# Veterans of the Napoleonic Wars - A Photo Essay



## igneous (Sep 25, 2020)

Napoleonic Veterans
Some look like they are still ready to fight.  Others seem lost and confused.  
I know there is some interest in that "era" so I thought I would post this here.


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## TatarKhan (Sep 25, 2020)

What is interesting about these pictures is the picture above.
It says "Monsieur Ducel Mameluke de la Garde".
The Mamluks were a dynasty which was conquered by the Ottomans in the 15th century.
It was a dynasty which was build up by ex-slaves (hence the name Mamluk), which ousted the Ayyubids out of power, which before ousted the Fatimids out of power.

What is fascinating is that Napoleon seems to have build up a mercenary force under the same name (source: Imperial Guard Mamluks Wikipedia). Could it be that the Mamluks still existed back then? Maybe the Mamluk takeover by the Ottomans was not so far in the past, so that still existing Mamlukan power structures helped Napoleon?

The wiki article states that the size of all Mamluk units was only a couple hundred. Compare the size of the French army in the Battle of the Pyramids (20,000) to the size of the Mamluk units, does it make sense? (link: Wikipedia) If you wanted local guides/translators, wouldn't you just disperse the local mercenaries instead of putting them into one single battle unit?


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