French invasion of Egypt and Syria

French invasion of Egypt and Syria
Part of the War of the Second Coalition
Click an image to load the appropriate article. Left to right, top to bottom: Battles of the Pyramids, the Nile, Cairo, Abukir (1799), Abukir (1801), and Alexandria (1801)
Date 1 July 1798 – 2 September 1801 (3 years, 2 months and 1 day) Location Eyalet of Egypt Result Anglo-Ottoman victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire  Egypt Mamluks  Regency of Algiers[1]  Great Britain (1798–1800)  United Kingdom (1801) Irregular and auxiliary forces: Nablus tribesmen[2] Bedouin tribesmen (1798–1799, 1801) Albanian bashi-bazouks	French Republic
Commanders and leaders
Selim III Yusuf Pasha Mustafa Pasha Muhammad Ali Pasha Jezzar Pasha Abdullah Pasha Murad Bey Ibrahim Bey Abdallah Bey  Haim Farhi Ralph Abercromby (DOW) Gordon Drummond Samuel Graham John Moore George Ramsay John Hely-Hutchinson William Beresford Horatio Nelson (WIA) Sidney Smith Antoine de Phélippeaux † Raïs Hamidou	Napoleon Bonaparte Eugène de Beauharnais Jean-Baptiste Bessières Louis André Bon † Louis Bonaparte Brueys d'Aigalliers † Maximilian Caffarelli (DOW) Louis-Nicolas Davout Louis Desaix (WIA) Cousin de Dommartin (DOW) Charles Dugua Thomas Dumas (WIA) Géraud Duroc Martin Dupuy X Louis Friant Jean-Andoche Junot Jean Kléber X Jean Lannes (WIA) Charles-Louis Lasalle Jacques Menou  Joachim Murat Jean-Baptiste Perrée Jean Rapp (WIA) Jean Reynier René Savary Horace Sébastiani Joseph Sulkowski (DOW) Jean-Antoine Verdier Pierre-Charles Villeneuve
Strength
220,000 soldiers 30,000 soldiers	40,000 soldiers 10,000 sailors
Casualties and losses
Ottoman Empire: 50,000 killed and wounded[3] 15,000 captured Total: 65,000	France: 15,000 killed and wounded[3] 23,500 captured[4] Total: 38,500

War of the Second Coalition:
Egypt and Syria

480km
298miles

6

5

4

Jaffa

3

Cairo

2

Alexandria

1

Malta

   

  Napoleon in command till 23 August 1799

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Prehistoric Egypt Paleolithic 300,000–17,000 BC Mesolithic 17,000–9000 BC Predynastic Period 6000–3000 BC
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Early modern Egypt Ottoman Egypt 1517–1867 French occupation 1798–1801 Muhammad Ali dynasty 1805–1953 Khedivate of Egypt 1867–1914
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The French invasion of Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a military expedition led by Napoleon Bonaparte during the French Revolutionary Wars. The campaign aimed to undermine British trade routes, expand French influence, and establish a scientific and administrative presence in Egypt. Napoleon also sought to sever Britain's connection to its colonial holdings in India, with the long-term ambition of challenging British dominance in the region.

Departing from Toulon in May 1798, Napoleon’s fleet, comprising around 36,000 troops, landed in Alexandria on 28 June. Advancing rapidly, he defeated the ruling Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids, securing control of Cairo and establishing a French administration. The campaign, however, was soon compromised by the destruction of the French fleet at Aboukir Bay by Horatio Nelson, which cut off French reinforcements and supplies. French rule faced resistance, including the Cairo uprising (1798), which was suppressed with significant casualties. Seeking to consolidate French gains, Napoleon advanced into Ottoman Syria, aiming to preempt an Ottoman counteroffensive, but his campaign ended in failure at the Siege of Acre (1799), where Anglo-Ottoman forces, supported by the Royal Navy, repelled French assaults.

Recognising the strategic situation and political opportunities in France, Napoleon left Egypt in August 1799, returning to France, where he seized political power. The French army, left under Jean-Baptiste Kléber, continued to resist, but following his assassination, Jacques-François Menou assumed command and struggled to maintain control. The French were ultimately defeated by British-Ottoman forces and surrendered in 1801.

The campaign had significant military, political, and intellectual consequences. Napoleon’s presence in Egypt introduced European-style governance, but it also reinforced resistance among local populations. The scientific expedition accompanying the invasion produced the Description de l'Égypte, a seminal work that laid the foundation for modern Egyptology. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone allowed for the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphs. The campaign also contributed to the rise of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, who later established modern Egypt. Additionally, it reshaped European perceptions of the Middle East, reinforcing colonial ambitions and Orientalist narratives, later critically examined by Edward Said in Orientalism.