Battle of the Nile 1798
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
Key facts
| Date | 1 August 1798 | Wikidata |
|---|---|---|
| Year | 1798 | Wikidata P585 (point in time) |
| Era | Early modern (1500–1799) | derived from year |
| Location | Egypt | Natural Earth (modern borders) |
| Continent | Africa | Natural Earth |
| War / conflict | French invasion of Egypt and Syria | Wikidata P361 |
| Participants | French First Republic, Kingdom of Great Britain | Wikidata P710 |
| Coordinates | 31.3333, 30.1167 | Wikidata P625 |
About the battle
The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; French: Bataille d'Aboukir) was fought between the Royal Navy and the French Navy at Aboukir Bay in Egypt between 1 and 3 August 1798. It was the climax of the Mediterranean campaign of 1798, which had started three months earlier after a large French fleet sailed from Toulon to Alexandria carrying an expeditionary force under Napoleon. A British fleet, led by Rear-Admiral of the Blue Sir Horatio Nelson, decisively defeated a French fleet under Vice-admiral François-Paul Brueys d'Aigalliers, which had escorted Napoleon's army to Egypt.
Napoleon sought to invade Egypt as the first step in a campaign against British India, as part of a greater effort to drive Britain out of the French Revolutionary Wars. As Napoleon's expeditionary force crossed the Mediterranean, it was pursued by a British fleet under Nelson who had been sent from a larger fleet in the Tagus to learn the purpose of the French expedition and to defeat it. He chased the French for more than two months, on several occasions missing them only by a matter of hours. Napoleon was aware of Nelson's pursuit and enforced absolute secrecy about his destination. He was able to capture Malta and then land in Egypt without being intercepted by the British navy.
With the French army ashore, Brueys' fleet anchored in Aboukir Bay, 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Alexandria. Brueys believed that he had established a formidable defensive position.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of the Nile (revision 1372980990), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; shortened by selecting paragraphs and trimming at a sentence boundary; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
Nearby battles
- Battle of Abukir (1799) 1799 · 5 km
- Battle of Abukir (1801) 1801 · 5 km
- Battle of Mandora 1801 · 12 km
- Battle of Alexandria (1801) 1801 · 20 km
- Battle of Kafr El Dawwar 1882 · 23 km
- Capture of Alexandria (1798) 1798 · 24 km
Other battles of the French invasion of Egypt and Syria
- Battle of Shubra Khit 1798
- Battle of the Pyramids 1798
- Capture of Alexandria (1798) 1798
- Battle of Abukir (1799) 1799
- Battle of Mount Tabor (1799) 1799
- Second Siege of El Arish 1799
- Siege of Acre (1799) 1799
- Siege of El Arish 1799
- Siege of Jaffa 1799
- Battle of Heliopolis (1800) 1800
All 13 battles of the French invasion of Egypt and Syria →
Browse more: battles in Egypt · Africa · Early modern battles