La spedizione di Bonaparte in Egitto e le ambizioni francesi in Asia meridionale: la centralità strategica dell’India secondo Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre

Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt and French ambitions in South Asia. India’s strategic centrality according to Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre. Bonaparte’s expedition to Egypt is fundamental for change in the relations between Europe, Middle East and South Asia at the end of the 18th century: moreover, it is a proof of Bonaparte's colonial dream, that is to expel the British from the Indian subcontinent. This article examines the controversial question of continuity of the French policy in South Asia, a major theatre of the French-British global rivalry throughout the 18th century. In this regard, Charles-Stanislas Lefebvre (1770-1849), nephew of the famous Pierre Pigneau de Béhaine and aide-de-camp to General Decaen, writes some intelligent and original considerations about the strategic importance of India in the global struggle between France and Great Britain: He witnesses France’s «Indian dream», a dream that lives on despite the failure of Bonaparte’s adventure in Egypt.