A MUSLIM PERSPECTIVE
{1213/1214 A.H. - JUN 5}
In 1799, one of the most startling archaeological discoveries in the history of mankind was made. In mid-July, in the western Egyptian delta, an officer of engineers in the army of Napoleon Bonaparte, spied a slab of black stone which had been built into an old wall that had been demolished to expand a fort near the town of Rosetta
The black granite stone that Bouchard found came to be called the Rosetta Stone, and the French scholars who accompanied Napoleon’s Egyptian campaign, immediately recognized its importance. The Rosetta Stone was important because it contained the same message in three scripts, demotic Egyptian, Greek and hieroglyphic Egyptian. At the time of the stone’s discovery, the language of ancient Egypt
It would take 20 years for scholars to fully understand the nature of the key and to begin to properly utilize it. However, once they did turn the key, the door to a new world -- the ancient world of Egypt
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THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE
*The French army in
The French Campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) was Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in the Middle East, ostensibly to protect French trade interests, undermine Britain's access to India, and to establish scientific enterprise in the region. It was the primary purpose of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, a series of naval engagements that included the capture of Malta.
Despite many decisive victories and an initially successful expedition into Syria, Napoleon and his Armée d'Orient were eventually forced to withdraw, after mounting political disharmony in France, conflict in Europe, and the defeat of the supporting French fleet at the Battle of the Nile.
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*A Russo-Ottoman alliance against
The
Napoleonic attack on Egypt
(in 1798) and Syria (in
1799) led to the signing of a Russo-Ottoman defense pact against France
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*An Ottoman-British alliance against
The inability of the Ottoman Empire to preserve its territorial integrity compelled
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*With the help of British forces commanded by Sidney Smith, the Turks held off the French forces commanded by Napoleon at the Syrian coastal city of Acre (March 19).
In
February, Napoleon invaded Syria
from Egypt Jaffa , taking Jaffa Egypt Egypt ,
Napoleon departed from Egypt
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*Ahmed al-Jazzar, the Ottoman governor of Acre, prevented the French from occupying
Ahmed al-Jazzar [Ahmad al-Jazzar] (Arabic أحمد الجزار, Turkish " Cezzar Ahmet Paşa") (b. 1720 (or 1708) in Stolac, Bosnia Eyalet - b. 1804 in Acre, Sidon Eyalet) was the Ottoman ruler of Acre and the Galilee from 1775 until his death.
Jazzar was a Christian slave boy from Herzegovina who, escaping after committing a murder, sold himself to the slave-markets of Constantinople. There he was bought by an Egyptian ruler who converted him to Islam and used him as his chief executioner and hit-man. He began his rise as governor of Cairo but made his name defending Beirut against Catherine the Great's navy. Beirut was honorably surrendered to the Russians after a long siege and the sultan rewarded al-Jazzar with promotion to Governor of Sidon, and sometimes also that of Damascus. Jazzar set up his capital in Acre after the fall of Dhaher al-Omar. He earned the nickname "the Butcher" for his bravery and brutal effort to defeat his enemies. He is reputed to have walked around with a mobile gallows in case anyone displeased him.
Jazzar led a ruthless 'holy war' (jihad) campaign against non-Muslims. Under his ruled, Christians were forced to "accept" Islam. He oppressed minorities in Palestine including Christians (who were massacred) and Jews.
Jazzar is best known for defending Acre against Napoleon Bonaparte during the siege of Acre in 1799. After Napoleon's capture of Egypt, then an Ottoman territory, the French army attempted to invade Syria and Palestine. Although the French captured Al-Arish and Jaffa, and won every battle they fought against the Ottomans on an open field, they were unable to breach the fortifications of Acre. Their army was weakened by disease and cut off from resupply. The success was due to the English Commodore William Sidney Smith too, who sailed to Acre and helped the Turkish commander reinforce the defenses and old walls and supplied him with additional cannon manned by sailors and Marines from his ships. Smith also used his command of the sea to capture the French siege artillery being sent by ship from Egypt and to deny the French army the use of the coastal road from Jaffa by bombarding the troops from the sea.
Though both Napoleon and Jazzar requested assistance from the Shihab leader, Bashir, ruler of much of present-day Lebanon, Bashir remained neutral. After several months of attacks, Napoleon was forced to withdraw and his bid to conquer Egypt and the East failed.
With the help of his chief financial adviser, Haim Farhi, a Damascus Jew, Jazzar embarked on a major building program in Acre that included fortifying the city walls, refurbishing the aqueduct that brought spring water from nearby Kabri, and building a large Turkish bath. One of the most important landmarks built by Jazzar was the mosque that bears his name, a massive building in the Turkish style. Built over a Crusader church, the Al-Jazzar Mosque incorporates columns brought from Roman and Byzantine ruins in Caesarea and Tyre, and included a school for Islamic religious studies, later used as a religious court. Al-Jazzar and his adopted son and successor Suleiman Pasha, were buried in the courtyard.
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*The French army of
The Siege of Acre (Turkish: Akka Kuşatması) of 1799 was an unsuccessful French siege of the Ottoman-defended, walled city of Acre (now Akko in modern Israel) and was the turning point of Napoleon's invasion of Egypt and Syria.
A site of significant strategic importance due to its commanding position on the route between Egypt and Syria, Bonaparte wanted to capture the key port of Acre following his invasion of Egypt. He hoped to incite a Syrian rebellion against the Ottomans and threaten British rule in India. However after the Siege of Jaffa the defenders of the citadel were even more fierce.
The French attempted to lay siege on March 20 using only their infantry. Napoleon believed the city would capitulate quickly to him. In correspondence with one of his subordinate officers he voiced his conviction that a mere two weeks would be necessary to capture the linchpin of his conquest of the Holy Land before marching on to Jerusalem.
However, the troops of the capable Jezzar Pasha (Ahmed al-Jazzar), refusing to surrender, withstood the siege for one and a half months. Haim Farhi, al-Jazzar's Jewish adviser and right hand man, played a key role in the city's defense, directly supervising the battle against the siege. After Napoleon's earlier conquest of Jaffa, rampaging French troops had savagely sacked the conquered city, and thousands of Albanian prisoners of war were massacred on the sea-shore, prior to the French move further northwards. These facts were well known to the townspeople and defending troops (many of them Albanians) in Acre, and the prospect is likely to have stiffened their resistance.
A Royal Navy flotilla under Commodore William Sidney Smith helped to reinforce the Ottoman defenses and supplied the city with additional cannon manned by sailors and marines. Smith used his command of the sea to capture the French siege artillery being sent by ship from Egypt and to bombard the coastal road from Jaffa. An artillery expert from the fleet, Antoine DePhelipoux, then redeployed against Napoleon's forces the artillery pieces which the British had intercepted.
Smith anchored HMS Tigre and Theseus so their broadsides could assist the defence. Repeated French assaults were driven back.
On April 16 a Turkish relief force was fought off at the Mount Tabor. By early May, replacement French siege artillery had arrived overland and a breach was forced in the defenses. At the culmination of the assault, the besieging forces managed to make a breach in the walls.
However, after suffering many casualties to open this entry-point, Napoleon's soldiers found, on trying to penetrate the city, that Farhi and DePhelipoux had, in the meantime, built a second wall, several feet deeper within the city where al-Jazzar's garden was. Discovery of this new construction convinced Napoleon and his men that the probability of their taking the city was minimal. Moreover, after the assault was again repelled, Turkish reinforcements from Rhodes were able to land.
Having underestimated the stubborn attitude of the defending forces combined with a British blockade of French supply harbors and harsh weather conditions, Napoleon's forces were left hungry, cold and damp. Plague had struck the French camp as a result of the desperate condition of the men, and had by now led to the deaths of about 2,000 soldiers.
Throughout the siege, both Napoleon and Jezzar sought in vain the assistance of the Shihab leader, Bashir — ruler of much of present-day Lebanon. Bashir remained neutral. As things turned out, it was the French side which suffered most from the attitude of Bashir, whose intervention on their side might have turned the balance.
Finally, the siege was raised. Napoleon Bonaparte retreated two months later on May 21 after a failed final assault on May 10, and withdrew to Egypt.
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*The Ottomans were defeated at
The Battle of Aboukir (Abukir) was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army on July 25, 1799, during the French invasion of Egypt (1798). No sooner had the French forces returned from a campaign to Syria, the Ottoman forces were transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet to put an end to French rule in Egypt.
Seid Mustafa Pasha was an experienced commander who had fought against the Russians. He knew that cavalry charges against the French squares was futile. So, he sought to avoid them by fortifying his beachhead with two defensive lines. From this beachhead Mustafa could carry out the invasion of Egypt. However, Napoleon immediately saw the flaw in the tactic as it meant that the Turks had nowhere to run if routed.
The French attacked the Ottoman positions and quickly broke through the first defensive line before it was fully completed. The second line, however, proved tougher to defeat and the French withdrew for a while. As usual, the Ottoman army came out of their positions and began killing the wounded and mutilating the dead. At this point, cavalry general Murat saw his opportunity and attacked with his cavalry, quickly routing the exposed Turks.
Murat's charge was so rapid that he burst inside Mustafa's tent and captured the Turkish commander, severing two of the Turk's fingers with his sabre. In return, Mustafa shot Murat in the jaw. Immediately, Murat was operated on and resumed his duties the next day.
The Turkish army fled in panic. Some Ottomans drowned trying to swim to the British ships two miles away from shore, while others fled to Aboukir castle, but they surrendered shortly thereafter. The Turks suffered about 8,000 casualties and the French only 1,000. News of the victory reached France before Napoleon arrived in October and this made him even more popular, an important asset considering the troubles brewing in the French Directory. This battle temporarily secured France's control over Egypt.
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*Mutercim Asim, lexicographer and historian, presented to Sultan Selim III his Burhan-i Kati, a translation of a Persian dictionary.
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ASIA
Western Asia
*‘Alim Khan became the ruler of Khokand. ‘Alim Khan would rule until 1809. During his reign, ‘Alim Khan worked to unify the
*In the fourth and last
The
Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was the final contest between Tipu Sultan and the
British. Allied British and Hyderabad troops
invaded Mysore Mysore
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*Wazir Ali, the Nawab of Oudh, was deposed by the British
after he refused to toe the line and to pay an increased subsidy to the
British.
AFRICA
North Africa , Egypt
and Sudan
*In 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte attacked
*On July 25, at the Battle of Aboukir, the French under Napoleon and Murat defeated a Turkish-British army.
The Battle of Aboukir (Abukir )
ended in triumph for Bonaparte and his cavalry commander Joachim Murat over a
Turkish force which had landed at Aboukir with British support.
The Battle of Aboukir (Abukir) was Napoleon Bonaparte's decisive victory over Seid Mustafa Pasha's Ottoman army on July 25, 1799, during the French invasion of Egypt (1798). No sooner had the French forces returned from a campaign to Syria, the Ottoman forces were transported to Egypt by Sidney Smith's British fleet to put an end to French rule in Egypt.
Seid Mustafa Pasha was an experienced commander who had fought against the Russians. He knew that cavalry charges against the French squares was futile. So, he sought to avoid them by fortifying his beachhead with two defensive lines. From this beachhead Mustafa could carry out the invasion of Egypt. However, Napoleon immediately saw the flaw in the tactic as it meant that the Turks had nowhere to run if routed.
The French attacked the Ottoman positions and quickly broke through the first defensive line before it was fully completed. The second line, however, proved tougher to defeat and the French withdrew for a while. As usual, the Ottoman army came out of their positions and began killing the wounded and mutilating the dead. At this point, cavalry general Murat saw his opportunity and attacked with his cavalry, quickly routing the exposed Turks.
Murat's charge was so rapid that he burst inside Mustafa's tent and captured the Turkish commander, severing two of the Turk's fingers with his sabre. In return, Mustafa shot Murat in the jaw. Immediately, Murat was operated on and resumed his duties the next day.
The Turkish army fled in panic. Some Ottomans drowned trying to swim to the British ships two miles away from shore, while others fled to Aboukir castle, but they surrendered shortly thereafter. The Turks suffered about 8,000 casualties and the French only 1,000. News of the victory reached France before Napoleon arrived in October and this made him even more popular, an important asset considering the troubles brewing in the French Directory. This battle temporarily secured France's control over Egypt.
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*After the French army suffered a defeat at the Battle of
Novi (Italy) on August 15, Napoleon secretly set sail for France, leaving Jean
Baptiste Kleber in command (August 22).
General Joubert was defeated and killed at the
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*Around the end of the eighteenth century of the Christian calendar, the Dar al-Bayda was constructed in
*A treaty of peace, trade, navigation and fishing between Morocco and Spain
On May 1, 1799, Spain
signed a treaty in Meknes with the Moroccan
sultan, Moulay Souleiman (1792-1822), by which (Article 22) the Moroccan sultan
implied that his sovereignty did not extend as far south as present day Western Sahara .
Like the 1767 Treaty of Marrakesh , which it
superceded, the Treaty of Meknes was cited
during the International Court of Justice hearings on Western Sahara in 1975 as
evidence that the pre-colonial sultanate of Morocco
had not asserted sovereignty over Western Sahara . Article 22, which was an example of the
“shipwreck” clause to be found in almost all 18th and 19th
century treaties between Morocco and the major maritime powers, did not refer
to the regions that now constitute Western Sahara but to the region of the Oued
Noun, which is today part of southern Morocco.
Article 22 states, in pertinent part,
If any Spanish ship is shipwrecked in the Oued Noun and its coast, where His Moroccan Majesty does not exercise dominion, he offers nonetheless, to prove how much he appreciates the friendship of His Catholic Majesty, to avail himself of the most opportune and effective measures to extract and free the seamen and other individuals who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the natives there.”
The implication of the article was that the sultan did not exercise sovereignty or effective control of the Oued Noun but was willing to use his influence there to secure the release of shipwrecked Spaniards. By extension, it has been claimed by opponents of the Moroccan annexation ofWestern Sahara , the article
implies that the Moroccan sultan cannot have exercised sovereignty over the
Saharan regions to the south of the Oued Noun.
If any Spanish ship is shipwrecked in the Oued Noun and its coast, where His Moroccan Majesty does not exercise dominion, he offers nonetheless, to prove how much he appreciates the friendship of His Catholic Majesty, to avail himself of the most opportune and effective measures to extract and free the seamen and other individuals who have the misfortune to fall into the hands of the natives there.”
The implication of the article was that the sultan did not exercise sovereignty or effective control of the Oued Noun but was willing to use his influence there to secure the release of shipwrecked Spaniards. By extension, it has been claimed by opponents of the Moroccan annexation of
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As long as the American colonies
remained a part of the British imperial system, American ships engaged in the
trade in the Mediterranean enjoyed such immunities from Barbary pirates as the
British government bought by payments of tribute to the rulers of Algiers, Morocco,
Tripoli, and Tunis. Protected thusly by
the Royal Navy, American trade in the Mediterranean
was considerable, involving hundreds of men and thousands of tons of
shipping. Once these same colonies
declared independence, this protection was immediately withdrawn, and the
pirates proved useful to Britain United States Britain ,
did little to assist the United
States
As early
as 1784, the American ship Betsy was
detained off the coast of North Africa and
escorted to Tangier. It was soon released by Moroccan authorities even though
there was no treaty existing at the time between the governments of Morocco and the United States Algiers , triggering an outpouring of concern and
consternation from commercial and mercantilist circles in the United States
In
anticipation of such problems, the Continental Congress had earlier sought the
alliance and protection of the great maritime powers of Europe . As early as 1776, the Continental Congress
had approached France with a
proposed treaty, one article of which sought explicit protection from the Barbary States , including Morocco France agreed to employ its
good offices and interposition in cases of depredation by Barbary
privateers. The following year, Congress
appointed a committee of three to prepare for direct negotiations with the Barbary States
Following
the seizure of the Maria and the Dauphin, the United
States government sought to evoke its 1778 treaty with France Morocco
and Algiers Morocco Britain ,
the Regency of Algiers proved much more
intransigent; and a state of protracted conflict persisted between the Algiers regime and the United States Algiers eventually
led to the official birth of the United States
Navy as the Congress of the United States ,
in early 1794, authorized the building of six frigates to be launched against Algiers
While
the frigates were being built, negotiations were reopened with Algiers United States paid a substantial ransom for the
release of the American captives and agreed to deliver annual presents to Algiers United
States government also agreed to give Algiers Algiers
initiated similar treaties providing gifts in naval stores to the Regency of Tunis in 1795 and the Regency of Tripoli
The
Treaty of Peace and Friendship between the United States of America and
Tripoli, which was guaranteed by the Dey and Regency of Algiers, was signed by
the Bey of Tripoli and the Agent Plenipotentiary of the United States on
November 4, 1796. It protected vessels
of both states and instituted a system of passports to ensure their
protection. The treaty recognized the money
and presents paid to the Bey of Tripoli
The 1795
treaty with the Regency of Algiers eventually
precipitated a new threat to American commerce in the Mediterranean as the
Pasha of Tripoli United
States government, bolstered by growing American
nationalism, responded to this challenge by taking a more aggressive approach
to the privateering activities of the Barbary
States United States
naval presence in the Mediterranean, the Jefferson administration dispatched a
naval squadron to the region with orders to blockade and bombard Tripoli
While Tripoli had the reputation of being a nest of corsairs, it
was never a major corsairing port and never attracted the level of attention of
important centers like Algiers Tripoli soon experienced
difficulties when the frigate Philadelphia Philadelphia United States Mediterranean squadron then
proceeded to bombard Tripoli
As the United States Navy prepared to shell Tripoli , William Eaton, a former United States consul in Tunis ,
approached the Jefferson administration in Washington
with an elaborate plan to overthrow the Tripoli
As Eaton
slowly proceeded in a western direction toward Tripoli ,
the Pasha made overtures for peace, which the United States United States and the
Regency of Tripoli provided for the withdrawal
of American forces from Derna and the removal of the pretender to the throne
from North Africa .
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*Ottoman and Russian forces completed the conquest of the
French occupied Ionian Islands, off western Greece
*The British prime minister William Pitt the Younger
concluded the formation of the Second Coalition of Britain, Russia, Austria,
the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, and Naples against France (June 1).
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NOTABLE BIRTHS
*Rene
Auguste Caillie (1799-1838), a French explorer, was born.
Caillie was a Frenchman who traveled
through part of Upper Guinea to Timbuktu
Born in Mauze ,
France , Caillie traveled to Senegal France and Guadeloupe, Caillie returned to Senegal , determined to get to Timbuktu Egypt who had been enslaved by Christians, he
started inland from Kakundi on April 19, 1827, and traveled across Guinea village of Tieme , located near present day Odienne in the
northern Ivory Coast
In January, 1828, he traveled overland
with a caravan that was heading northeastward over present day southern Mali , passing Sienso near the town of San Timbuktu and reached Lake Debo on April 2, 1828. On April 20, 1828, Caillie entered Timbuktu France Timbuktu
NOTABLE DEATHS
*Ebubekir Ratib Efendi, an Ottoman diplomat and writer, died.
Born in Tosya (Anatolia), Ebubekir Ratib Efendi entered the civil service in
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*Hassan Nooraddeen, the Sultan of the Maldives
Sultan Al hajj Hassan Nooraddeen Iskandhar I was the Sultan of the
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*Mir Sadiq, a minister in the cabinet of Tipu Sultan of
Mir Sadiq held the post of a minister in the cabinet of Tipu Sultan of
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*Seyh Galib [Galib Dede] [Mehmed Es ‘Ad](1758-1799), an Ottoman poet and seyh of the Mevlevi order, died (January 5).
The real name of Seyh Galib was Mehmed [Mehmed Es ‘Ad]. He was born in
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*Tipu Sultan [Tippu Sultan] [Tippu Sahib] [Fateh Ali Tipu] [“The Tiger of Mysore] (1750-1799) was killed in the battle at Seringapatam on May 4. Tipu was cremated by the British with the pomp and splendor due to a Sultan.
Tipu Sultan, the sultan of Mysore, India, (r.1782-1799) was killed at Seringapatam, after it was captured by the British. His kingdom was divided between
Tipu was the son and successor of Haidar Ali, ruler of
Governor General Lord Cornwallis also identified Tipu Sultan as the most formidable adversary facing the British in southern
British historians of the nineteenth century did not paint a pretty picture of Tipu Sultan, and reassessments of him have been made only recently in
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