Battle of Abukir (1799)
| date | July 25, 1799 |
|---|---|
| place | Abukir |
| output | French victory |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
|
|
|
| Troop strength | |
| 7,700 men, 1,000 of them cavalry | approx. 18,000 men |
| losses | |
|
220 dead |
2,000 killed |
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The battle of Abukir took place on July 25, 1799 near the village of Abukir ( Arabic أبو قير, DMG Abū Qīr ), about 15 kilometers northeast of Alexandria on the Egyptian Mediterranean coast between Napoleon's French expeditionary army and Ottoman troops. The battle should not be confused with the famous 1798 naval battle at Abukir , in which Horatio Nelson decisively defeated the French fleet.
prehistory
After the conquest of Egypt in 1798 and the ultimately unsuccessful siege of Acre in the spring of 1799, Bonaparte's army withdrew to Egypt again in June 1799. An Ottoman army of 18,000 men landed near Abukir on July 14th under Mustafa Pascha, which was escorted by a British naval division under Admiral Sidney Smith . Bonaparte made an extraordinary march from Cairo to Alexandria and reprimanded General Marmont , the city commander of Alexandria, for not attacking the Turkish landing head immediately and for allowing the small French garrison at the Fort of Abukir to perish after several days of resistance by the Turks. Half an hour from the village of Abukir, the Turks had occupied a very narrow peninsula and established a two-tier position. The front position was covered by two sand mounds, one of which leaned against the sea, the other against Lake Madieh, and which formed its left and right wings. The second position was behind it close to the village of Abukir, here the main Turkish power was assembled and the camp of the commander was set up.
The battle
Bonaparte attacked the Ottomans on July 25th with 5,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry. The French brigade under Destaing first boldly stormed a promontory on the left wing, which the cavalry under Murat had at the same time bypassed by a squadron. The Turks lacked cavalry because they had barely brought 300 horses with them when they landed. On the right wing, the same operation was victoriously carried out by Lannes , thus taking the first position of the Turks. When attacking the second position, Murat again led the cavalry and Lannes the right wing. General François Lanusse now commanded the left wing and General Davout secured against rebel Arabs in the rear. General Kléber led the reserve but was unable to intervene because he was still too far from Abukir. The French artillery kept a violent fire on the gunboats and the parts of the Turkish position not yet in action. The 18th half-brigade under Colonel Cretin was initially unsuccessful in front of the redoubt on Vezierhügel. The attack of Lannes with the 69th half-brigade penetrated successfully into the redoubt of the Turks. General Murat took advantage of the favorable moment and broke through with 6 squadrons between the Vezierhügel and the bank of the roadstead. Mustafa Pascha personally got into a duel with Murat and was captured. The narrow space between the Vezierhügel and the fort then became the scene of a terrible massacre.
After a series of failures in Palestine , Bonaparte once again displayed his tactical and strategic superiority: "Deploy quickly, attack the crucial point with united forces at the right time, destroy the enemy."
consequences
On August 2, 1799, the Abukir fort fell into French hands again. The victory gave the French a few months to restore their sovereignty in northern Egypt. General Desaix received orders to pursue Murad Bey , who had escaped to Upper Egypt . On August 23, Bonaparte went with Berthier, Murat, Lannes and others on the frigate Muiron and embarked for France. He handed over the supreme command in Egypt to his most capable subordinate General Kléber . Bonaparte used the Abukir victory to present himself positively to the French public with a “transfiguration of events” and to create favorable conditions for a coup d'état. This took place after his return, which had been planned well in advance and was celebrated enthusiastically in France, on 18 Brumaire (November 9, 1799), when the Directory was replaced and subsequently Bonaparte became First Consul and thus the sole ruler of France.
literature
- Abel Hugo : France militaire. Histoire des armées françaises de terre et de mer de 1792 à 1837, vol. 2 . Paris 1838.
- Christopher Buchholz: French state cult 1792-1813 in Germany on the left bank of the Rhine (European university publications series III, vol. 749). Peter Lang Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997, ISBN 3-631-31904-5 .
- Franz Herre : Napoléon Bonaparte, pioneer of the century . C. Bertelsmann Verlag, Munich 1988.