Anglo-Turkish War
Part of the Napoleonic Wars
Date1807–1809
Location
Result

Ottoman victory[1]

Belligerents
Supported by:
First French Empire French Empire		 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland United Kingdom
Supported by:
 Russian Empire
Commanders and leaders
Ottoman Empire Selim III
Ottoman Empire Mustafa IV
Ottoman Empire Mahmud II
Muhammad Ali
First French Empire Horace Sébastiani		 United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland George III
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland John Duckworth

The Anglo-Turkish War of 1807–1809, part of the Napoleonic Wars, was fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the Ottoman Empire.

Ultimatum

In the summer of 1806, during the War of the Third Coalition (of Great Britain, Russia, Austria, Sweden), Napoleon's ambassador General Count Sebastiani managed to convince the Porte to cancel all special privileges granted to Russia in 1805 and to open the Ottoman straits (the Dardanelles) exclusively to French warships. In return, Napoleon promised to help the Sultan suppress the rebellion in Serbia and to recover lost territories. When the Russian army marched into Moldavia and Wallachia in 1806, the Ottomans declared war on Russia.

Dardanelles operation

In September 1806, the British government pressured Sultan Selim III to expel Sebastiani, declare war on France, cede the Danubian Principalities to Russia, and surrender the Ottoman fleet, together with the forts on the Dardanelles, to the Royal Navy. After Selim's rejection of the ultimatum, a British squadron under Vice Admiral John Thomas Duckworth entered the Dardanelles on 19 February 1807 and destroyed an Ottoman naval force in the Sea of Marmara, and anchored opposite Constantinople. With French assistance the Ottomans erected powerful batteries and strengthened their fortifications.[2] The British warships were cannonaded suffering the loss of two ships. Duckworth made the decision to withdraw to the Mediterranean on 3 March 1807.

Alexandria expedition of 1807

On 16 March 1807, 6,000 British troops embarked for Alexandria in Ottoman Egypt, which they captured in August. Governor Muhammad Ali mounted effective counter-attacks and a lack of supplies forced the British to withdraw. The Ottoman Empire had little military support from France due to the war with Russia; Napoleon failed to secure Russia's compliance with the armistice agreement of 1807 with Britain, which was now at war with both France and Russia.

Notes

  1. ↑ Simply Napoleon By J. David Markham, Matthew Zarzeczny
  2. ↑ Daniel Panzac, La marine ottomane, de l'apogée à la chute de l'Empire (1572-1923), 2009, p. 259
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