| Second Siege of El Arish | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the French Campaign in Egypt and Syria of the French Revolutionary Wars | |||||||
 French Campaign in Egypt | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 France | |||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
| Louis-Joseph Elisabeth Cazals |  Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 300 men | 14,000 men | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| Most were killed | Unknown | ||||||
The siege of El Arish was a military engagement between the French garrison and the Ottoman army. The Ottomans attacked and invested in the fort, massacring the French garrison.
The Ottoman army, led by the Grand Vizier, Yusuf Pasha, arrived at Jaffa and began negotiations between the belligerents. The French general, Kléber, dispatched General Desaix and M. Poussielgue to negotiate on Sidney Smith's ship; however, after the appearance of the Ottomans, El Arish, it was important to carry the negotiations with them. However, an unexpected event threatened to prolong the conflict. [1]
El Arish was garrisoned by 300 French men led by Chef de Bataillon Louis-Joseph Elisabeth Cazals. The Ottoman army consisted of 14,000 men. They besieged the fort on December 23, 1799. The fort was isolated from the main force in Egypt, and the French troops were demoralized by Napoleon's departure of Egypt and wished to see their homeland again. [2] The Colonel resolved to defend the fort; however, the French asked the Colonel to surrender the fort. [3] [4] Cazals ordered a captain to attack the Ottomans, who had built trenches around the fort; however, the troops refused to move. Having lost confidence, which created a sign to the Ottomans that they were ready to surrender. [5] Some of the rebellious troops even pulled down the French flag. The Ottomans, finding that they were not defending, began scaling the walls, which was met with no opposition. The Ottoman prisoners learned of this and began throwing rocks to help the Ottomans enter the walls. The Ottomans then began massacring majority of the French troops. The sick and wounded were killed. Some of the French troops, realizing what happened, regrouped with the rest and defended themselves valiantly; however, all of them were almost massacred. [6] [7]
In Gaza, news of the massacre reached. Kléber was resentful with what happened and complained to Sir Sidney about it. After lengthy discussion, Kléber admitted that the massacre was due to misunderstanding and allowed the negotiations to continue. On January 24, 1800, both sides signed the Convention of El Arish. [8] [9]
Jean-Baptiste Kléber was a French military leader of the French Revolutionary Wars. After serving for one year in the French Royal Army, he entered Habsburg service seven years later. However, his humble birth hindered his opportunities. Eventually, he volunteered for the French Revolutionary Army in 1792 and quickly rose through the ranks.
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The Battle of Rafa, also known as the Action of Rafah, fought on 9 January 1917, was the third and final battle to complete the recapture of the Sinai Peninsula by British forces during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of the First World War. The Desert Column of the Egyptian Expeditionary Force (EEF) attacked an entrenched Ottoman Army garrison at El Magruntein to the south of Rafah, close to the frontier between the Sultanate of Egypt and the Ottoman Empire, to the north and east of Sheikh Zowaiid. The attack marked the beginning of fighting in the Ottoman territory of Palestine.
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The siege of El Arish was a successful siege by French forces under Napoleon Bonaparte against Ottoman forces under Mustafa Pasha. The French army, commanded by Jean Baptiste Kléber and Jean Reynier laid siege to the fortress of El Arish for nine days. The fortress finally fell to the French on 20 February 1799.
The siege of Jaffa was a military engagement between the French army under Napoleon Bonaparte and Ottoman forces under Ahmed al-Jazzar. On the 3 of March, 1799, the French laid siege to the city of Jaffa, which was under Ottoman control. It was fought from 3 to 7 March 1799. On the 7 March, French forces managed to capture the city. For the pillaging of the city, the rape and murder of its civilian population by Napoleon's troops, and the execution of the Ottoman prisoners of war, the siege of Jaffa has been called "one of the most tragic episodes of [Napoleon's] Egyptian campaign."
The French campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was a Napoleonic campaign in the Ottoman territories of Egypt and Syria, executed by Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon proclaimed to "defend French trade interests" and to establish "scientific enterprise" in the region. It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, which was a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta and the Greek island Crete, later arriving in the Port of Alexandria. The campaign ended in defeat for Napoleon after abandoning his troops to head back to France for the looming risk of a Second Coalition. This led to the death and withdrawal of French troops in the region.
The Najd Expedition was a series of military conflicts waged by Egypt on behalf of the Ottoman Empire from 1817 to 1818. It was part of the Ottoman–Saudi War that lasted from 1811 to 1818. The campaign of 1817/8 was led by Ibrahim Pasha, with the goal of capturing Diriyah and ending the First Saudi State by the order of the Ottoman sultan Mahmud II.
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Kör Yusuf Ziyaüddin Pasha, also known as Yusuf Ziya Pasha, was an Ottoman statesman of Georgian origin, who twice served as the Grand Vizier of the Ottoman Empire in 1798–1805 and 1809–1811. Before, between and after his terms as grand vizier, he served numerous posts as governor of various provinces and districts throughout the empire. As grand vizier, he commanded the Ottoman ground forces against the French Army in the Ottoman reconquest of Egypt and later served as a commander in the Ottoman wars with the Russian Empire.
The siege of Cairo, also known as the Cairo campaign, was a siege that took place during the French Revolutionary Wars, between French and British with Ottoman forces and was the penultimate action of the Egyptian Campaign. British commander John Hely-Hutchinson advanced to Cairo, where he arrived after a few skirmishes in mid June. Joined by a sizeable Ottoman force Hutchinson invested Cairo and on 27 June the surrounded 13,000-strong French garrison under General Augustin Daniel Belliard, out-manned and out-gunned then surrendered. The remaining French troops in Egypt under Jacques-François Menou disheartened by this failure, retired to Alexandria.
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