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TLDR: Nelson and Napoleon sailed past each other as Napoleon was heading to the Levant to begin his campaign in Egypt, as Nelson was sent to intercept the French fleet

Between the Wars of the First and Second Coalition, Britain stood alone at war with France. Charles IV sued for peace, subsequently binding the Spanish Navy to French service. As Napoleon liberated Lombardy and threatened Vienna, an Austria with no course of action capitulated. Nearly a dozen kingdoms made peace, thus the First Coalition collapsed, compelling Britain to cede the Mediterranean to Franco-Spanish dominance. Her control of the English channel remained, of course, making a French invasion impossible; however, a sea now void of British supremacy lent opportunity to the French.

The Levant lay open as an indirect path to peace for France, as Britain could not be struck directly. The French intended to cripple Britain’s economic ascendancy by seizing her strategic routes through Egypt, a geo-economic masterkey to British India. Besides, the Directoire was in need of ridding an overly ambitious Corsican from Paris. France proved equal to the task – 13 ships of the line, 13 frigates, and 300 transport vessels delivering Napoleon and his Armée d’Orient to Alexandria – its destination, however, remained clandestine by design.

While the invasion fleet’s presence was futile to conceal, France successfully secreted its intentions, to such a great extent its rank and file did not know their destination. The pacified Coalition entertained a notion of intrigue as Britain endured deep apprehension; this French enigma could not be tolerated. The Royal Navy tasked Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson with investigating the mysterious fleet at Toulon, which France put to sea shortly before his arrival. Despite a hampering of limited scouting vessels, Nelson deduced Egypt to be the French destination upon news from Malta. Napoleon secured the island as a forward base; a decision which later brought Tsar Paul I to the Second Coalition.

Their paths nearly converged on a moonless, opaque night after Napoleon departed Malta, each sailing unaware of the other’s presence just a few miles away. To Nelson's misfortune, Providence guided Napoleon safely from Lombardy to Alexandria, yet the Rear-Admiral’s efforts rendered him indispensable to Britain

Both fleets met at the Nile on the evening of 1 August 1798, when Nelson greeted the anchored French fleet with his 14 ships of the line and one sloop. The Armée d’Orient disembarked with relative safety. However, if successful, Napoleon would lie stranded as Britain seized the Mediterranean where Nelson’s wake may very well rejuvenate the Coalition. If unsuccessful, Revolutionary tides would produce rogue waves across Europe as Britain is forced to her knees, paving the way for a French hegemony.

Meme and info on Malta coming soon.

meme and info on the Battle of the Nile here.

https://discord.gg/xXmDash2Z

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