1783-1912 EUROPE CARVES UP MIDEAST

1783 - 1912 Europe Carves Up the Middle East In the midst of the French Revolution, Napoleon seizes Egypt in 1798, setting in motion century-long European scramble for the Middle East. Eventually, the British would take Egypt, Sudan and the small states of the Persian Gulf. France would seize Algeria and Morocco. And Arab resistance to European encroachment would prompt much bloody violence.

Key Figures in 'The Middle East and the West'

1783 - 1912: Europe Carves up the Middle East Napoleon Bonaparte Born 1769 Corsica; died 1821, St. Helena Island. Emperor of France 1804 to 1815. One of the most celebrated and hated figures of European history, he was the first great general of the army of republican France. Napoleon launched an attack on Egypt in 1798, but was quickly defeated by British naval forces under Lord Nelson.

Napoleon beat a hasty retreat to France, but his short-lived seizure of Arab land initiated the century-long European carve-up of much of the Arab Middle East. He became supreme leader of France in 1799 and was crowned Emperor in 1804. Napoleon invaded Russia in 1812 and suffered a massive defeat. He abdicated the throne in 1814, but returned from exile on the island of Elba in 1815. Finally defeated at Waterloo, 1815, he was exiled to St. Helena on the west coast of Africa, where he died.

Ferdinand de Lesseps French engineer (1805-1894). As a French diplomat assigned to Alexandria in Egypt, he first considered building a canal from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea across the Isthmus of Suez. He was able to secure political and financial backing for this project through friendships with the Khedive of Egypt and the Empress of France. De Lesseps gained the concession to build the canal in 1854, and it was completed and opened in 1869.

He then set out to build the Panama Canal but underestimated the costs of the project, the engineering problems, and the hardships of work in the Central American jungle. His company went bankrupt and he was implicated in financial scandal.

Charles Gordon British general (1833-1885). Served in the British army with distinction during the Crimean War and afterward in China. He entered the service of the Khedive of Egypt and served as administrator of Sudan from 1874 to 1880. Gordon returned to Sudan in 1884 with a mission to stamp out a local conflict known as the Mahdi's Revolt, an Islamic movement resisting British control.

Underestimating the strength of his adversary, Gordon refused to withdraw from Khartoum and found himself surrounded. After a 10-month siege, Gordon and many of his men were slaughtered. Britain did not finally put down the Mahdi Revolt for another 14 years.