The Franco-Turkish War (1798–1801) was a conflict between Revolutionary France and the Ottoman Empire, forming a part of the wider French Revolutionary Wars. It began with the French invasion of Egypt under Napoleon Bonaparte but lasted until 1802. Its other fronts included Palestine, Syria, Albania, the Ionian Islands, Sicily and mainland Italy. The Ottomans also allied themselves with the Russian Empire and Great Britain.

Course France attacks Egypt (1798)

Bonaparte conquered northern Italy in 1796-1797 on behalf of the French Directory. He secured these territorial gains with the Treaty of Campo Formio, signed on 18 October 1797 with the Holy Roman Empire. This also abolished the Republic of Venice, with France annexing its territories of Dalmatia, the Ionian Islands, Parga, Preveza, Butrint, and Narda along the eastern Adriatic coast and thus gaining land borders with the Ottoman Empire.

Bonaparte returned to France in 1797 after signing the Treaty. Although the French Directory proposed the invasion of Great Britain in February 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte suggested that a more realistic enterprise might be invading the Ottoman province of Egypt to block British access to India. This was also on the advice of the French foreign minister Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord who believed that such an invasion could also enable France to send aid via Suez to Tipu Sultan, an enemy of the British in India."Napoleon and Persia: Franco-Persian Relations Under the First Empire", Iradj Amini, Mage (1999), p.12. ISBN 0-934211-58-2.

To this end 13 ships of the line, 14 frigates, 40,000 soldiers, and 10,000 sailors were assembled in Toulon. To avoid an attack by the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Horatio Nelson, the expedition's objective was kept secret. The French fleet departed Toulon under Bonaparte's command on 19 May 1798, and occupied Malta between June 10-12." A history of Malta during the period of the French and British occupations, 1798–1815", "Chapter VII – Attack and Capture of Malta by the French", William Hardman, Longmans, Green & Co, London (1909), p. 64 After leaving Malta, the fleet reached the Egyptian coast and landed in Alexandria on 1 July 1798. That city had been evacuated and so the French occupied it before setting off on 19 July into the interior. On 21 July they defeated the weak Mamluk cavalry of the Egyptian provincial army in the Battle of the Pyramids and occupied Cairo later the same day."Naval wars in the Levant, 1559-1853", R.C. Anderson, Princeton University Press (1952), p.357

Despite these successes on land, the French suffered a defeat at sea. A fleet under Nelson, sailing in the Eastern Mediterranean, arrived in Alexandria before the French fleet, but the Empire rejected its offer to anchor there. "Türk Silahlı Kuvvetleri Tarihi, 1798-1802 Osmanlı-Fransız Harbi", ATASE Yayınları, Ankara (1987), p.52 After the French navy landed in Alexandria, they anchored their transport ships, frigates, and small warships in Alexandria harbour, while their larger ships (23 vessels) were anchored off the Abu Hur fortress. In the Battle of the Nile, which took place between the British and French navies on 1-2 August 1798, the British almost annihilated the French fleet.

In response to this victory, Ottoman Sultan Selim III sent Admiral Nelson a diamond-encrusted aigrette and his soldiers 2,000 gold coins as gifts. As a result of the loss of their main fleet, the French army, just a week after their landing at Alexandria, was left stranded on land without naval support, though they did manage to repress the Cairo Revolt on 20-22 October, resulting in the deaths of 2,000 French and 5,000 Egyptians.

Albania and the Adriatic (1798) News of the invasion reached Istanbul on 27 July through reports from Ottoman officials on Rhodes, an unexpected attack given that the Empire had had a treaty and good relations with France since 1536. "Osmanlı Tarihi", Enver Ziya Karal, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara (1947), vol.5, p.82 Between 30 July and 2 August the Empire sent orders to its provinces of Egypt, Palestine and Syria before on 2 August declaring war on France. Başbakanlık Arşivi; Mühimme Defteri, No. 207 Cezzar Ahmed Paşa, Ottoman governor of Palestine, refused Bonaparte's letter of 28 August.

On 28 July the Empire also opened negotiations with two of France's enemies, the Russian Empire and Great Britain. They granted permission for fourteen Russian naval ships to anchor off Büyükdere on 5 September 1798. "Osmanlı Tarihi", Enver Ziya Karal, Türk Tarih Kurumu Basımevi, Ankara (1947), vol. 5, p. 99 Finally, on 23 December 1798, the first alliance in history between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire was signed in Istanbul, followed by an alliance signed with Great Britain on 5 January 1799.

France had taken over the four mainland ports of Butrinto, Preveza, Vonitsa, and Parga from the extinct Republic of Venice after the Treaty of Campo Formio. The Sultan ordered Ali Pasha, governor of Ioannina, to capture all four for the Empire. "İslam Ansiklopedisi, "Tepedelenli Ali Paşa" maddesi, Türk Diyanet Vakfı, İstanbul (2011), vol.40, p.477". In October 1798 Ali Pasha's troops captured all but Parga, which also surrendered on hearing of the arrival of a joint Ottoman-Russian fleet. This completely eliminated the French presence on the Albanian mainland.

The Russian Navy set off from Büyükdere on 19 September and joined up with the Ottoman fleet under the command of Mehmed Kadir Pasha (Kadir Bey) in Çanakkale on September 25."Russia's Policy of Rapprochement with the Ottoman Empire in the era of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1792-1806", Valeriy Morkva, Bilkent Üniversitesi, Ankara (2010), p.152 The joint force left the Dardanelles on 1 October and reached Kythira eight days later. They captured the Kapsali fortress from its French garrison. From there the Ottoman-Russian fleet headed towards the Ionian Islands which France had taken over from the Venetian Republic, capturing Zante on 25 October, Kefalonia on 3 November, and Lefkada (Ayamavra) on 14 November after a fifteen day siege. The last two small islands in the region, Ithaca and Paxos, surrendered in mid-November.

The Ottoman-Russian fleet then turned towards Corfu, which had the largest French garrison (3,000 soldiers and 630 cannons), and besieged the main fortress. However, due to the strong resistance of the garrison, the fortress's fortified position, the small number of besieging troops, and the winter conditions, the siege came to a halt in late 1798. With the signing of the Ottoman-Russian Alliance Treaty (1799) on 3 January 1799, additional warships were sent to the waters of Corfu. Ali Pasha had successfully completed his operations in Albania and part of his force also landed on Corfu. The offensive resumed on 1 March 1799 and the French garrison finally surrendered on 3 March after suffering heavy losses.

Italy (1799) Having achieved a decisive victory in the Ionian Islands, the Ottoman-Russian fleet targeted the French presence in Italy. The Kingdom of Naples signed a defensive pact with Austria on 19 May 1798, joining the Second Coalition against France, and also pacts with the Russian Empire (29 November 1798), Great Britain (1 December 1798) and the Ottomans (21 January 1799). France captured all the kingdom's territories on the Italian mainland and converted them into the Parthenopean Republic, a French satellite state. Ferdinand IV of Naples took refuge on Sicily and successfully requested military support from Russia then from the Ottomans.

In accordance with orders from Istanbul dated 29 April 1799, Kadir Bey dispatched seven Ottoman and two Russian ships to Otranto and Brindisi. It captured Brindisi on 17 April and seized Bari, Barletta and Manfredonia between 4 and 19 May. Advancing inland from the coast with reinforcements, the Ottoman-Russian force captured Foggia on 21 May and - after joining forces with Neapolitan rebels at Ariano on June 5 and with assistance from the Royal Navy under Nelson - besieged and captured Naples on 22 June.

At the same time five Ottoman and six Russian ships began besieging Ancona, which the French were using as a base, on 14 May. They then captured Pesaro, Fano and Senigallia to the north from 10 to 18 June. Consolidating its presence on these coasts in July against a French counterattack, the Ottoman-Russian fleet tightened the siege of Ancona on August 12th. With an Austrian corps under General Frölich also attacking from the land, Ancona finally surrendered on 13 November 1799.

Meanwhile, the Ottoman-Russian fleet that had left Corfu on 4 August anchored in Messina on 14 August and then in Palermo, but left the region to return to the Dardanelles in September. With the arrival of the ships returning from Ancona at the end of November, the Ottoman fleet returned to its bases after more than a year of operations.

Egypt and the Levant 1799

With his fleet largely destroyed, Bonaparte was in a difficult situation in Egypt and - when his envoy to the Sultan was captured by the British - he turned his attentions to Palestine. He set out from Egypt on 22 December 1798 with around 25,000 men, arrived before the fortress of El-Arish on 7 February and captured it on 20 February. Continuing its advance, the French army occupied Gaza on 25 February and Jaffa on 7 March, massacring 2,500 prisoners in Jaffa."Napoleon Against Himself: A Psychobiography", Avner Falk, Pitchstone Publishing (2015), p.185. ISBN 9781939578723 The Ottomans evacuated Haifa and the French occupied it. On 19 March 1799 they arrived before Acre, defended by Cezzar Ahmed Pasha, and besieged it. However, after suffering 7 to 8 thousand casualties in 44 attacks until 20 May against a garrison greatly strengthened by 3,000 Nizam-i Cedid soldiers brought in by the Ottoman navy on May 8, they retreated with difficulty to Cairo."French Invasion of Egypt, 1798-1801", J. Rickard(2006)

Ottoman landing

The victory at Acre laid the groundwork for operations to expel the French from Egypt. 80-100 Ottoman ships under the command of Köse Mustafa Pasha attempted a landing in Alexandria on 16 July 1799 but encountered resistance. In response, with the support of the Royal Navy, 9,000 soldiers were landed at Abukir. In the Battle of Abukir on 25 July, the French army under General Joachim Murat defeated this Ottoman force and subsequently recaptured the Abukir fortress. Although the Ottoman land and sea forces withdrew from Abukir and then landed at Damietta, they were defeated by another French army under Jean-Antoine Verdier, thus losing their offensive capabilities. "Cevdet Tarihi"; p. VII. s.59

Bonaparte learned that the Grand Vizier Kör Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha was marching on Egypt with the main Ottoman army. Without a fleet he realised he could not permanently occupy Egypt and began planning his return to France. He made a show of peace negotiations through Köse Mustafa Pasha (who had been captured at Abukir) but escaped to France by secretly boarding a small squadron of three ships on 23 August 1799 and leaving Jean-Baptiste Kléber behind as his deputy.

1799–1800

The 15,000-strong Ottoman army under the command of Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha (also known as Blind Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha) departed from Üsküdar on 3 June 1799 and arrived in Damascus on 13 September, by which time it had grown to 24,000 soldiers. The French offer to evacuate Egypt through a unilateral agreement with the Ottomans was rejected in accordance with alliance agreements with Russia and Britain. Negotiations, this time involving British Admiral Smith, almost reached an agreement on ceasefire terms, but at the same time the Ottoman army continued its advance. Following the siege of El-Arish on 17-21 December 1799, Yusuf Ziyauddin Pasha's force accepted the armistice terms and signed the Evacuation Agreement on 24 January 1800.