To end the war with Great Britain, the last country of the First Anti-French Coalition, formed in 1793 against the Revolution in France, Napoleon proposed to conquer India - the pearl of the British Crown. He set out for Egypt, which was to serve as a base camp for the attack on India. The expedition to Egypt, which began in 1798, involved 38,000 sailors and soldiers and 175 scholars and artists who were to study Egyptian culture and history.