Although the plan to colonize Egypt failed it did inaugurate an era of intensive and prolonged rivalry between Britain and France, soon to be joined by Russia. The Age of Colonization had begun. In 1814 35% of the world was ruled by the colonial powers. By 1914 it was 85%.

The French captured Alexandria easily and were victorious in the Battle of the Pyramids, however the British under Horatio Nelson sunk the French fleet in the Battle of the Nile in August. The British and the Ottomans laid siege to Acre in May of 1799 at the same time a plague epidemic struck the French soldiers. Napoleon fled back to dance in August of 1799 abandoning his troops to an eventual surrender in August of 1801.

After the expulsion of Napoleon's troops from Egypt by a combined British-Ottoman operation in 1801, Egypt underwent, under Muhammad Ali Pasha (1805-48). a period of comprehensive reforms. The elimination of the Mamluk feudal lords, the confiscation of their lands and the establishment of a state-controlled monopoly of the chief products, mainly cotton, enabled the enlightened ruler to initiate an extensive program of socio-economic change. Industries flourished, military and medical academies were established, students were sent abroad to study in Paris. A modern army was built up and the Egyptian navy soon surpassed the Ottoman navy which controlled the Eastern Mediterranean. [Wikipedia; Colonialism, Nationalism and Jewish Immigration to Palestine: Abdu'l-Baha's Viewpoints Regarding the Middle East by Kamran Ekbal p26-27; Napoleon and the Scientific Expedition to Egypt]