Editing French Directory (section)

==== Bonaparte's Campaign in Syria (February–May 1799) ====
While the French armies in Italy and Switzerland tried to preserve the Sister Republics, Bonaparte pursued his own campaign in Egypt. He explained in a letter to the Directory that Egyptian venture was just the beginning of a broader campaign "to create a formidable diversion in the campaign of Republican France versus monarchic Europe. Egypt would be the base of something much larger than the original project, and at the same time a lever which will aid in the creation of a general uprising of the Muslim world." This uprising, he believed, would lead to the collapse of British power from the Middle East to India.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|p=257}} With this goal in mind, he left Cairo and marched his army across the [[Sinai Peninsula|Sinai desert]] into Syria, where he [[Siege of Acre (1799)|laid siege]] to the port of [[Saint-Jean-d'Acre]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]], which was defended by a local army and supplied by a British fleet offshore. His long siege and attempts to storm the city were a failure; his army was ravaged by disease, it was down to 11,000 men, and he learned that an Ottoman army was to be embarked by the British fleet to sail to Cairo to recapture the city. On 17 May, he abandoned the siege and was back in Cairo by 4 June. The British fleet landed the Ottoman army, but as soon as they were ashore they were decisively defeated by Bonaparte at the [[Battle of Abukir (1799)|Battle of Abukir]] on 25 July 1799.{{sfn|Tulard|Fayard|Fierro|1998|pp=248–249}}

Due to the British blockade of Egypt, Bonaparte had received no news from France for six months. He sent one of his military aides to meet with Turkish government officials and to try to get news from France, but the officer was intercepted by the British navy. The British admiral and naval commander in the eastern Mediterranean, Sir [[Sidney Smith (Royal Navy officer)|Sidney Smith]], who had lived in Paris and knew France well, gave the officer a packet of recent French newspapers and sent him back to Bonaparte. Bonaparte spent the night reading the newspapers, learning about the political and military troubles in France. His orders permitted him to return home any time he chose. The next day he decided to return to France immediately. He handed over command of the army to General [[Jean-Baptiste Kléber|Kléber]] and left Egypt with a small party of senior officers aboard the frigate ''[[French frigate Muiron|Muiron]]''. He escaped the British blockade but did not reach France until 9 October.<ref>Thiers, Adolphe, ''Histoire de la Révolution française'', 1839 (Ninth edition), Volume 10, Chapter XIII, Project Gutenberg digital edition</ref>