Military Campaign to Egypt COBI 20092 - Napoleonic Wars

Did you know:

• The trigger for the French campaign to Egypt was the effort to create an anti-British coalition, seize Egypt, then India, and cut off supply routes to the arch-enemy, Great Britain.
• Command of the French troops was entrusted to thirty-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte. As it later turned out, he was far from the fearless commander that legends portray him as today.
• First, Malta was occupied as a base for the future campaign to Egypt, and only there did the rank-and-file soldiers learn the true objective of the military expedition.
• In July 1798, the troops arrived in Alexandria expecting fierce battles. Something unexpected happened. The Arabs completely ignored the invading army. The confused French were unsure of success.
• This meant only one thing: endless problems. On July 8, 1798, Napoleon set out on a five-day march through the desert to Cairo. Many soldiers died of thirst along the way. The troops only found water in the village of Rahmanieh near Cairo.
• The thirsty soldiers threw themselves into the water fully clothed. Many drowned under the weight of their equipment, and many were eaten by crocodiles. Diseases began to spread among the soldiers.
• Soon, 20,000 Mamluk warriors appeared before the decimated French army. In the Battle of the Pyramids, the Mamluks were defeated, and after two days Cairo also capitulated.
• The worst, however, was yet to come—but that is another story.
• During fortification works at Fort Julien, French officer Pierre-Francois-Xavier Bouchard discovered a stone slab that workers were about to wall into a supporting structure. The slab bore an unknown inscription. The educated officer immediately realized what an extraordinary artifact it was.
• The find was named the Rosetta Stone, and its study finally led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphic writing. Its key importance lay in the trilingual text—hieroglyphs, the native script, and Greek. Since Greek was well known, it helped in understanding the other languages on the stone.
• After the defeat of the French army in 1801, the Rosetta Stone became part of the peace treaty.
• The French unsuccessfully tried to smuggle the stone aboard a ship, where it was discovered by English diplomat Hamilton.
• Today the stone is kept in the British Museum in London.
  
  

Technical parameters:

• dimensions: length 71 cm, height 114 cm
• material: black granite
• period: 196 BC
• intended for King Ptolemy V Epiphanes (decree)
• 14 lines Egyptian hieroglyphs + 32 lines Demotic native script + 55 lines Greek alphabet

Text from the Rosetta Stone:

“During the reign of the young one—who inherited the kingdom from his father—lord of crowns, glorious, founder of Egypt, pious to the Gods, superior to his enemies, who restored civilized life to mankind, lord of the Thirty-Year Festival, even as Hephaestus the great; king like the Sun, great king of Upper and Lower Egypt, descendant of the Philopator Gods, the only one approved by Hephaestus, to whom the Sun granted victory, living image of Zeus, son of the Sun, Ptolemy, forever beloved of Ptah, in the ninth year when Aëtus, son of Aëtus, was priest of Alexander …;”

About the building set :

• COBI Egyptian Campaign building kit is made of 243 high-quality ABS parts
• complete set includes 3 figures and a horse figure
• Napoleonic Wars collection
• pad printed - no stickers
• accurate workmanship
• made in the EU