1798 - 1852 "A Cartoon History of the Middle East or Either way I had to start it somewhere in the past 1798 - 1801 |
July 21, 1798 Napoleon defeats the Mamelukes at the 'Battle of the Pyramides'. |
By James Gillray, October 6, 1798 British Admiral Horatio Nelson destroys the French fleet in the 'Battle of the Nile'. |
1799 Last assault on Saint Jean D'Acre Napoleon marched North taking Jaffa. His army reached Acre and laid siege. It failed and he was forced to retreat back to Egypt. Napoleon slipped through the British blockagde and returned to Paris. |
Napoleon's Siege of Acre was repulsed by Ottoman and British forces. Above all by the Royal Navy's Sir Sidney Smith, who tiped the scale of battle. Napoleon said of him: "That man made me miss my destiny". By James Gillray, The National Portrait Gallery, London, published November 10, 1799. Sir Sidney Smith |
1801 French army officer Bouchard discovered the Rosetta stone in Egypt. The stone was commandeered by the British and came to London and to the British Museum where it has been ever since. |
1805 Mohammed Ali Pasha - "The Founder of Modern Egypt" |
Muhammad Ali, an Ottoman officer, sent to Egypt in 1801, seized power in 1805 and became the master of Egypt for 46 years until his death. |
Mohammed Ali effected control over Egypt by eliminating his Mamluk opponents by inviting their leadership to a banquet at the Cairo Citadel and hence forth massacred the lot. |
1812 - 1813 Johann Ludwig Burchhardt |
Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burchardt discovered the ancient city of Petra in present day Jordan. The next year he discovered the great Egyptian temple at Abu Simble. He died in Cairo at the age of 33. |
By David Roberts, Library of Congress Lost and Found: 'EL DEIR' Petra, Arabia |
By Miles Kelley Temple entrance at Abu Simble, Ancient Egypt |
1801 - 1815 The Barbary Wars |
The 25 years old United States of America in its first conflict overseas, takes on the Barbary States along the North African Coast to end Commodore Stephen Decatur crushed, by American sea power, the Barbary States in 1815 and dictated new peace treaties that brought an end to the Barbary Wars. |
Lt. O'Bannon of the Marines raised the American flag over Derna, Tripoli. 1806 |
"If you insist upon receiving gunpowder as tribute, you must expect to receive (cannon) balls with it." Commodore Stephen Decatur to the Bey of Algeria. |
1842 Afghanistan, "The Graveyard of Empires" |
The chart above illustrates the British catastrophic retreat from Kabul in the dead of winter of January, 1842. |
By Elizabeth Butler, Tate Gallery, London The One Who Got Away. |