Mediterranean campaign of 1798

Bonaparte's plan[edit]

At the beginning of 1798, the War of the First Coalition had come to an end with French control of Northern Italy, much of the Low Countries and the Rhineland confirmed by the Treaty of Campo Formio.^[1] Of all the major European powers that had at one time allied against the French Republic, only the Kingdom of Great Britain remained hostile, and the French Directory determined to end the French Revolutionary Wars by eliminating Britain. A series of invasions of the British Isles were planned,^[2] and the 28-year-old General Napoleon Bonaparte, who had defeated the Austrians in Italy the previous year, was assigned to lead the Armée d'Angleterre (Army of England) that had been assembled at Boulogne.^[3] However, the English Channel was firmly controlled by the Royal Navy and French invasion supplies, particularly of viable landing craft, were totally inadequate for the purpose.^[4]


In the early spring of 1798, Bonaparte left his command at Boulogne and returned to Paris, reporting that continued British naval supremacy in Northern European waters made an invasion impossible in the near future.^[5] With operations to the north impossible, Bonaparte directed his attention southwards to Toulon, the principal French seaport on the Mediterranean. There a French army and fleet had begun assembling for a secret location, speculated by French commentators to be aimed at a wide variety of places, including among others Britain, Sicily, Malta and the Crimea.^[6][7] The expedition's intended target was actually Egypt, which formed an important link in the chain of communications between Britain and the economically vital colony of British India.^[8] Bonaparte considered the capture of Egypt as the most important step in neutralising the massive economic benefits that Britain gained from trade with India and bringing Britain to terms: in August 1797 he wrote "The time is not far away that we will feel that, in order to truly destroy England, we must take Egypt."^[9] Possession of Egypt could grant the French control of the Eastern Mediterranean and the Red Sea, forcing severe delays to dispatches sent between Britain and India and obstructing trade worth £2.7 million (the equivalent of £360,000,000 as of 2024) to the British economy.^[10][11] In addition, a successful invasion of Egypt could be followed by a direct attack on British territory in India, possibly in conjunction with the anglophobic Tippoo Sultan of Seringapatam.^[12] The French Mediterranean Fleet was unopposed at the start of 1798 – following the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1796, in which Spain formed an alliance with France and declared war on Britain, the Royal Navy had withdrawn from the Mediterranean bases of Corsica and Elba.^[13] By early 1798, their Mediterranean Fleet was based at the Tagus River in Portugal, their one remaining continental ally.^[14] With no permanent British fleet in the Mediterranean and an uprising imminent in Ireland, Bonaparte firmly believed that the Royal Navy would be unable to intervene in his plans, even if they should discover them.^[15]


With passage to Egypt seemingly unopposed Bonaparte gave orders for a fleet of thirteen ships of the line, led by the 120-gun Orient under Vice-Admiral François-Paul Brueys D'Aigalliers and numerous smaller warships, including the entire Venetian Navy, captured the previous year, to prepare for sea.^[16] The fleet was to be accompanied by up to 400 transport ships, which were to carry the 35,000 men detailed for the invasion.^[17] On 3 May, Bonaparte departed Paris, arriving at Toulon five days later to oversee the final preparations. On 9 May he reviewed the assembled army and gave a speech announcing that the expedition was bound for an unspecified foreign land. The speech was met with an enthusiastic response from his soldiers and a revised version subsequently appeared in Le Moniteur Universel and was widely distributed throughout France as a poster.^[18] Despite Bonaparte's pronouncement the French departure was delayed: a strong headwind prevented the fleet from sailing for another nine days, conditions finally lifting on 18 May that permitted the 22 warships and 120 transports that made up the French fleet to sail the following day.^[19]