Bonaparte and Nelson:Showdown in Aboukir 1798
March: Directory orders Bonaparte to plan conquest of Egypt.
May 19: Bonaparte sets sail for Egypt.
June 5: Nelson was directed to find and stop Bonaparte.
June 11: French invade Malta.
June 28: Nelson arrives at the Port of Alexandria, hoping to find Bonaparte's fleet - no sign of it. He sails east and then north, past Syria.
June 29: Bonaparte arrives and disembarks in Alexandria. Commander Admiral Brueys moves fleet to anchor in Aboukir Bay.
July 1: French forces take Alexandria, then a city of just 6 000 inhabitants.
July 21: Battle of the Pyramids: Using brilliant tactics, Bonaparte defeats an army one-third larger than his.
July 24: The French enter Cairo.
August 1: BATTLE OF THE NILE
Nelson finds Bonaparte's fleet in Aboukir Bay. Admiral Brueys does not think the British would attack at night, and does not take all necessary precautions -a fatal mistake.
Britain has 14 vessels, but the 13 French ships have a powerful artillery, with cannons that can launch cannonballs twice as heavy as the British.
Some of the British ships sail around the French line and attach the unarmed side. The French troops are trapped in a massive bombardement.
Admiral Nelson is seriously injured at the head, but survives. Admiral Bruey is badly wounded as well. He keeps on fighting until a cannonball cuts him in half and kills him.
At around 10 p.m., L' Orient explodes from its own gunpowder. Admiral Brueys and most of the other men are killed. The explosion is heard 20 miles away and illuminates the sky of Alexandria. Even the British are horrified at this instantaneous, mass loss of life. Fighting resumes, and after five minutes of silence the battle rages until about 3 a.m. Fighting begins again at 5 a.m. to finish at about 3 p.m. The majority of the remaining French ships surrender.
August 2: After the battle, the British again control the Mediterranean.
October 21: Cairo revolts against French domination. The hope of the French to master the Mideast must be given up.
|