17. The French Expedition to Egypt Was Enveloped in a Haze of Hashish
French armies seldom had trouble finding wine or other alcoholic drinks while campaigning in Europe. However, when Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, he and his men found themselves in a Muslim country with precious little booze. After the British Royal Navy destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile later that year, the French in Egypt were cut off from resupply, including the resupply of wine. So the French sought an alternative intoxicant, and hit upon hashish. Soon, the invaders had developed an insatiable taste for the drug, and eventually, their forces were debilitated by an epidemic of hash addiction. The new habit began eroding discipline, and undermined the French military’s effectiveness to such an extent that Napoleon issued a total ban on hashish.
Napoleon and French commanders figured that their men had been more effective back when they used to be alcoholics, than they were now as junkies. So to help wean his soldiers off hash and return them to wine, Napoleon commissioned the production of date wines and spirits. It backfired: French troops drank the newly introduced booze, and discovered that it went great with hash, which they kept right on smoking. So instead of dealing with soldiers who were high, French commanders found themselves having to deal with soldiers who were high and drunk.