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It is July 1799. On the western bank of the River Nile, French soldiers are preparing

for an attack. Their base, the 300-year-old Fort Julian, is a squat fortress, resembling

a child sandcastle, with high walls surrounding a rudimentary blockhouse. But it's showing

its age. The ruined structure will offer little protection against Turkish and British

artillery. So now the men are urgently strengthening

what they have. Using pickaxes and shovels, the soldiers break up the walls made of a patchwork

of rock looted from ancient Egyptian temples, ready to be rebuilt into new, stronger defenses.

French engineer Pierre François Bouchard is in charge. He strides over to show one group

how high the new bastions need to be, then pauses to drink tepid water from a goat skin carrier.

He glances down at the wide river where wooden triangular-sailed feluca boats buzz in and

out of the port of Rosetta, carrying food and supplies. Here, where the Nile Delta meets

the Mediterranean, the landscape glows green with palms and crops, in contrast to the rest

of this arid country. More importantly, it's a crucial waypoint between Europe and India,

on the British trade routes that Napoleon is so eager to dominate.

29-year-old Nile-Wed Bouchard was originally here to help document the country's countless

treasures before shipping them back to France. But now, defeat is now a real possibility.

...