The Battle of Abukir (also known as the Battle of Aboukir or Battle of Abu Qir) was fought on 25 July 1799 between the French Army of the Orient under Napoleon Bonaparte and an Ottoman army under Mustafa Pasha during the French invasion of Egypt and Syria. It is considered the first pitched battle with this name, as there already had been a naval battle on 1 August 1798, the Battle of the Nile. (A second pitched battle followed on 8 March 1801.)
No sooner had the French forces returned from a campaign to Syria, than the Ottoman forces were transported to Egypt by an Anglo-Ottoman fleet under Sidney Smith to put an end to French rule in Egypt. Mustafa Pasha was an experienced commander who had fought against the Russians. He knew that cavalry charges against the French squares were futile. So, he sought to avoid them by fortifying his beachhead with two defensive lines. From this beachhead the Pasha could carry out the invasion of Egypt. However, Napoleon immediately saw the flaw in the tactic as it meant that the Ottomans had nowhere to run if routed.
The French attacked the Ottoman positions and quickly broke through the first defensive line before it was fully completed. The second line, however, proved tougher to defeat and the French withdrew for a while. At this point, cavalry general Murat saw his opportunity and attacked with his cavalry, quickly routing the exposed Ottomans. Murat's charge was so rapid that he burst inside the Pasha's tent and captured him, severing two of his fingers with his sabre. In return, Mustafa Pasha shot Murat in the jaw. Immediately, Murat was operated on and resumed his duties the next day.
The Ottoman army fled in panic. Some Ottomans drowned trying to swim to the British ships 2 miles (3.2 km) away from shore, while others fled to Abukir castle, but they surrendered shortly thereafter. The Ottoman army was annihilated, while French losses were under 1,000. News of the victory reached France before Napoleon arrived in October and this made him even more popular, an important asset considering the troubles brewing in the French Directory. This battle temporarily secured France's control over Egypt.
Background
Although nominally part of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt had been ruled as a semi-autonomous province for centuries, and its potential occupation by France had been under discussion since 1774. In early 1798, Napoleon proposed its annexation 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 was duly approved, and in July 1798, a French expeditionary force of over 40,000 landed in Alexandria.
With British support, the Ottomans now declared war on France, and in 1799 sent two armies to recapture Egypt. One of these was transported by the Royal Navy, while the other marched down the Syrian coast. Napoleon took the initiative and marched north in February 1799, taking Gaza City, El Arish, and Jaffa, but was then held up at Acre for over two months. The defence was led by Djezzar Pasha, the Ottoman governor, assisted by Antoine de Phélippeaux, 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, and with his own forces decimated by the plague, Napoleon withdrew, ending plans to capture Constantinople.
On 14 July a British fleet of sixty ships landed with 16,000 men under the command of Mustafa Pasha, a veteran of the last Russo-Turkish War. The Ottoman troops overran an encampment of 300 French soldiers near Aboukir and slaughtered them, then set siege on the fortress of Aboukir – which was garrisoned by a skeletal force of 35 French troops. These troops would surrender 3 days later. The peninsula changed hands and Ottoman flags fluttered on the bastion. Proud of this success, Mustafa Pasha was in no hurry to march on Cairo. Murad Bey, who had managed to escape and join him, said, "The French dreaded that you could not support the presence, I watch, and they are fleeing before me." and 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."
Napoleon previously received reports that Murad Bey was riding due north, passing the Natron lakes west of Cairo, he ordered Murat out to pursue him. But the bey returned to Giza and climbed the Pyramids, and using a mirror, "sent several signals to his wife" (who was observing him from the roof of her palace). Napoleon was not alerted by this, as the bey had only a skeleton force of Mamluks with him, and was worn out to the bone by Desaix's protracted pursuit of him through Upper Egypt over the course of the last several months (Murad had been chased squarely out of Egypt, and had been forced to seek refuge in some remote oasis' and prey on Sudanese villages south of Upper Egypt to survive). When Napoleon received (at the time he was several miles northwest of Cairo, participating in the hunt of Murad bey) a report from Marmont, then military-governor of Alexandria, on July 15, reporting 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 (64 km) 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 set out with almost all the French troops in Cairo for Damanhur as well, leaving the city to be policed and garrisoned only by his local Egyptian 'police chief', a man known as "Barthelemy". Marmont was ordered by Napoleon to remain in Alexandria with his 1,200 troops, in case the Ottoman army marched upon it.p. 392
Napoleon assembled 10,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry at Damanhur. He was greatly concerned that the Ottoman army would march out of the Peninsula and attack anywhere in Egypt, so he set out immediately with his army without waiting for Kléber. He arrived near Aboukir in 24 July and was relieved to find the Ottoman army lying in wait. Napoleon had to reassess his plans; according to his intelligence, the enemy commander was the white-bearded Pasha. A leader who had won several victories against the Russians in the last Russo-Turkish War. This was to be a different battle than those with the Mamluks, one against a commander who had experience against European armies. Mustafa Pasha knew of Napoleon's strengths; his superlative tactics, decisiveness in speed and the imperviousness of his squares. He nullified these advantages by fortifying his army in two strong defensive lines along the peninsula, with both his flanks anchored on the shores. This protected him from flanking action, and also forced the French to attack on his own terms. Napoleon approached Abukir with the divisions of Lannes, Desaix and Murat's cavalry, 7,700 men and 1,000 horsemen, and the Ottomans had 15,000-18,000 men, 8,000 of whom were in a condition to fight. According to François Furet and Denis Richet ("French Revolution", Macmillan 1970, XI-14). According to the Pasha, corroborated by British officer Sidney Smith, this number was actually only 7,000 men.p. 396 The clash between the two armies took place near Alexandria, but the victorious French called it "the battle of Abu Qir" (or Aboukir) to avenge the former defeat of 1–3 August 1798.
Battle
Napoleon camped his army for the night of the 24th, the next morning on 25 July he ordered an attack on the Ottoman army. Mustafa Pasha arranged his army in two strongly defended lines with both flanks anchored in the shores of the peninsula. 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, and the division under Lanusse managed to break through the Ottoman line after ferocious fighting. Lannuse 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. According to Napoleon,
The enemy threw themselves into the water in an attempt to reach the boats which were more than 2 miles (3.2 km) out at sea; they all drowned, the most horrible sight I've seen.
— Napoleon Bonaparte, Correspondence, Vol 5., p. 541
The French then proceeded to attack the second Ottoman line, which was strongly defended. The French attack, bombarded by Ottoman and British ships, was repulsed, but 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.p. 365 As the French retreated, hundreds of Ottoman troops emerged from their fortifications and set in pursuit of the retreating French, beheading the corpses of dead Frenchmen. After the rout of the Ottoman soldiers defending the first line, Napoleon contemplated moving his artillery batteries to the two hills in front of the second line, which was heavily defended and seemed impervious to attack. But seeing that the western bay of Aboukir extended like a cape, he moved his artillery there. This allowed the French batteries to bombard the Ottomans' 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 and numerous Ottoman soldiers emerging out of the protection of their fortifications to mutilate the French dead, and charged his cavalry at the scattered Ottomans. A wave of panic spread through the Ottoman army, all the way to their defensive lines, and within minutes Murat found himself charging deep into the Ottoman encampment, where he found Mustafa 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 and ordered his men to seize him.
Outside the Pasha's tent, the mayhem did not cease, and 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 HMS Tigre. The French bombarded the fort day and night, and 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 at this stage left for Alexandria and gave charge of the siege to Lannes. Mustafa 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 to the besieged Ottomans chided them for their 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, but 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, who wisely stated that even if these buildings were retaken, it would cost the French more troops when the Ottomans try to recapture them, and advised Lannes to wait a few days until the digging of siege trenches was complete, which would force the Ottoman soldiers back inside the fort, and the siege would ideally cost no casualties to the French. The Ottomans, encouraged by their small success, made another sortie and captured more buildings in the village on June 28. And after this, even made a sortie on French positions on Sheikh hill.
Lannes could not hold back anymore and ordered an attack to drive the Ottomans back into the fort. During the fighting, he was wounded with a musket ball, and had to be evacuated. General Menou (military governor of Rosetta at the time) then took command of the siege. The Ottomans then made yet another sortie, capturing a bridgehead to the fort. Davout, who was in the siege trenches, attacked the Ottomans and drove them out of the village back inside the fortress. At the 30th, two batteries of heavy guns and three batteries of mortars came into action and began bombarding the fort, while at the night of the 30th French sappers began mining below the fort to mine and blow up the counterscarp. But at 2 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 8 days, they simply walked out en-masse and asked for mercy. Of their surrender, the French captain Charles François describes the surrender;