Franco-Ottoman Alliance - Epilogue: Napoleon I

Epilogue: Napoleon I

With the advent of Napoleon I, France adopted a strongly expansionist policy which put it in direct contact with the Ottoman Empire. Following the Treaty of Campo Formio in 1797, France acquired possessions in the Mediterranean such as the Ionian islands as well as former Venetian bases on the coast of Albania and Greece. Relations with the Ottoman Empire became all of a sudden more conflictual. Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt in 1798 and fought against the Ottomans to establish a French presence in the Middle East, with the ultimate dream of linking with Tippoo Sahib in India. Although the long period of Franco-Ottoman friendship was now over, Napoleon I still claimed great respect for Islam, and appealed to the long history of friendly relations between the Ottoman Empire and France:

"Peoples of Egypt, you will be told that I have come to destroy your religion: do not believe it! Answer that I have come to restore your rights and punish the usurpers, and that, more than the Mamluks, I respect God, his Prophet and the Koran... Is it not we who have been through the centuries the friends of the Sultan?" —Napoleon to the Egyptians.

Napoleon had toppled the Mamluk beys, the effective rulers of Egypt under nominal Ottoman suzerainty, but still raised the French flag side-by-side with the Ottoman banner throughout the Egyptian territory, claiming his love for Islam, and saying that they were saving the Ottomans from the Mamluks. Selim III however immediately declared a Jihad and sought the help of Britain and Russia, who felt both threatened by Napoleon's conquests. On January 9, 1799, the Ottoman Empire allied with Russia, and two days later with Great Britain.

Britain took the opportunity to ally with the Ottoman Empire in order to repel Napoleon's invasion, intervening military as during the Siege of Acre with Admiral William Sidney Smith in 1799, or under Ralph Abercromby at the Battle of Abukir in 1801. By 1802, the French were completely vanquished in the Middle-East.

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