Bonaparte’s Expedition to Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) and His Policy towards Local Christians

В статье рассматриваются основные аспекты политики французского военного командования в отношении христианских общин Османского Египта и Османской Сирии во время экспедиции Бонапарта (1798–1801 гг.). Особое внимание уделено замыслам Бонапарта и его преемников на посту главнокомандующего по привлечению египетских и сирийских христиан к сотрудничеству с французской оккупационной администрацией в качестве чиновников и солдат вспомогательных военных отрядов. Также в статье рассматривается французская пропаганда в сопоставлении с практическими действиями в отношении египетских коптов и сирийских христиан наряду с ответной реакцией со стороны как христианских общин, так и мусульманского большинства населения Османского Египта и Османской Сирии. Выявлены противоречия и двойственность политики Бонапарта и его преемников на посту главнокомандующего Восточной армии – Клебера и Мену в отношении местных христиан. Французское командование рассматривало восточных христиан как потенциальных союзников, но в то же время не решалось выражать к ним особые симпатии, поскольку подобные действия могли вызвать возмущение среди мусульманского большинства населения и создать впечатление, что французы ведут религиозную войну против ислама и мусульман. В статье сделан вывод о том, что эта непоследовательность стала одной из причин неудачи египетской экспедиции Бонапарта, когда французская армия в ходе военных действий в Египте и Сирии оказалась отрезанной от Франции и в то же время не могла пополнять свои ряды добровольцами из числа местных жителей. The article examines the main aspects of the policy of the French military command in relation to the Christian communities of Ottoman Egypt and Ottoman Syria during the expedition of Bonaparte (1798–1801). Particular attention is paid to the plans of Bonaparte and his successors as commander-in-chief to attract Egyptian and Syrian Christians to cooperate with the French occupation administration as officials and soldiers of auxiliary military units. The article also examines French propaganda in comparison with practical actions towards Egyptian Copts and Syrian Christians, and the response from both Christian communities and the Muslim majority of the population of Ottoman Egypt and Ottoman Syria. The contradictions and ambiguity of the policy of Bonaparte and his successors as commander-in-chief of the Eastern Army – Kleber and Menou towards local Christians are revealed. The French command considered Eastern Christians as potential allies, but at the same time did not dare to express special sympathy for them, since such actions could cause outrage among the Muslim majority of the population and create the impression that the French are waging a religious war against Islam and Muslims. The article concludes that this inconsistency was one of the reasons for the failure of Bonaparte's Egyptian expedition, when the French army was cut off from France during the hostilities in Egypt and Syria and at the same time could not replenish its ranks with volunteers from among the local residents.

How Algeria-Turkey Ambitious Strategic Rapprochement Will Affect France’s Sahel Policy?

President Macron did decide to withdraw French troops from the Sahel last summer, leaving only special forces based in north Mali, he stated that Operation Barkhane will end early in 2022. Nonetheless, Algiers’ decision to not allow French military planes to use Algeria’s airspace will create a direct impact on the military mission and France’s entire ‘war on terror in the Sahel. In Algeria, however, bold decisions toward a strategic rapprochement with Turkey were in the making. Even though the new authorities in Algiers were hesitant for such a foreign policy shift, because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the internal political struggle, constitutional and institutional amendments in the aftermath of the peaceful Algerian 2019 Hirak needed to be put in place. However, the tenacious resistance of the Francophile and Arabophone-nationalists anti-Ottoman legacy, the well-off social class, and elite pro-France lobbies in Algiers and Paris held back President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s Administration from improving the relations between Algiers and Ankara. Meanwhile, the ambassadors from both countries have been pushing tirelessly for the success of the strategic rapprochement between these two states.

Changes in Diaphragmatic Function Induced by an Increased Inspiratory Load Experienced by Military Divers: An Ultrasound Study

Background: Inspiratory loading is experienced by military divers when they use rebreather device. Our objective was to assess the changes in diaphragm function induced by an increase in inspiratory load at values similar to those experienced by divers in real life.Methods: We recorded the excursion and the thickness of the right hemidiaphragm in 22 healthy male volunteers under inspiratory load conditions, using ultrasound in B- and M-mode. The measurements were performed at tidal volume and during breathing at 50% of inspiratory capacity. The breathing rate was regulated and similar in the various sessions with and without load.Results: The rebreather device used by French military divers leads to an increase in inspiratory load of close to 30 cmH2O. Consequently, the session under load was performed using a device set to this threshold. Significant increases in the excursion and the thickening fraction of the diaphragm were observed between the sessions at tidal volume and at high volume. With addition of the inspiratory load, the excursion of the right hemidiaphragm increased significantly from 2.3 to 3.4cm at tidal volume and from 3.9 to 4.7cm at high volume. The thickening fraction increased significantly from 30.4 to 76.6% at tidal volume and from 70 to 123% at high volume. The statistical analysis demonstrated that assessment of the changes of the thickening fraction during breathing at tidal volume was the most relevant marker to assess the impact of the inspiratory load on the diaphragm.Conclusion: Diaphragm ultrasound can be used to assess the changes in the diaphragm contraction pattern secondary to an increase in the respiratory load that can be generated by use a diving apparatus. The recording of the changes of the motion, and more importantly of the thickness of the diaphragm, during the breathing cycle is able to provide relevant information regarding the inspiratory load.

Ethical challenges faced by French military doctors deployed in the Sahel (Operation Barkhane): a qualitative study

Background French military doctors are currently deployed in the Sahel to support the armed forces of Operation Barkhane, in medical or surgical units. As well as supporting French soldiers, their other missions are diverse and complex: medical assistance to civilians and persons under control (PUC), advice to commanding officers. These tasks can create ethical dilemmas when decisions are forced upon doctors that may be in conflict with medical values or fundamental principles. Little is known about the specific dilemmas experienced by French military doctors in overseas operations. We therefore conducted a qualitative study among doctors and surgeons recently deployed to the Sahel to explore and better understand this question. Method Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews were conducted with 20 French military doctors or surgeons deployed since January 2016 in medical or surgical facilities in Mali and Chad. Results All interviewed doctors reported having faced several ethical dilemmas during missions. All reported dilemmas involved the treatment of civilians (while delivering community medical assistance) or of PUC. The dilemmas involved choices as to which patients to treat, the use of care as a means to an end by military authorities, and the level of care attainable in the absence of any possible hospital follow-up. Questions of delivering care at the risk of their own safety or the mission’s and of treating openly hostile patients were also brought up. Several dilemmas stemmed from the dual loyalty problem, namely the conflict between military doctors’ duty of care to patients and to the military institution, but this was not the only factor involved. Contextual factors (restricted resources and security constraints) and psychological factors (especially hostility towards the enemy) were also associated with many of the reported dilemmas. Conclusion This is the first reported study focusing on the ethical dilemmas encountered by French military doctors in overseas operations. It provides unique insights into their ethical experiences and should prove useful in improving operational training for healthcare personnel deployed on overseas missions.

From sexual harassment to sexual assault: Prevalence and correlates of sexual trauma in the French military

Background Sexual harassment (SH) is prevalent in military settings and dependent on the workplace environment. Few studies have investigated this issue in non-US military settings nor have examined how contextual and individual factors related to Military Sexual Trauma (MST) vary by gender. Methods This study draws on a national sexual survey in the French military including 1268 servicemen and 232 servicewomen. We examined four sexual stressors (repeated sexual comments, sexual coercion, repeated unwanted verbal sexual attention and sexual assault (SA)) and two combined measures of verbal SH (comments, unwanted attention) and MST (all forms). We conducted multivariate logistic regressions to identify contextual and individual factors related to these outcomes. Results 36.7% of women and 17.5% of men experienced MST in the last year and 12.6% and 3.5% reported SA. Factors associated with verbal SH differed from those related to SA. The odds of verbal SH were elevated among men who had sex with men (OR = 3.5) and among women officers (OR = 4.6) while the odds of SA were elevated among men less than 25 years (OR = 3.5) and women with less than a high school diploma (OR = 10.9). The odds of SH increased by 20% to 80% when men worked in units with higher female representation, higher prevalence of MST (sexual comments, or sexual assault, coercion, repeated unwanted attention) and lower acceptance of women in the miliatry. The odds of SA also increased by 70% among men working in units with higher female representation and higher prevalence of sexual oppression. The odds of SA against women were particular high (OR = 5.7) in units with a high prevalence of sexual assault, coercion, or repeated unwanted attention. Conclusion MST is common in the French military, with women experiencing more severe forms than men. Our resuls call for programmatic action to reduce workplace factors related to verbal SH and SA in the French military.

Le rôle du contexte comme filtre conceptuel en terminologie: le vin dans l’argot des poilus

This paper aims at a specific terminological study: it is going to tackle the strategic choices we made in order to decide what is the meaning of certain designations of wine, in French military argot during World War I (the so called « argot des poilus » or: ‘hairy slang’), and in order to identify the synonyms and more or less immediate hypernyms of one of those terms – pinard (poor quality red wine (of the soldier)). We are going to achieve those goals not just by lexicographic research but mainly by a thorough investigation of occurrence contexts, going from dictionary examples to larger texts, as well as through punctual thematic documentation (KWIC).

OLBIO AND ITS OUTSKIRTS IN THE 18th — EARLY 20th CENTURIES:TOPOGRAPHIC AND HISTORIOGRAPHIC ESSAYS

The paper is devoted to the publication and analysis of the literary and cartographic sources of the late 18th — early 20th centuries in some way or another related to the ruins of Olbio and its outskirts. Some of them are dated back to so-called «pre-Russian period» of the study of this unique complex of archaeological sites, in particular the plan of the French military topographer A. Zh. de Lafitt-Clave in 1784 where any settlements is not marked directly in the Olbio region. Further is the «Russian Old Believers episode» of the history of Ilyinske-Parutine village recorded by Count A. S. Uvarov in 1848. The author paid the main attention to several problems and aspects of the history of mapping the Olbio settlement and the Sto Mohyl (One hundred kurgans) tract which was began around 1810 by I. S. Borislavsky. Particular attention in the paper was paid to the plans of P. I. Kцppen 1819, and it is also specified that the author of one of the best plans of Olbio (1863) was A. P. Chirkov. The result of these researches is the «List of basic plans and maps of Olbio and its environs in the 1810s — 1860s» (Appendix 1). In the final part of the paper the sources of the late 19th—20th centuries which were the basis of S.B. Buyskikh’s reconstruction of the defense line of Olbian limes were analyzed in detail. The main problem with these constructions is that earthen embankments with moats have not yet been identified or explored. Based on a number of facts and field observations, the route of the road from Olbio to the west (to Tyras and other cities), which passed through Kamеnka (Anchekrak), is proposed by the author. It is clear that this assumption needs to be tested in the field using modern devices (GPS navigator, georadar and drone). In addition, the author republished the essays by I. I. Kedrin «Small town Illinskoe» 1850 (Appendix 2) and A. A. Skalkovsky about his trip to Olbio in 1861 (Appendix 3).

Revision and cassation in French military courts of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries: on the legal nature of permanent councils of revision

This article contains material on the history of the Permanent Councils of Revision – bodies of military justice in France of the late XVIII – early XIX centuries, which is examined in the Russian historiography for the first time, as well as poorly studied in the French historiography. Leaning on the legislative acts and works of the French lawyers of that time, analysis is conducted on the procedure for the formation of the councils of revision, and determination of their judicial competence. The article also raises the question on correlation of the concepts of “revision” and “cassation” in French military justice of the end of revolutionary and post-revolutionary eras. Consideration of the provisions of French jurisprudence of the early XIX century allows concluding that the concept of “revision” could also include cassation of court judgments. Comparison of the permanent councils of revision, which carried out the functions of cassation of court decisions, with the Cassation Tribunal (in the imperial time – the Court of Cassation) did not allow to equate these bodies, which were created separately for military and civilian justice. Having a different procedure for the formation of bench of judges, the permanent councils of revision were granted the limited authority to conduct cassation and were not of equal importance to the Court of Cassation.

Military Orthopedic Surgeons Are Not Just Traumatologists

ABSTRACT Introduction Each French military orthopedic surgeon is both an orthopedic surgeon and a trauma surgeon. Their mission is to support the armed forces in France and on deployment. The aim of this study was to describe the type of orthopedic surgery performed for the armed forces in France. Our hypothesis was that scheduled surgery was more common than trauma surgery. Methods We conducted a retrospective descriptive analysis of the surgical activity for military patients in the orthopedic surgery departments of the four French military platform hospitals. All surgical procedures performed during 2020 were collected. We divided the procedures into the following categories: heavy and light trauma, posttraumatic reconstruction surgery, sports surgery, degenerative surgery, and specialized surgery. Our primary endpoint was the number of procedures performed per category. Results A total of 827 individuals underwent surgery, 91 of whom (11%) were medical returnees from deployment. The surgeries performed for the remaining 736 soldiers present in metropolitan France (89%) consisted of 181 (24.6%) trauma procedures (of which 86.7% were light trauma) and 555 (75.4%) scheduled surgery procedures (of which 60.8% were sports surgery). Among the medical returnees, there were 71 traumatology procedures (78%, of which 87.3% were light traumatology) and 20 procedures corresponding to surgery usually carried out on a scheduled basis (22%, of which 95% were sports surgery). Conclusion Military orthopedic surgeons are not just traumatologists; their activity for the armed forces is varied and mainly consists of so-called programmed interventions.