Battle of Abukir (1799)
In July 1798, a French expeditionary force of over 40,000 men landed in Alexandria. Napoleon proposed the annexation of Egypt as part of a wider plan to weaken British interests in Asia. He hoped to use Egypt as the first step in taking Constantinople, then to invade India and attack British possessions there. This strategy was duly approved by the French government. With British support, the Ottomans declared war on France in early 1799. They sent two armies to recapture Egypt. One army was transported by the Royal Navy while the other marched down the Syrian coast. Napoleon took the initiative and marched north in February 1799. He captured Gaza City, El Arish, and Jaffa before being held up at Acre for over two months. The defense was led by Djezzar Pasha, the Ottoman governor, assisted by Antoine de Phélippeaux. Phélippeaux was an engineer and master of artillery who had studied with Napoleon at the École militaire but was now a British colonel. The city was continually replenished with supplies by the Royal Navy. Napoleon's own forces were decimated by plague. He withdrew from Acre, ending plans to capture Constantinople.
On the 14th of July, a British fleet of sixty ships landed with 16,000 men under the command of Mustafa Pasha. The Ottoman troops overran an encampment of 300 French soldiers near Aboukir and slaughtered them. They then set siege on the fortress of Aboukir which was garrisoned by a skeletal force of 35 French troops. These troops surrendered three days later. The peninsula changed hands and Ottoman flags fluttered on the bastion. Proud of this success, Pasha was in no hurry to march on Cairo. Murad Bey managed to escape and join him. Murad said, "The French dreaded that you could not support the presence, I watch, and they are fleeing before me." Murad replied, "Pasha, be glad that it suits the French to withdraw because if they turned, you would disappear before them like dust before the north wind." On the 15th of July, Marmont reported that a large Anglo-Ottoman fleet had arrived off Aboukir and disembarked 10,000 troops. Napoleon wasted no time and sent several dispatches. He ordered Murat to stop the pursuit of Murad Bey and to converge to Damanhur, located 40 miles south of Aboukir. Jean-Baptiste Kléber was to set out with his division from the eastern Delta for Damanhur as well. Desaix was to march down the Nile with as much of his division as possible to provide a reserve in case the Ottoman army marched on Cairo. Napoleon assembled 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry at Damanhur. He arrived near Aboukir on the 24th of July. Pasha arranged his army in two strongly defended lines with both flanks anchored in the shores of the peninsula. This protected him from flanking action and forced the French to attack on his own terms.
Napoleon camped his army for the night of the 24th. The next morning on the 25th of July he ordered an attack on the Ottoman army. Lanusse's division was placed on the left French flank while Lannes' division was placed on the right. Murat was in the vanguard with his cavalrymen. The Ottoman fortifications and trenches on the western flank facing Lanusse were still unfinished. The division under Lanusse managed to breakthrough the Ottoman line after ferocious fighting. Lanusse took advantage of the rout on the Ottoman right flank to swing around and behind the left flank of the first enemy defensive line. This caused widespread panic among the defending Ottomans on the left flank. Without anywhere to retreat, many took to the water and attempted to swim to the nearest Ottoman and British ships where almost all of them drowned. The French then proceeded to attack the second Ottoman line which was strongly defended. The French attack was bombarded by Ottoman and British ships and was repulsed. However, the western side of the peninsula was poorly supported by the Anglo-Ottoman fleet. Two French probing attacks on the eastern side were driven back with British naval gunfire support. As the French retreated, hundreds of Ottoman troops emerged from their fortifications and set in pursuit of the retreating French. They beheaded the corpses of dead Frenchmen. Napoleon contemplated moving his artillery batteries to the two hills in front of the second line. Seeing that the western bay of Aboukir extended like a cape, he moved his artillery there. This allowed the French batteries to bombard the Ottoman's right flank. The Ottomans maneuvered their right flank slightly inland leaving a small gap in their line.
At this juncture, Murat saw an opportunity with an opening in the Ottoman line. Numerous Ottoman soldiers emerged out of the protection of their fortifications to mutilate the French dead. He charged his cavalry at the scattered Ottomans. A wave of panic spread through the Ottoman army all the way to their defensive lines. Within minutes Murat found himself charging deep into the Ottoman encampment where he found Pasha's tent. The Pasha emerged before Murat and fired a pistol at him wounding him in the jaw. Murat swung his sabre at the Pasha's right hand cutting off two of his fingers. He ordered his men to seize him. Outside the Pasha's tent, the mayhem did not cease. The Ottoman army had broken into a complete rout and thousands of soldiers were fleeing to the sea on both sides of the Peninsula. A few thousand Ottoman troops retreated northwards and took refuge inside the fort of Aboukir. These included the Pasha's son. These troops were reinforced by a detachment of British marines which Sidney dispatched from his fleet. The French bombarded the fort day and night. The Ottoman officers soon agreed to surrender but their troops mutinied against this having heard of the massacre of Ottoman prisoners captured by the French in the siege of Jaffa.
Napoleon left for Alexandria and gave charge of the siege to Lannes. Pasha who was now a captive of the French wrote multiple dispatches to the beleaguered Ottomans ordering them to surrender. This was refused and the survivors of the battle swore to defend the fort to their last extremity. The Pasha's second letter chided them for continued resistance which was spilling more blood needlessly. At this juncture the besieged Ottomans agreed to a ceasefire. The French colonel in charge of the engineers Bertrand used the advantage of this ceasefire to reconnoiter the fort. A firefight broke out subsequently. The Ottomans sallied out of the fort and captured a few houses in front of it. Lannes wanted to counterattack and drive them back but he was dissuaded from this by Bertrand. Bertrand wisely stated that even if these buildings were retaken, it would cost the French more troops when the Ottomans try to recapture them. He advised Lannes to wait a few days until the digging of siege trenches was complete. The Ottomans encouraged by their small success made another sortie and captured more buildings in the village on June 28. They then made yet another sortie capturing a bridgehead to the fort. Davout attacked the Ottomans and drove them out of the village back inside the fortress. On the 30th two batteries of heavy guns and three batteries of mortars came into action and began bombarding the fort. At night on the 30th French sappers began mining below the fort to mine and blow up the counterscarp. But at the 2nd of August at dawn the Ottomans crowded out of their fort without any envoy of capitulation. The Ottoman troops were starved and many became delirious and half-crazed from drinking seawater over the course of the siege. After holding out for eight days they simply walked out en-masse and asked for mercy.
The French suffered only 220 dead and 600 wounded while the Ottoman losses were enormous. Two thousand died on the battlefield and eleven thousand men drowned. Five thousand became prisoners of war and two thousand went missing or unaccounted for. Napoleon would claim that "of the enemy who came ashore, not a single one escaped." This was not true as Smith dispatched some boats to rescue some of the Ottomans who ran into the waters. Among the Ottomans rescued from the water was thirty-year-old officer of Albanian descent Muhammed Ali. Six years later he would rule and transform Egypt. On the main battlefield, the French captured 100 Ottoman banners, 32 field guns, 400 horses and three Pasha's Bunchuks. These ceremonial flags were issued to Pashas. The captured cannons included two small British artillery pieces which had been presented on behalf of George III as a gift to Selim III. These cannons were given to a French cavalry brigade. For his gallant charge and capture of the Pasha, Napoleon promoted Murat to divisional general. He gave him great credit for the victory at Aboukir. Lannes was also promoted to divisional general and Bertrand to the rank of colonel.
Smith led the British fleet and wrote a letter to Horatio Nelson on the 2nd of August informing him of the defeat. Napoleon learned from the Pasha of the situation in Europe where a large coalition was threatening France. He had been completely in the dark regarding developments in Europe for a long time due to the British blockade. An envoy sent to Smith for exchanging prisoners handed the French envoy appointed by Napoleon several of the latest newspapers. Smith verbally told the envoy that the directory had summoned Napoleon back to Paris. He read the summons letter which had been intercepted by the British. Presumably he was trying to get Napoleon out of Egypt which would ideally greatly weaken the French position in Egypt. Napoleon read these newspapers which confirmed the grave political situation of France in Europe. Almost all of the Italian territories he conquered were captured by the Austrians and there was another insurrection in the Vendée. Smith soon lifted the blockade of the Egyptian coast and took his fleet for provisioning at an allied port. He stated that his salted provisions were completely exhausted at this stage. This gave Napoleon an opening in which he would be able to escape from Egypt. On the 23rd of August, leaving the command to Kléber, Napoleon embarked on the frigate Muiron in a small French flotilla under the command of Honoré Joseph Antoine Ganteaume with Berthier, Murat, Lannes and several of his savants including his favorite Gaspard Monge. He very secretively prepared to abandon Egypt and go back to France. He only informed Kléber with a letter in the very same day he departed to the great chagrin of his troops and generals who viewed this as nothing short of betrayal.
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Common questions
What were the main objectives of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1798?
Napoleon proposed the annexation of Egypt as part of a wider plan to weaken British interests in Asia. He hoped to use Egypt as the first step in taking Constantinople, then to invade India and attack British possessions there.
When did the Battle of Aboukir take place during the French campaign in Egypt?
The battle occurred on the 25th of July 1799 when Napoleon ordered an attack on the Ottoman army after arriving near Aboukir on the 24th of July.
How many Ottoman soldiers died or drowned during the Battle of Aboukir in 1799?
Two thousand Ottoman soldiers died on the battlefield and eleven thousand men drowned while attempting to swim to ships off the coast.
Who was the Albanian officer rescued from the waters at Aboukir who later ruled Egypt?
Thirty-year-old officer of Albanian descent Muhammed Ali was among the Ottomans rescued from the water by Smith and he would rule and transform Egypt six years later.
Why did Napoleon leave Egypt secretly on the 23rd of August 1799?
Napoleon read intercepted newspapers confirming the grave political situation of France in Europe where almost all Italian territories were captured by Austrians. He decided to abandon Egypt to return to Paris after receiving a summons from the directory.