The French invasion of Egypt and Syria was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign to occupy Egypt, threaten Britain's route to India and strengthen French influence in the eastern Mediterranean. French forces landed near Alexandria and defeated the Mamluks at the Battle of the Pyramids, but Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile in Aboukir Bay, leaving the army stranded. A campaign into Syria in 1799 stalled at Acre. Bonaparte secretly sailed back to France that summer, leaving General Kléber, who was assassinated in 1800. British and Ottoman forces compelled the French to surrender in 1801. The scholars who accompanied the expedition produced the Description de l'Égypte, and French soldiers found the Rosetta Stone, later key to deciphering hieroglyphs.
Before and after
- 26 April 1798Birth of Eugène Delacroix
- from 24 May 1798 to 24 September 1798Irish Rebellion of 1798
- from 10 June 1798 to 12 June 1798French invasion of Malta
- from 28 June 1798 to 25 March 1802War of the Second Coalition
- from 1 July 1798 to 2 September 1801French invasion of Egypt and Syria
- from 7 July 1798 to 30 September 1800Quasi-War
- from 12 October 1798 to 5 December 1798Peasants' War
- 24 December 1798Birth of Adam Mickiewicz
- from 1799 to 1849Sikh Empire
More in Wars, politics & history
- from 19 April 1775 to 3 September 1783American Revolutionary War
- 4 July 1776United States Declaration of Independence
- 17 September 1787United States Constitution
- from 1803 to 1815Napoleonic Wars
- 1815Congress of Vienna
- from October 1853 to February 1856Crimean War
The era
This moment belongs to the Industrial era (1760 CE to 1914 CE), steam, factories and revolutions. You can also browse everything in the 18th century.