The Egyptian expedition occupies a special place in the history of Napoleonic campaigns. This is the only one of the campaigns that the great commander conducted outside of Europe. Next to it, but with a big stretch, you can put only the campaign of 1812. For several months, General Bonaparte's army fought in isolation from sources of supply, but the commander was spared from the tutelage of the political leaders of France.
In the East, Bonaparte had to face unusual opponents - they were not only semi-regular, albeit numerous ground armies, but also well-trained, excellently supplied British squadrons. The commander of one of them, the enterprising Sir William Sidney Smith, the savior of Acre, and became the de facto gravedigger of the French Expeditionary Army.
The defeat at the walls of Saint-Jean d'Acre was the first in the career of Napoleon Bonaparte. Even having soon defeated the Turkish army with Commodore Smith himself in the composition, the great commander, it seems, did not get rid of the peculiar complex of Acre. Then he always tried to avoid the siege of fortresses, preferring at best to entrust this to his marshals. And to Sydney Smith, in his memoirs and notes, Napoleon dedicated perhaps the most caustic comments among all who managed to deprive him of the winner's laurels.
In the fall of 1797, after five years of continuous wars, the Directory hoped to improve its unstable positions at the expense of another victory. The last undefeated enemy of the Republic was England. After the peace in Campo Formio, which General Bonaparte actually gave her, she wanted to strike the main enemy right in the heart. At the suggestion of energetic Barras, the directors rushed with the idea of landing on the banks of the Thames, or at least in Ireland.
The first attempt, made in December 1796, was unsuccessful. A squadron with a 15-thousandth landing under the command of Lazar Gosh was swept away by a storm already on the way to the Irish coast. Gosha replaced Pears, whom everyone considers to be the culprit of the defeat at Waterloo, but his landing did not work. Now what Gosh and Grusha had failed to do was to be done by the new hero. On October 26, 1797, General Bonaparte, who had not yet had time to return to France, was appointed commander of the so-called English army. She was meant to make another attempt to invade the British Isles.
But Bonaparte, obviously, was not too attracted by the prospect of fighting without much chance of success on the misty shores of Albion. Having made an inspection trip to the west coast of France, the general came to the conclusion that "this is an enterprise where everything depends on luck, on chance." The general did not even think to hide his opinion: "I will not undertake to risk the fate of beautiful France in such conditions," and suggested that the Directory strike England in another place - in Egypt.
According to the young commander, here on the Nile, Great Britain was more vulnerable than in the metropolis. By the way, back in August 1797, General Bonaparte, who had just settled in Venice, wrote to Paris: "The time is not far away when we will feel that in order to really defeat England, we need to take over Egypt."
It didn't take long to convince the directory. The restless and enviable popularity of the general should not have lingered too long in Paris. The English expedition had very dubious chances of success, and another failure could hit not only Bonaparte's personal prestige, but also the Directory itself. And from an economic point of view, the capture of Egypt promised more than the support of the Irish rebels.
Already on March 5, a political decision was made: Bonaparte was given command of the army, which was preparing for a rapid breakthrough to the east, but in order to mislead the British, retained the name of the English. Contrary to expectations, the preparation of the unique expedition was not delayed, the organizational talent of the young general allowed him to cope in just two and a half months. The commander not only independently selected personnel, sometimes up to the rank and file, but also was engaged in the procurement of ammunition and food, and even personally inspected the ships of the numerous flotilla.
The British, using an extensive network of agents and the help of the royalists, quickly obtained comprehensive information that a strong expeditionary force was being prepared in Toulon. However, in London, all rumors that the French were preparing to land at the mouth of the Nile were without a shadow of a doubt regarded as grandiose disinformation. Moreover, on the orders of General Bonaparte, his agents sang Irish songs in the port taverns of Toulon and talked publicly about the prospects of landing on the rebellious island. Even Admiral Nelson, who tried to intercept the French from Gibraltar, fell for the trick of the French commander-in-chief.
And the flotilla with Bonaparte's army, having sailed from Toulon on May 19, 1798, rushed to the East. The first stop is in Malta three weeks later. After spending only ten days on the occupation of the island, which had belonged to the Order of the Knights of Malta since the 16th century, the general ordered the squadron to continue on its way. General Vaubois's 4,000-strong detachment remained in Malta.
Nelson, having received a dispatch about the fall of Malta, hastened to Egypt. In full sail, the English squadron arrived at Alexandria, but somewhere in the Mediterranean it slipped past the French. In Egypt, they did not even suspect their approach, and Nelson decided that Bonaparte's ships were likely going to Constantinople. In the end, when the French fleet appeared on the roadstead of Alexandria in the Gulf of Marabout on July 1, there was simply no one to meet it there. Bonaparte gave the order to the troops to disembark, and by one in the morning on July 2, the last of the French soldiers set foot on solid ground.
Alexandria surrendered after just a few hours of firefight. A short rush to Cairo and the victory that stunned the entire East on July 21 at the Pyramids made General Bonaparte the master of a huge country with a multimillion population and colossal wealth. However, difficulties in supplying the army with everything necessary, with the exception, perhaps, of food, began almost immediately after the landing.
And on August 1, just ten days after the triumph at the Pyramids, the Bruyes squadron that arrived with Bonaparte's army suffered a real disaster. Rear Admiral Nelson, despite the fact that the French were waiting for him from day to day, managed to unexpectedly attack them in Abukir Bay. After a short battle, the French flotilla ceased to exist.
Bonaparte's troops were actually cut off from France for a long time. For the entire time of the campaign, only a few French transport ships managed to break through to Egypt through the blockade of the British. Nevertheless, so far there has been no talk of any resistance to French rule in the Middle East. General Kleber completely captured the Nile Delta, and Dese successfully pursued Murad Bey in Upper Egypt.
Establishing a peaceful life in Egypt, the commander-in-chief tried with all his might to build diplomatic bridges with the Ottoman Empire. But unsuccessfully. The French also failed to become the new masters of the conquered country. Rebellions break out not only in Cairo, but in all parts of Egypt.
And in the fall, under pressure from London, the Sultan's sofa declares war on Republican France. The troops of Seraskir Jezzar Pasha, as his nickname "The Butcher" was translated, received for the brutal reprisal against the Bedouin uprising, moved to Syria. At the same time, another Turkish army, led by Mustafa-Said, generously supplied from the ships of the British squadron, was preparing on the island of Rhodes to land in Egypt. Having received reports of this, Bonaparte, firmly following the rule of always striking first, decided to move to Syria.
Most striking is the scale of the plans of the 30-year-old general. With no more than 30 thousand soldiers at his disposal, the French commander-in-chief does not limit himself to the expectation that he will be able to win over the large Christian population of Palestine. French researchers led by the classic Jean Tulard believe that Bonaparte was "clearly not going to bury himself alive in Egypt." Really? Here at the walls of the not defeated Acre - for sure, but for now he is still attracted by a new light glory. And not only. The French continue to get a truly colossal booty, which would still be nice to somehow smuggle home. But for this it is only necessary … to dictate the world - not only to the Ottoman Empire, but also to England. Much like he did it with the Habsburgs in Campo Formio.
In addition, the young general, whose plans are truly worthy of Alexander the Great and Caesar, is ready to put together something like his own praetorian guard in the battles in the East. Moreover, it is possible to recruit supporters into it in Asia Minor, and everywhere where his army reaches. As a true idealist, Bonaparte was hardly seduced by the prospect of being the governor of the Empire in Syria and Palestine like Pontius Pilate. Moreover, republican France, as an empire, was not yet very capable of competing with Britain. And if you really can't hit your main opponent right in the heart, then you need to beat him in the stomach. To Egypt, and then to India, because at the moment this is the strongest possible blow.
In the meantime, leaving half of his forces on the banks of the Nile, Bonaparte violates his own rule - never to split his own forces and beat the enemy in parts. With an army of only 13 thousand people, he is ready to go to Constantinople. Where else, if not at its walls, dictate the terms of peace to both Sultan Selim III and proud Albion? It is there that the Corsican can fulfill his fantastic dream - to become the emperor of the East.
But the way to Constantinople lay through Palestine and Syria, specifically along the Mediterranean coast. And there the road of the victorious army was blocked by the main stronghold of the Turks - the fortress of Acre, ancient Akka or Akko, which the French called Saint Jean-d'Acr since the time of the Crusades. Unlike Jaffa, Acre was also the only port on the entire coast, suitable for large ships, and the possession of this port could provide the supply of the army. Taking Acre, it was possible to threaten communications with India, and turning to Damascus, move to join the rebels of Tippo Sahib, to whom the commander-in-chief sent a very characteristic letter.
"You are probably already aware of my coming to the shores of the Red Sea with an innumerable and invincible army, full of the desire to free you from the shackles of English oppression."
Of course, there is no dispute about the "invincible", but Bonaparte seems to have seriously counted on making his army "innumerable" somewhere in Syria. Arming, training, and then you can choose - go to the storming of Constantinople or to India. You can understand the general, because even in France he made a choice in favor of Tippo Sahib, as an ally more reliable than the unpredictable Irish. However, a little later, Bonaparte had to realize that the calculation on the passionarity of the local population turned out to be fundamentally wrong. But quite recently, it was among this population, by the way, that not only Bedouins raised uprisings more than once.
The huge Sinai desert, the French passed in just three weeks and on February 27 took possession of Gaza. But then the setbacks began. Rainier's division, which was to build a fort at El Arish on the orders of the commander, unexpectedly stumbled upon well-prepared defenses and a strong garrison of 600 Janissaries and 1,700 Albanians. Only ten days later, with the approach of the main forces of Bonaparte, when General Dammartin launched siege artillery, the French broke the resistance of the defenders of El-Arish, who by that time were already only 900. They surrendered on honorable terms and were immediately released under honestly never fight the French.
At El-Arish's, Bonaparte received from General Junot, perhaps the closest friend with whom he was always on "you", the unpleasant news of Josephine's betrayal. Of course, this was not the reason for the delay at El-Arish, but it cost Bonaparte dearly. English researcher David Chandler generally considers it fatal, predetermining the outcome of the confrontation at Acre.
The validity of such an assessment is highly doubtful, because if the ships of Commodore Smith had not intercepted the caravan with siege guns, she could have played into Bonaparte's hands. Moreover, his soldiers managed to recapture a large convoy with provisions and ammunition from the Turks near Jaffa. The French continued their march deep into Palestine, and a new clash with the Turks occurred at Jaffa. And then, a few days later, some of the defenders of El-Arish again fell into the hands of the French - already in the battles near Jaffa, for which they paid.
The massacre was extremely cruel - the prisoners were not only shot, many were beheaded by the executioner, whom Bonaparte took from Egypt, and someone, due to a lack of bullets, was stabbed with bayonets or simply driven into the sea and drowned. Bonaparte later wrote that never again did the war seem so disgusting to him, but he justified his actions by the fact that the prisoners had nothing to feed and could not be released, since they would again find themselves in the ranks of the Turkish army.
The siege of Acre has been studied and described by historians down to the smallest detail, so we will limit ourselves to only a brief outline of the events, paying more attention to the reasons for the failure of General Bonaparte. His army approached the walls of Saint-Jean d'Acr in mid-March. Hence the general self-confidently wrote to the aged 78-year-old Turkish commander Jezzar Pasha:
“Since my arrival in Egypt, I have informed you several times that I had no intention of waging war with you; that my sole purpose was to expel the Mamluks … The provinces of Gaza, Ramla and Jaffa are in my power; I dealt generously with those parts of your troops that surrendered to me at the mercy of the victor; I was harsh with those who violated the laws of war. In a few days I will move to Saint-Jean-d'Acr …
What does a few extra leagues mean compared to the length of the country I have already conquered? And, since God gives me victory, I want, following his example, to be merciful and merciful not only towards the people, but also towards the nobility … Become my friend again, be an enemy of the Mamluks and the English, I will do you as much good how much I have caused and I can still cause harm … On March 8, I will move to Saint-Jean-d'Acr, I need to get your answer before that day."
General Bonaparte never received a response from the "butcher" Jezzar … Speaking from Egypt, he ordered Rear Admiral Perret to deliver siege guns on three frigates and two corvettes to the walls of the fortress, but he was able to break through the blockade of Russian, British and Turkish ships only on April 15 … Another caravan of sixteen small ships with guns and combat crews left Damietta (now the capital of sweets - Dumiet) in the Nile Delta, but was intercepted by Commodore Smith's battleships "Tiger" and "Theseus", which arrived at Acre in just two days to the troops of Bonaparte.
As a result, the French cannons strengthened the defense of the fortress, which, according to the French commander, was the weakest off the coast. However, everything there was shot through by artillery from the British squadron. Basically, Acre differed little from other old fortresses in Asia Minor. Compared to it, Izmail or the Warsaw bridgehead Prague, which Suvorov successfully stormed, were much better protected. There is hardly any doubt that General Bonaparte was well aware of the successes of the old field marshal, and immediately decided to take Acre by storm.
Despite the fact that the first assault was very carefully prepared, it took the French 10 days, it was not crowned with success. Many are inclined to believe that the failure was due to a whole chain of accidents, for example - with the help of a tunnel, only part of the main tower was blown up, but in fact the French simply did not have enough strength. And there was clearly not enough siege guns.
Bonaparte embarked on a systematic siege, but he understood that he could not count on a complete blockade of the fortress - the approaches from the sea were completely controlled by the British. In addition, not only luck turned out to be on the side of the enemy, but also Commodore Sidney Smith, next to whom was Bonaparte's old opponent, the talented engineer Le Picard de Filippo. A royalist and an emigrant, he was at war with a little Corsican while still in military school, and at one time helped Sydney Smith escape from a Paris prison.
In Acre, Filippo became the main assistant to the English commodore, who actually led both his squadron and the defense of the fortress. Filippo not only superbly staged the countermine fight, he actually led the artillery and fortification works, turning the old ruins of Acre into a citadel quite suitable for defense. By his order, the defenders of the fortress secretly erected an internal defense line, which helped to thwart the decisive assault of the French on May 7. Filippo did not see the defeat of the French, he managed to die either from plague or from sunstroke even before the French army lifted the siege and returned to Egypt.
Bonaparte left an epitaph about him, remarkable at least for the fact that there is not even a drop of hatred in it:
“He was a man 4 feet 10 inches tall, but well built. He provided important services, but his heart was restless; in the last minutes of his life he experienced the strongest remorse; he had the opportunity to reveal his soul to the French prisoners. He resented himself for leading the defense of the barbarians against his own; the homeland never completely loses its rights!"
And Bonaparte was not helped even by the breakthrough of Admiral Perret through the enemy blockade. The siege mortars that his ships brought to Jaffa on April 15, ended up at the walls of Acre on the 27th and even participated in the decisive assault on May 7-8. General Bonaparte spent more than two months in Syria, organized several assaults on the fortress, and during this time managed to defeat the army at Mount Tabor, which was going to the rescue of Acre. Jezzar Pasha twice boarded a ship to leave the fortress, and once the entire garrison and inhabitants almost followed his example, but Acra still resisted.
The Turkish army of Mustafa Said Pasha, who arrived from Rhodes, threatened to lose Egypt, and Bonaparte had to lift the siege of Acre. The French, led by their general, made a truly monstrous return march through the deserts of Palestine and Sinai, and most of the way the general walked along with the soldiers on foot. They even managed to smash to smithereens the 18,000-strong Turkish landing that landed at Cape Abukir, the very one where not so long ago Nelson had sunk almost the entire French Mediterranean fleet.
Commodore William Sidney Smith, the first winner of Bonaparte, fought in the ranks of the Turkish army and managed to stay alive. And the general with a handful of his closest associates soon went to France to carry out a coup d'état and climb to the pinnacle of power.
In Syria, as if fate itself was against Bonaparte. Natural conditions, the almost complete impossibility of replenishing resources on the spot, a population that is by no means ready to fight either against the British or against the Turks, and finally, most importantly: the breakdown of communications with France due to the complete domination of the enemy at sea. Against this background, if the general himself had any mistakes, then they simply cannot be taken into account. Apparently, in order to win in France, he had to lose in Syria.
