Outremer
King Amalric and Egypt
Amalric was perhaps not as good a king as his brother. His personality was less appealing, and he was not quite as successful in battle. But he was no weakling and he was not only able to defend the kingdom but to extend its reach. Indeed, the usual criticism levelled at him is that his repeated invasions of Egypt weakened the Kingdom needlessly and were doomed from the start. Possibly. But his contemporaries rarely argued thus, and his reputation was still high at his death.
Amalric struck at Egypt almost immediately, invading in September of 1163. He marched all the way to the Nile unopposed, but it was flood season and the Egyptians simply broke a few levees and made the crossing impossible. Amalric returned to Palestine. He returned the following year, this time at the invitation of the Egyptian vizier, Shawar.
Why would Shawar invite a Frankish army into his territory? Simply because another army was already in his land, one that he feared even more than the Latins: Nuradin. Actually, Nuradin himself did not come, but he had sent an army led by one of his emirs, Shaizar. The politics of this are a little complicated and I'll leave them for the Islamic narrative. Suffice it to say that the Fatimids of Egypt feared the power of Nuradin, so they appealed for help from the Franks. Shaizar and Amalric fought to a standstill in a war that was mostly one of siege and position. After a couple of months, Amalric was able to get Shaizar to agree that both armies would retreat from Egypt, which they did.