The French Army of the Orient 1798-1801: Napoleon's beloved 'Egyptians' (From Reason to Revolution)

This excellent volume is an organizational history of the French Armee de l'Orient that Napoleon formed and organized for the invasion of Egypt in 1798. It is full of excellent material, orders of battle, uniforms, and the assorted different foreign units that were formed and organized by the French during their stay in Egypt.The book is organized into six chapters: The first gives an overview of the French Egyptian Expedition including a timeline of the entire French presence in Egypt. Most histories of the expedition only cover in any detail that portion of the expedition until Napoleon departed for France in 1799. This volume continues through General Kleber's command of the expedition as well as his successor General Menou until they were finally defeated by the British and went home.The other chapters cover the men of the expedition and what their daily life was like; French army organization and tactics; the French orders of battle from 1798-1802; the uniforms and how they gradually changed in Egypt to common sense uniforms that are unique to the expedition; and the book concludes with the sources used for the book as well as recommendations for further reading both in English and in French.Unusually, the artillery, engineer, and other supporting troops are well-covered, including the numbers and types of artillery with the army. This is very helpful for the historian and researcher and the Guides of Bonaparte are also shown as to their organization and actual numbers. These would later be incorporated into the Consular and then Imperial Guard.The book is very well-illustrated with both period and modern day prints, especially of uniforms, and a good portion of them are in color. The Dromedary Regiment is especially well-illustrated and these troops would later be assigned to the Gendarmerie upon their return to France in 1802. Some of the illustrations, especially the period black and white profile portraits of some of the French commanders, are excellent and handy to have on hand.Yves Martin is to be congratulated on his excellent volume, which will become the standard of this type of study. It is full of primary source material, and belongs on the shelf of every Napoleonic historian, modeler, and enthusiast.

Very nice uniforms drawings and enough text to explain the uniforms regulations and many of the unit differences. Not a history of the army but of its uniforms.

Excellent book with lots of nice drawings covering this unique force.

excellent drawings

A very interesting in depth study of the French army in Egypt from 1798-1801. A lot of never previously published uniform details(or at least not in English). Thoroughly recommend it for anyone interested in the period and an essential for anyone intending to wargame these campaigns.

Totally agree with Mr Kiley's assessment.

Very useful research book

excellent service, excellent product.

Leider kann man sich Fremdsprachige Bücher hier bei uns vorab nur selten ansehen um zu schauen, ob es einen interessiert. So sind diese Käufe immer auch ein kleines Überraschungspaket.Ich hatte mir ein bißchen mehr von diesem Buch erhofft, vor allem moderne farbige Zeichnungen als Vorlagen. Aber ich will nicht unfair sein, im großen und ganzen stimmt das Preis- Leistungsverhältnis und ich kann jedem, der sich für diesen Abschnitt in der Epoche der Französischen Revolution interessiert, das Buch empfehlen. Es bietet einen guten Überblick über den geschichtlichen Hintergrund und Ablauf, das alltägliche Leben der Männer die auf diesem Feldzug mit dabei waren, Organisation, und natürlich die Uniformen der Soldaten. Enthalten sind neun farbige Reproduktionen der üblichen Gemälde, 15 farbige zeitgenössische Uniformendarstellung bzw. Tafeln und 25 moderne farbige Zeichnungen bzw. Tafeln mit Uniformdarstellungen (von Boisselier und Leliepvre). Dazu kommen viele schwarzweiß Darstellungen.