The Battle of Abukir (or Aboukir) was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Turkish army on 25 July 1799 during the French invasion of Egypt (1798). The French forces had just returned from a campaign to Syria, and the Turkish force had been transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet to liberate Egypt from French rule.
Seid Mustafa Pasha was an experienced commander who had fought against the Russians. He knew ...
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The Battle of Abukir (or Aboukir) was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Turkish army on 25 July 1799 during the French invasion of Egypt (1798). The French forces had just returned from a campaign to Syria, and the Turkish force had been transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet to liberate Egypt from French rule.
Seid Mustafa Pasha was an experienced commander who had fought against the Russians. He knew of the futility of cavalry charges against the French squares and so sought to avoid that by fortifying his beach head with two defensive lines. From this beach head Mustafa could carry out the invasion of Egypt. Napoleon however immediately saw the flaw of such a tactic as it meant that the Turks had no where to run if routed.
The French attacked the Turkish positions and quickly broke through the first defensive line which had not been fully completed. The second line however proved tougher to defeat and the French withdrew for a while. As...
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