The claim of suffering populations was a construct Napoleon deployed for imperial ends
Evidence
This is not to say that knowledge about the enemy was not essential in earlier periods. Even during medieval times, European rulers gathered accurate information about Muslim kingdoms through spies, officials, and informants in order to develop martial strategies. They did not, of course, share this knowledge with the public. Instead, they used the vitriolic rhetoric of the Holy Wars to motivate the Crusades and the Reconquista. While this general method persists even in the twenty-first century, what Napoleon’s invasion inaugurated was the systematic use of scholarly knowledge to serve the needs of empire, both abroad and at home. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106; Napoleon’s geographers aimed to instill an active imperial sense in Egyptians
Related
- Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire (similarity 0.88)
- Napoleon’s geographers aimed to instill an active imperial sense in Egyptians (similarity 0.87)
- Napoleon’s expedition deliberately taught Egyptians imperial ambition (similarity 0.85)
- Napoleon’s 1798 invasion inaugurated the systematic use of scholarly knowledge to serve empire (similarity 0.85)
- Napoleon’s 1798 Egypt invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonization (similarity 0.83)
- Napoleon’s failed Egyptian invasion modeled scholarly exploitation for later empires (similarity 0.83)
- Knowledge about the colonized became central to conquest only with Napoleon’s 1798 invasion (similarity 0.80)
- Napoleon’s 1798 invasion made scholarly knowledge central to colonial conquest (similarity 0.80)
- Napoleon’s 1798 invasion of Egypt inaugurated knowledge-production as an imperial instrument (similarity 0.80)
- Napoleon’s expedition spawned both a scientific and a geopolitical Orientalist project. (similarity 0.80)
Broader Connections
- Napoleon’s geographers aimed to instill an active imperial sense in Egyptians
#expands(0.85) - Napoleon inaugurated the systematic use of scholarship for empire
#corroborates(0.82) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 106