In which battle did Napoleon defeat the Mamluk forces near the Pyramids?

Napoleon defeated the Mamluk forces in the Battle of the Pyramids. Fought on 21 July 1798 near Embabeh, outside Cairo, it was a major French victory during Napoleon’s invasion of Ottoman Egypt.

The Mamluk army was led by Murad Bey and Ibrahim Bey and relied heavily on elite cavalry. Napoleon countered with large infantry squares: formations that could protect soldiers from cavalry attacks while delivering concentrated musket and artillery fire. The Mamluk charges failed, and French troops captured Embabeh, opening the road to Cairo.

Despite its famous name, the battle was not fought directly beside the pyramids. Napoleon named it after the distant Great Pyramid of Giza, which his soldiers could see from the battlefield. Another common mix-up is the Battle of the Nile, fought ten days later at sea, where Admiral Horatio Nelson destroyed the French fleet and left Napoleon’s army cut off from France.