The 1799 Siege of Acre: Napoleon's Palestine Campaign

In February 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Palestine, marching from Egypt into what was then Ottoman Syria. This episode follows his campaign through Jaffa, where his troops committed a massacre of thousands of prisoners, and culminates in the two-month siege of Acre, a walled port city defended by Ottoman governor Jazzar Pasha and a British naval squadron under Sir Sidney Smith. Napoleon's failure to take Acre ended his dream of an eastern empire and reshaped the region's geopolitics. We explore the battle tactics, the devastating plague that ravaged both armies, and how this brief French incursion sowed seeds of modern Middle Eastern nationalism. Along the way, we touch on the role of European gunpowder technology, the resilience of Ottoman provincial forces, and the forgotten story of Napoleon's proclamation to the Jewish people to reclaim Jerusalem. This is a turning point rarely covered in standard histories of Palestine—a moment when the future of the region hung in the balance of a single siege.

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