Battle of Mount Tabor (1799)

Not to be confused with the Battle of Mount Tabor (biblical).

Battle of Mount Tabor
Part of the French Revolutionary Wars
Mount Tabor
Date April 16, 1799 Location Mount Tabor Result Decisive French victory
Belligerents
Ottoman Empire	French Republic
Commanders and leaders
Ahmed al-Jazzar Pasha.	General Kleber General Bonaparte
Strength
ca 25,000	4,000 (at the end, after Bonaparte's 2,500 men arrival)
Casualties and losses
6,000 killed 500 captured	2 killed 60 wounded

Location of battle, as given on map by Pierre Jacotin, 1826.

The Battle of Mount Tabor, or Skirmish of Mount Tabor, opposed French forces under General Kleber to an Ottoman force led by the Pasha of Damascus on 16 April 1799. General Bonaparte was besieging Acre, and Damascus sent its army to relieve the siege. Operating to the south of Acre, Kleber decided to intercept the Ottoman army and ran into the 25,000 men strong army to find himself outnumbered.

The French forces fought divided in two squares and resisted for eight hours against the Ottomans before running out of ammunition. Napoleon arrived with 2,500 men and two cannon reinforcements as the Ottomans seemed to be on the verge of winning. Napoleon's artillery opened fire on the Ottomans flank and, taken by surprise, the Ottoman forces suddenly routed.

References

• Smith, D. The Greenhill Napoleonic Wars Data Book. Greenhill Books, 1998.

External links

• Napoleonic guide - description of the battle