16. Napoleon’s Soldiers Spent Their Time in Egypt High on Hash
When Napoleon conquered Egypt in 1798, he and his French forces found themselves in a Muslim country bereft of alcohol. And after the British destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile, the French were cut off from home, including the resupply of wine. Without alcohol, the French in Egypt cast about for an alternative intoxicant. They discovered hashish, and soon developed an insatiable taste for it. Before long, an epidemic of hashish addiction swept the French forces in Egypt. The new habit eroded military discipline, and undermined the French military’s effectiveness to such an extent that Napoleon issued a total ban on hashish.
French commanders reasoned that their troops were more effective back when they were alcoholics than they were now as junkies. So to help wean his men off of hash and return them to wine, Napoleon commissioned the production of date wines and spirits. It did not work: French troops drank the newly introduced date alcohol, and discovered that it went great with hash, which they kept right on smoking. So instead of just dealing with soldiers who were high, French commanders ended up dealing with soldiers who were high and drunk.
