"Napolean in Egypt" Exhibit Reminded Me of Bush

The exhibit I saw was at the Frye in Seattle, called Napoleon on the Nile.

Napoleon wanted to add Egypt to his empire and was thwarted by the British. He then tried to "spin" it as a success.  In one example, many of his soldiers got Bubonic Plague, and he had them poisoned, but managed to make this look heroic.  

Napoleon landed 300 years ago in Egypt, with a surge of 55,000 troops.  Their mission was to curtail British trade, threaten India and obtain assets.  He also intended to acquire Egypt as a French colony, but his fleet was destroyed by the British and war was declared by the Ottoman sultan.  Napoleon also failed in his attempt to take over Syria.  Napoleon has been obsessed with Egypt from an early age.   

He brought 150 scholars or "savants" along with his military, to map and document everything form plants to topography to customs. Napoleon considered himself both liberator and conqueror. Ten volumes were produced, with engraved plates, to document the experience. The mapping was intended to make Egypt's resources and the Near East useful to the French Empire, had they been able to dominate. 

Edward Said talks about the perception of "Us" vs "Them" during the process of Empire Building. This makes us spectators.  I saw a bunch of manuscripts in a glass case, all signed by Napolean. I tried to make sense of them as best I could, and they reminded me of the "Executive Orders" of Bush.  When I was at the Louvre looking at the Egypt exhibit, the Louis XIV and Napoleon related items, I could not help but think of the Bush dynasty and how, if they could, they would seek permanent brute power.

It turns Juan Cole has a whole blog about Napoleon's Egypt. 

A related exhibit is going on at the Tacoma Art Museum, about the Ottoman Empire.  The Frye had a second exhibit, called "Empire," which included projected artworks depicting empire building and empire destruction.  

Comments

[Kayakbiker]

I see some similarities. But Bush wouldn't have brought scholars with him. In fact, the museums holding evidence of the origins of western civilization were looted under Bush.