to live in impecunious circumstances on half-pay. His connection with Barras would change his life.

By October 1795 Barras was a leading member of the ruling but unruly National Convention, the elected assembly which had proved so unpopular that it had succeeded in uniting the three opposing factions—the remnant Jacobins, the increasingly vocal Royalists, and even the so-called moderates. All these finally took to the streets in the thousands in an uprising on October 4 (now better remembered by its revolutionary date, 13 Vendémiaire). In desperation, Barras sent for Napoleon, who with the aid of “a whiff of grapeshot” and a dashing cavalry major called Joachim Murat put the mob to flight.

After 13 Vendémiaire Barras dramatically announced to the Convention: “The Republic has been saved!” By the end of October, the Convention had been replaced by an elected five-man Directory, with Barras manipulating the vote so that he became one of the directors. He then managed to persuade the Directory to appoint the twenty-six-year-old Napoleon commander of the Army of the Interior. He is said to have got his way by telling his fellow Directors: “Promote this man or he will promote himself without you.” Barras evidently understood the extreme nature of Napoleon’s ambition—at a time when even Napoleon himself does not appear to have fully articulated his own aims. Napoleon, for his part, would remember the role played in these events by the young cavalry major Murat: another man he would take to Egypt.

Barras was also responsible for one more major development in Napoleon’s life. Around this time, he introduced Napoleon to a thirty-two-year-old widow called Rose de Beauharnais; she had been born in Martinique and had been lucky to live through the Terror, when her husband had been guillotined and she had been briefly imprisoned. Despite having two children, she had managed to survive after this through having a number of liaisons with high-ranking officers and rich businessmen. Eventually she had become the mistress of Barras, who had set her up in a “pavilion-house in the Greek style” on the Rue Chantereine, paying the 4,000-franc rent as well as the wages of her maidservants, chef, groom and gardener.

Rose’s experiences had transformed her from a provincial innocent with a Caribbean accent into a woman of sophistication and hard realism, but the uncertainties of her position had taken their psychological toll, inclining her to extravagance and promiscuity. The bloom of her youth was beginning to fade, and she had such bad teeth (“like cloves”) that rather than open her mouth to laugh, she maintained a tight-lipped smile whilst snickering through her nose, and went out of her way to avoid eating in company.

By now Barras was beginning to tire of Rose de Beauharnais, and indicated to her that she should attach herself to the young Napoleon—thus giving Barras a certain hold over his protégé, as well as providing him with privy access to any plans Napoleon might mention.

Napoleon was no sexual innocent, but he was not emotionally sophisticated: his life was far too dedicated to ambition to leave much time or energy for attentive devotion to women. He came across as gauche, and referred to himself as “unlucky in love.” In a friendly fashion, Rose began encouraging him to improve his toilette so that it was in keeping with his new commander’s uniform, allowing him to blend in with the Parisian society in which he now found himself. As a result, the rough young Corsican former artillery officer now began brushing his hair and sprinkling himself with eau de Cologne.

In no time Napoleon was in love. A mere seven months after they had first met, he suggested to Rose that they should get married. She hesitated, but gave in when Barras persuaded the Directory to appoint Napoleon commander of the Army of Italy. Here was a young man who was going places—she was unlikely to find a better catch, especially at her age. Ostensibly as a mark of affection, and perhaps unconsciously as a mark of possession, Napoleon changed Rose’s name, calling her Josephine. Curiously, it was also at this time that he formalized his own name, dropping the more Italianate elements to become plain Napoleon Bonaparte. With Barras as his best man, on March 9, 1796, Napoleon married Josephine in a civil ceremony.

Two days later, he left for Nice to take up his command, dispatching passionate love letters at every stage along the way. Josephine remained in Paris, promising to join him as soon as she could. The main reason for Napoleon’s appointment had been for him to launch an invasion of northern Italy, which was at present occupied by the Austrians. Yet when the twenty-six-year-old commander arrived at his headquarters he found himself confronted by 38,000 raggedly uniformed troops, mainly rough Gascon and Provençal conscripts and disillusioned officers, who were owed pay and were hungry and mutinous. With a mixture of bluff admission and stirring challenge, he appealed to these men of the Revolution:

Soldiers, you are naked, ill-fed; though the Government owes you much, it can give you nothing. Your patience and courage . . . have yet to bring you glory, fame has not yet shone upon you. I want to lead you into . . . rich provinces, where great cities can become yours; you will find honor, glory and riches. Soldiers of the Army of Italy, will you lack courage and determination?
⁷

The men believed him, and soon believed
in
him: here was the man to lead them from misery to victory. After just days to instill discipline, Napoleon marched his army across the Alps to face 55,000 superior, disciplined Austrian and Piedmontese troops. Yet within fifteen days he had gained six victories and conquered most of Piedmont. The rabble he had inherited was transformed into a motivated, if bloodthirsty, force, of sufficient bravery to overcome a determined enemy. They were to remain motivated by their leader throughout the campaign. Spurred on by a combination of Republican fervor and high rewards, they were willing to march through the night over vast tracts of countryside, storm bridges and cross mountain passes in order to execute the swift surprise tactics with which their commander again and again put the enemy to flight. It is no exaggeration to say that Napoleon was inventing a new type of warfare, a new type of battle even. Instead of formalized slogging matches, involving the tactical deployment of infantry, cavalry and artillery, he introduced the elements of speed and surprise: “Act first, and then wait to see what happens. . . . Consider all options.”
⁸
His soldiers were enthused by victory, motivated by the indomitable combination of reawakened revolutionary belief and lust for booty instilled in them by their commander.

In November 1796, the Army of Italy won a great victory at Arcola, where Napoleon had his horse shot from under him in the midst of the battle. He fell into a swamp, stuck up to his shoulders in mud, with the Austrians on the point of charging. On the spur of the moment, his brother Louis and a young officer named August Marmont rushed forward under enemy fire and managed to pull him free, rescuing him from certain death. Another great victory followed at Rivoli on January 14, 1797. There appeared to be no stopping Napoleon. In February he occupied the Papal States, and began seizing vast amounts of treasure, sending it back to the cash-strapped Directory. But the Directory were becoming increasingly worried about him taking things into his own hands. Without their authority, he embarked upon negotiations with the Austrians at Campo Formio, dictating the terms of the peace treaty. Austria would cede all her northern Italian territories, recognizing the “independent” republics established there by the French (in fact ruled by puppet governments favorable to the French). On top of this Austria would cede to France the Austrian Netherlands (now Belgium).

For the first time, Napoleon had become more than a mere general, for besides setting up these new republics he even supervised the writing of their constitutions. This was his first taste of political power, and he resisted all attempts by the Directory to interfere. He appears to have decided from the start that political power involved deception: revolutionary France was intended to be seen not as a conqueror but as a liberator. This tenet would be fundamental to his Egyptian campaign.

Despite all this activity, from the outset of his Italian campaign Napoleon still found time to write to Josephine every day, imploring her to join him, pouring out his love for her with candid abandon: “a thousand kisses on your lips, your eyes, your tongue, your cunt.”
⁹
But Josephine was unimpressed: her sexual sophistication may have bewitched Napoleon, but the fact was that she did not return this love. Within days of Napoleon leaving Paris, she began an affair with a young officer of the Hussars called Hippolyte Charles, who was described as having a “pretty face and the elegance of a hairdresser’s assistant.”

As March passed into April, and then May, Napoleon’s letters from Italy became more insistent, demanding to know why she had not joined him. The few letters he received from her were little more than casual scraps; to Napoleon’s outrage, one of them even addressed him formally as “
vous
.” Eventually the dashing Murat was dispatched to Paris, bearing a frantic note from Napoleon: “A kiss on your heart, then a little lower,
much lower
”—the last two words were underlined so many times and with such fervor that Napoleon’s pen had torn through the paper.