French historians framed Mehmed Ali as a Napoleon for Egypt

Evidence

French historians saw Mehmed Ali as owing a lot of his greatness to his resemblance to Napoleon. Both men, it is argued, had a dream they wanted to fulfill and both had their dreams frustrated by the British. In his Mohamed Aly et Napoléon Driault, in typical romantic manner, accepted both men’s self-characterizations: while the great French Emperor saw himself as a descendant of the Caesars, Mehmed Ali was more like a Pharaoh. Both, Driault believed, shared a deep-seated desire to revive a great power and to found an enlightened regime. Driault takes the existence of the French or Egyptian nation as given, nations whose ancient glories were waiting to be rekindled and awakened. — Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed Ali, his…, 1672