Battle of the Pyramids

The Battle of the Pyramids, also known as the Battle of Embabeh, was a major engagement fought on July 21, 1798 during the French invasion of Egypt. The French army under Napoleon Bonaparte scored a decisive victory against the forces of the local Mamluk rulers, wiping out almost the entire Egyptian army. It was the battle where Napoleon employed one of his significant contributions to military tactics, the divisional square. Actually a rectangle, the deployment of the French brigades into these massive formations repeatedly threw back multiple cavalry charges by the Egyptians.

The victory effectively sealed the French conquest of Egypt as Murad Bey salvaged the remnants of his army, chaotically fleeing to Upper Egypt. French casualties amounted to roughly 300, but Egyptian casualties soared into the thousands. Napoleon entered Cairo after the battle and created a new local administration under his supervision.

One of the classic encounters in East-West rivalry, the battle highlighted the weaknesses of the Ottoman Empire in the face of a changing Europe rocked by the French Revolution. Napoleon named the battle after the Egyptian pyramids because they were faintly visible on the horizon when the battle took place.