Battle of Mount Tabor (1799)
| Battle of Mount Tabor | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the French invasion of Egypt and Syria | |||||||
The Battle of Mount Tabor Louis-François Lejeune, 1808 | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
| France | Ottoman Empire | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Napoleon Jean-Baptiste Kléber | Abdullah Pasha al-Azm | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 4,000 | 35,000 | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
|
2 killed 60 wounded |
6,000 killed or wounded 500 captured | ||||||
The Battle of Mount Tabor was fought on 16 April 1799 between French forces commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte and Jean-Baptiste Kléber against an Ottoman army under Abdullah Pasha al-Azm, the pasha of Damascus. The battle took place during the siege of Acre of French invasion of Egypt and Syria.
Upon hearing that an Ottoman army had been sent from Damascus to Acre for the purpose of forcing the French to raise the siege, Bonaparte sent out detachments to track it down. Kléber led his division of 2,000 men and boldly decided to engage the much larger Ottoman army of 35,000 men near Mount Tabor, managing to hold it off until Bonaparte led 2,000 reinforcements and engaged in a circling manoeuvre which took the Ottomans completely by surprise in their rear.
The resulting battle saw the outnumbered French force inflict thousands of casualties and scatter the remaining forces of al-Azm, forcing them to abandon their hopes of reconquering Egypt and leaving Bonaparte free to carry on the siege of Acre.