Yo, check it out, fam! In this dope flick called “Napoleon,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Joaquin Phoenix as the man himself, Napoleon Bonaparte, we get a wild scene where Napoleon tells his soldiers to aim cannons at the pyramids in Egypt. Now, historians be calling out Scott for some historical inaccuracies in this movie, but who cares, man? It’s all part of Scott’s sick storytelling skills, like he did with “Gladiator” where Phoenix was also killing it.
So here’s the deal. In 1798, Napoleon and his imperial French army invaded Egypt after taking over Malta. They wanted to mess up the trade routes between India and England and show everyone that France ruled the Middle East. But yo, here’s where things get interesting. Instead of fighting against the Egyptians, Napoleon’s soldiers got hooked on that good-good hashish. It became like their favorite thing ever, you know what I’m saying?
Napoleon was all about embracing local culture instead of forcing his French ways on the Egyptians. His crew set up libraries and research centers to learn about the Islamic world and all its dope stuff. And since they couldn’t get their usual French wines and liquors, they turned to hashish. They hit up all the cafes and markets where that dank was being served, and it became a cultural exchange that changed how Western Europe saw cannabis.
Now, you might have heard this crazy rumor that Napoleon banned hashish ’cause his soldiers were too blazed to fight. But nah, fam, that ain’t true. The ban didn’t happen until after the campaign was over, and it wasn’t Napoleon who did it but one of his generals. The goal wasn’t to protect French citizens from the supposed dangers of weed but to mess with Egypt and Syria by causing internal problems.
But guess what? The ban didn’t work out so well. Hashish was still being grown, traded, and used all over Egypt. Archaeological discoveries even show that people in Egypt have been getting high since like 3000 BC! And those French soldiers, they ended up introducing hash to Western Europe. Just like some American vets brought back weed from Vietnam and influenced their home countries, those soldiers did the same thing.
The French government tried to ban cannabis too, but that was a total fail. In Paris, all these cool writers and artists who were all about rejecting logic and embracing emotions and spirituality formed a crew called the “Hash-Eaters’ Club.” They were all about that green stuff, man, and they didn’t care what the government had to say.
And check this out – Cairo became one of the biggest hash markets in the world. Only Istanbul in Turkey was bigger. But then the government cracked down on it and made it hard for people to keep doing their thing. So they took their operations and moved to Morocco instead.
But here’s another mind-blowing fact – hemp played a huge role in Napoleon’s wars too. Hemp could be turned into bags, ropes, sails, and all the important stuff you need for war. So when Napoleon was marching toward Moscow, he wanted to control hemp production. He made a deal with Russia’s Czar to stop doing business with Britain ’cause that would mean less hemp for them. Less hemp meant a weaker army, man!
In the end, we see how cannabis, resistance to authority, and strategic thinking were all mixed up during Napoleon’s time. The Romantics in Paris loved hash despite the government trying to stop it. Cairo’s hash market stayed strong despite all the pressure. And hemp played a crucial role in Napoleon’s military strategy.
So, peeps, remember this – you can try to ban cannabis all you want, but it’s gonna keep coming back. It’s a part of history and it’s always gonna be around, despite what the powers that be try to do. Cannabis has been shaping our world for centuries, and it’s not gonna stop now. Stay woke, my friends!
