[[File:France, 1799-1801. Campaign in Egypt (NYPL b14896507-1237714) (cropped).jpg|thumb|A soldier of the Coptic Legion.]] The '''Coptic Legion''' ({{langx|fr|Légion Copte}}) was a military unit organized by the [[France|French]] army during the [[French invasion of Egypt and Syria|Napoleonic conquest of Egypt]]. It was composed of ethnic native Egyptian [[Copts]]. It was the last local unit to be organized by [[Napoleon]].<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref>
The Coptic Legion was formed out of the need of self-defense by the Coptic community against the [[Mamluk]]s and [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]s, since they were always persecuted and accused of complicity with their [[Christianity|Christian]] [[Europe]]an coreligionists.<ref>https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/the-excellent-article-on-general-yaqub-by-anwar-louca-in-the-coptic-encyclopedia/</ref><ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> The Legion was headed by a Coptic general, [[General Yaqub]], based on a proposal by [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber]] in September 1799 to defend the [[Copts|Coptic community]] in [[Egypt]].<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> General Yaqub recruited young Copts from [[Cairo]] and [[Upper Egypt]] for the Legion. These were trained by officers from the French army. The Coptic Legion consisted of 2 battalions each with 5 companies, and numbered 896 men, including officers, in 1800.<ref>https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/the-excellent-article-on-general-yaqub-by-anwar-louca-in-the-coptic-encyclopedia/</ref><ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french/</ref> However, some sources believe the number of recruited Copts in the Legion to have been as high as 2,000.<ref>George Haddad. A Project for the Independence of Egypt, 1801. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 90, No. 2 (Apr. - Jun., 1970), pp. 169-183</ref><ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref> Together with the Greek Legion, the Coptic Legion formed the ''[[Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orient]]''.<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> The uniform of the Legion's soldiers was composed of a black hat, a green coat with red [[epaulette]]s, khaki trousers, and black boots.
The Légion Copte is thought to have been the best of all the locally organized units in Egypt.<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> Many of its members also joined the ranks of the demi-brigades, in particular the 21st light demi-brigade.<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> The Coptic Legion was particularly successful in protecting Coptic Christians in Egypt against Muslim aggression. When the population of [[Cairo]] revolted against the French during the 1798 [[Revolt of Cairo]], and the Ottomans tried to retake Egypt, the Coptic Legion under General Yaqub barricaded themselves in the fortress with towers and ramparts they built at the neighborhood of [[Azbakeya]] and successfully defended Copts there during a 20-day siege, while Copts in other parts of Cairo were looted and murdered by Muslim mob led by Hasan Bey al-Jiddawi.<ref>https://copticliterature.wordpress.com/2012/06/01/the-excellent-article-on-general-yaqub-by-anwar-louca-in-the-coptic-encyclopedia/</ref><ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref>
After the defeat of the [[French invasion of Egypt and Syria|Napoleonic conquest of Egypt]] at the hand of the British, the French troops were forced to withdraw from Egypt. Under articles 12 and 13 of the treaty signed between [[France]] and [[Great Britain]], protection for those who had helped the French was guaranteed.<ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref> Anyone who wished to leave for France was allowed to do so, and so many members of the Coptic Legion returned with the French army to [[France]] in 1801, including [[General Yaqub]].<ref>https://insidegmt.com/napoleon-in-egypt-local-units-side-with-the-french</ref> Nonetheless, most of the members of the Coptic Legion chose to remain in Egypt, and were eventually murdered by the Ottomans.<ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref> Those who reached France continued to fight in its army, several of them achieving high ranks.<ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref>
The Coptic Legion was finally disbanded on 29 September, 1814. The Egyptian writer [[Rifa'a at-Tahtawi]] recounts in his book ''Takhlis al-ibriz fi talkhis Bariz'' about encountering some of the former members of the Legion during his visit to [[Paris]] in 1826.<ref>Motherland Lost: The Egyptian And Coptic Quest For Modernity. By Samuel Tadros. pp. 64-67</ref>
==See also== * [[Bataillon des Chasseurs d'Orient]] * [[Copts]] * [[Coptic identity]] * [[Coptic nationalism]] * [[General Yaqub]] * [[Youhanna Chiftichi]]
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Foreign regiments of the French Imperial Army during the Napoleonic Wars}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Coptic Legion}} [[Category:Egyptian Copts]] [[Category:Coptic Christians]] [[Category:Coptic Orthodox Christians]] [[Category:Coptic Orthodox Christians from Egypt]] [[Category:Republican military units and formations of France in the French Revolutionary Wars]]