The Battle of Aboukir took place in July 1799 between the French Army of the Orient and the Ottoman Turks in Egypt, supported by the British fleet. Despite being vastly outnumbered, the French, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, won a decisive victory, which gave Joachim Murat the opportunity to distinguish himself in battle during a famous episode: whilst the battle was still undecided, Mustapha, the Ottoman pasha, committed the affront of leaving the Fort of Aboukir with his men to behead the dead or wounded French soldiers. This act galvanised the French troops with rage; without orders, they rushed upon the enemy ranks. With his cavalry, Murat charged so swiftly that he broke through all the enemy lines and cut off Mustapha Pasha’s retreat. During a one-on-one duel, the pasha fired a bullet that pierced Murat’s cheek, whilst Murat cut off three of the pasha’s fingers and declared: ‘If you do that to my soldiers again, I swear by Allah I will cut off other, more important parts of you. ”
The rest of the Turkish army threw themselves into the sea and drowned whilst attempting to reach the English ships. For several days, the tide carried turbans ashore…
The French ‘furia’ proved successful: only 220 dead and 600 wounded on the French side. Turkish losses were enormous: 2,000 killed on the battlefield, plus 4,000 men who drowned, and the 1,000 dead and 1,500 prisoners holed up in the Fort of Aboukir.
By crushing the Ottoman forces, this victory provided a strategic respite for the French occupation of Egypt, which came to an end in 1801. It also enabled Bonaparte to leave Egypt shortly afterwards and return to Europe as a glorious conqueror.
